Youth Recreational Soccer Scholarships

North St. Louis County (NoCo) has traditionally been a hotbed for youth soccer.  Unfortunately, more recently much of the investment in youth soccer has moved out of the region – there are currently NO recreational or select soccer clubs based in NoCo.  A gap has been created in the potential growth of youth through the sport of soccer, especially in lower income population because it is cost prohibitive. Youth who want to develop at the level of their regional counterparts need to join clubs out of the area and pay high costs. This has also had a negative impact on our local middle and high schools who are struggling to recruit and form quality soccer teams that can compete. 

Our program provides quality soccer activities for youth of ALL skill levels in NoCo, as well as building a bridge to soccer opportunities in local middle and high schools. Our program curriculum focuses on the general development of youth; taking advantage of the wonderful opportunity sports provides to develop teamwork skills and encourage acceptance of diversity among young people. 

Empower North County officially started its own independent fall recreational league (Empower Soccer) in 2021 in response to all other local recreational soccer programs no longer functioning. The league attracted over 210 players aged 3-10yrs old. Based on the success our first fall season we decided to launch an indoor winter Futsal season (Feb-Mar 2022), which attracted over 100 players in the same age group. In September 2022 we started our second fall soccer season with over 300 registrations and 33 volunteer coaches. Last year (Fall 2023) we had over 400 registrations and 43 coaches. 

We have increasing numbers of families, that we work with in our other programs, asking for scholarships. This fall (Fall 2024) we anticipate needing to provide $5-7K worth of scholarships. This fundraiser will help us engage more youth in healthy team sports activities regardless of their skill level and family income. Thanks!