Pickup Vol. 01 : Seaside.
On Sunday Mar 18, 2018 Venice Beach Football Club & Turfmapp, along with Classic ZZ Academy, hosted some of LA's top players for a special day of pickup games. we welcomed players of all ages youth to adult and packed the estadio with over 300+ visitors throughout the event. It was just another day of pickup in venice, with some of LA's best talent and the special guests who came to play and see the sights and sounds of Estadio De Dogtown.
Let the kids play.
The day started off by welcoming youth players from all over Los Angeles to battle it out on the court in non-stop winner-stays pickup. VBFC youth, Alessandro Del Piero Academy, and Classics ZZ Academy all brought out some exciting talent to play game after game of king-of-the-court. after the the youth, the adults hopped on, with current professionals julian büscher and andrae campbell showing up to participate in the adult's pickup game alongside the regular players and some new faces. we were very grateful for former la galaxy player bryan jordan, current la galaxy player baggio hudisic (LA GALAXY), Kevin Alston (OrLANDO CITY), Julian Büscher (LA GALAXY) and Former premier league/USMNT player/ Venice local Stu Holden for coming through to show their support for the growth of pickup soccer in our community.
THE GAME AMERICA NEEDS
as usual, the adults game was highly competitive with locals, newcomers, current pros, and amateurs all dogfighting to hold court at the estadio. a special mention to sunday pickup regular and house of ink tattooist tohid safdari (@tohid_art) for his man of the match performance on the day. tohid managed to split his eye open in the process, but as he put it: "the people don't come to watch you take it easy." tohid's passion shone through on the day, and was emblematic of the spirit that has been driving the growth of this culture down at the beach. if nothing else, this event was able to showcase to people the raw passion of all the players who show up every week to the estadio to play this game.
a very special thanks to the masters behind the lens' on the day: josh rose (@joshsrose), tri Sanguanbun (@tri_11 / @turfmapp), trisikh Sanguanbun (@ts_xii / @turfmapp), michael tinley (@m2t5), Matt Krautstrunk (@mattb1ll), and all the other special guest photogs that made it out. we appreciate your support.
