Soccer Friends Children’s Soccer School Opens in Astoria and Long Island City

Soccer Friends USA, a children’s soccer school headquartered in Forest Hills, has opened two new program locations in Queens: Astoria and Long Island City. The school has several locations throughout the borough.

The Astoria location, based at the 1,200-square-foot ACD Playspace on 38th Street, opened on February 5 and offers classes for children ages 18 months to 4 years. Classes run on Monday and Sunday mornings from 9am to 1pm. In addition to the ACD Playspace, Soccer Friends USA has secured a summer program option for families who attend The Learning Center in Long Island City. Summer classes will take place in July and August at the 13,000 square-foot facility for children ages 2 to 4 years.

The locations for the new program spaces were chosen based on community need and the rising popularity of the neighborhoods, according to Sean Peckett, director of coaching at Soccer Friends USA.

“We had already held discussions to move into Astoria and Long Island City because of the migration of young families moving into these new hot retail sections of Queens,” Peckett said. “However, we wanted to make sure we found the correct locations to start our programming. We were fortunate that in both cases ACD and The Learning Center reached out to us.”

Soccer Friends USA is for children ages 18 months to 14 years who want to learn the skills of the sport.  According to Peckett, soccer helps fill the need for children to be active and provides and outlet for them to participate in physical activity.

“Our lifestyles and our children growing up in mostly apartment buildings has led to there being very little space for kids to run, play, kick and throw,” says Peckett. “In addition to this, New York City public schools cutting physical educational classes as the emphasis shifted to common core and academics, along with the rise of children being attracted to electronics such as; computer games, phones and social media has further reduced their physical activities. Children have always needed a balance of being active and academic, studies show children do better in school if this balance is met. Soccer is great sport to help address those needs stated above and to help the child grow in a social setting, working together as part of a team to achieve a common goal.”

Registration for soccer classes at all Soccer Friends USA locations is open. More information is available on the Soccer Friends USA website.