If we build it, will they come?

On May 13, local soccer club, California Athletic Soccer Club (CASC), introduced Friday Night Lights to the Crescenta Valley. The inaugural soccer games were set to begin at 6 p.m. at Crescenta Valley High School.

At 5 p.m., CASC coaches arrived to set up the fields. Under the hot sun, the coaches popped up the 12 mini-goals across CV’s football field. They dropped the cones evenly to mark the small fields and placed colored bibs on each field for the players. For two weeks, the club emailed out invitations in addition to using social media, texting and spreading the word across the Crescenta Valley.

By 5:30 p.m., all the soccer balls were pumped up and ready for action. The coaches anxiously waited.

At 5:45 p.m., there were still no kids … yet. All eyes were focused on the front gate of CVHS. Without signups and an official league, would kids show up on a Friday night just to play?

Suddenly all the coaches looked up together as a small boy with an LAFC jersey walked through the gates looking for a game to play. A girl in her shiny purple Adidas cleats followed. Then two more girls with ponytails ran on to the fields. And more arrived after that. Within 10 minutes, a small swarm of boys and girls had taken over the football field. Big kids and little kids. The small CASC crew went into action to make sure players felt welcomed and directed them to the next open soccer fields to play.

The idea behind Friday Night Lights is to get children out of the house on a Friday night to just play. No drills. No yelling. No parents dictating every move. No organized lesson plans. Just go play. Have fun.

And they did.

At first, parents meandered around, not sure what to do. But they soon let go and let the kids do what kids do. They played and when teams weren’t balanced the kids made some changes. Some players squabbled and yet they worked out their problems. Some got knocked down. They glanced up, looking for Mom or Dad and when they weren’t there the player got right back up and played some more.

Girls played against boys. Older kids played with younger kids. Tons of goals were scored. For soccer fans, it was beautiful. A favorite quote from a parent that night was, “What a great idea!”

On the inaugural night, over 50 boys and girls from all over the community took part in the soccer games. Only a small number were from the CASC soccer club. All the rest were kids from neighborhoods who had heard about the event and showed up to play. Some had never played soccer before. Some arrived nervous, but all left with smiles on their faces.

The next week, 50 more kids show up. Some were returning players, but there were 15 new players. The following week, the rains arrived and CASC expected a drop in numbers but, to everyone’s surprise, there was still a large turnout and the kids loved playing in the rain.

CASC proved the cliché right: “If you build it, they will come.”

Friday Night Lights continues to run through the end of summer from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Crescenta Valley High School. For parents who haven’t done so already, bring your son or daughter out and have them bring some friends. This is also a great opportunity for parents to drop off their kids in a safe environment and entertain one of the local restaurants in Montrose or La Crescenta.

For more details or to signup on the California Athletic Soccer Club email list for upcoming events, go to https://athleticsc.org. Updates are available at https://www.instagram.com/californiaathleticsc.