Today we’d like to introduce you to Ahmed Elsokary.
Ahmed, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
We started the Texas Premier Soccer Club in April 2016 as a non-profit organization dedicated to providing this equal opportunity for all of our kids. Growing up in Houston, soccer wasn’t “accessible” to everyone. The costs were way too high and I believe that there are so many bright young players that have much potential that deserve an equal opportunity to play at an established club. I believe that sports can be used as a platform to help kids get to the next level as well as to getting a college degree and setting them up with a career for their future, not just a number to us where we only worry about soccer practice and games. We want to be role models and mentors for these kids, why not win some games while we do so as well. We want to be different. So we did just that.
We believe that the youth deserve this platform to develop their technical skills, emotional intelligence, and competitive drive regardless of their financial capabilities. That’s what makes us different. We strive to provide a professional, safe and positive soccer environment for these kids to learn, grow, and compete at the highest levels of competitive youth soccer in America. But our ambitions go way beyond just soccer.
This organization was created to help those in need, to help give kids an escape from the struggles of everyday life by giving them a home on the soccer field. We make an effort to mentor these young individuals to become the best versions of themselves. We make it a priority to send these young men and women to the college by guiding them through the admissions and scholarship applications, as well as hosting sessions to discuss their career aspirations. We always remind our teams that we want to produce great soccer players, but more importantly, produce better people.
One of our best qualities is our coaching team and staff, all of whom are volunteers. They put in up to 15 hours of their time each week, purely for the passion of helping others and an intense love of the game. That’s what separates our team from the rest. We give our time and educate ourselves to affect these kids better and ask for nothing in return, just for the players to enjoy the journey.
We started with about only 25 players four years ago in 2016, and today we can proudly say we’ve got over 225 players and 2 locations. Our mission is to impact as many players and areas as we possibly can.
As we approach our 4th anniversary next month with big plans on the horizon, we are continuously forced to reflect on how far we’ve come. While we may struggle at times to get by financially, we always find the resilience to keep going, either through generous donations or club fundraisers. We do this for the right reasons and strive to keep the kids’ best interests above all else – that is what has made us successful. And ultimately, our greatest success is knowing when we have positively impacted these young lives, that is why we do what we do.
Has it been a smooth road?
When you look back, you feel proud of what we accomplished. You feel like we’re making an impact and we’ve gone beyond what we could’ve imagined, but that being said, it certainly wasn’t easy. We faced a few road bumps and struggles along the way. We faced the challenges of being a “little fish in a big pond”. See youth soccer in America, is very “political” and fractional. In my opinion it’s a system that needs a revamp from the bottom up. We faced the struggles of where we would train as public parks are controlled by bigger clubs that the county allows to have a contract in place, and that could make things difficult. We’ve been beyond blessed to work with our facility to have training at their location and have an amazing working relationship. They are a true part of our success story. Thank you, Windwood for giving us an opportunity.
We faced the biggest challenge of how to raise funds and gain sponsorship opportunities for our organization for our players. To play in the system of youth soccer it is substantially expensive in my opinion for it being a youth soccer league. We struggle at times to make sure we have adequate funding for everything we want the kids to be a part of. The leagues, tournaments, quality training equipment, lights for fields for expansion, uniform orders, and much more. We’ve been blessed and have made it through and financially stronger today than we were four years ago, but this always remains a challenge for us. Gaining funds to do the things we need to do to provide our players, especially those that truly need it, the opportunity anywhere else would give if you had the financial means.
The struggle we face is field expansions as we grow and installing new lights, having a larger facility to train on. We’ve been blessed and our volunteer staff, parents, players have worked hand in hand to move forward with the project to get expansion phase 1 going because of the value we know it will add to our organization and the training quality.
We’d love to hear more about your organization.
Texas Premier Soccer Club is a non-profit organization whose mission is to foster the physical, mental, emotional growth, and development of the youth through the sport of soccer at all levels of age and competition. We are an approved 501(c)3 by the IRS and incorporated in the State of Texas. Our mission is to provide a professional, safe and positive soccer environment while developing talented youth players. We strive to develop players capable of competing at the highest levels of competitive youth soccer in the STYSA and USSF leagues.
We seek to provide an equal opportunity for all soccer players to participate in a competitive environment that develops a player’s skills, knowledge and appreciation for the game of soccer by incorporating the best training, structure and development through positive coaching.
Through experiences derived from playing competitive soccer, we strive to help players mature as people and will encourage the development of important life skills such as good sportsmanship, teamwork, goal setting and fair play. We have a simple way of how we believe in running a youth soccer club: we #doitforthekids. We have the kids’ best interest in mind first above else.
We are different because we want to give every kid a chance, no matter the individuals’ financial capability and underprivileged opportunities. We’re different because we have the same level of quality as coaches but on a volunteer basis. We’re different because we want to guide kids after playing in their college careers to provide a different opportunity for their families. We do it for the love of the sport that we played growing up and wanting to give an even better opportunity for these kids.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the diversity of our city. I love the southern hospitality of our city. I love the fact that there are so many people willing to help out, you have to ask. I love that there are so many people here that have awesome stories of how they’re impacting other people’s lives. I wish I could hear more stories about them. I believe our city does so much for everyone in terms of development and opportunities. There are so many amazing success stories out there and finding and sharing them is the true power of this diverse city!
Pricing:
- We keep our costs at $50/month and $80/month for players compared to $150 or $300 at other places.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.texaspremiersc.com
- Phone: 8323351605
- Email: info@texaspremiersc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/texaspremiersc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/texaspremiersc/
Image Credit:
Sherif El Moghazi
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