D.C. United, in partnership with Musco Lighting, the US Soccer Foundation and D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, unveiled a brand-new community soccer mini-pitch on Monday at Petworth Recreation Center in Northwest D.C. The new mini-pitch is part of a national effort to positively impact the lives of young people through soccer.
United midfielder Chris Durkin and defender Chris Odoi-Atsem, along with the voice of D.C. United Dave Johnson, were on hand to unveil the pitch. Also in attendance were Keith A. Anderson, Director, D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation; Karen Cooper, Advisory Neighborhood Commission; Ed Foster-Simeon, President & CEO, U.S. Soccer Foundation; Eduardo Tamez Zamarripa of Musco Sports Lighting; and youth from United’s charitable partner, DC SCORES.
The field donation is the second between D.C. United and the US Soccer Foundation. The new mini-pitch supports the US Soccer Foundation’s national movement, It’s Everyone’s Game, which was launched in 2017 with the goal of building 1,000 mini-pitches nationwide by 2026 and engaging one million children in the Foundation’s Soccer for Success program annually. The mini-pitches, like the one unveiled at Petworth Recreation Center, help ensure children living in underserved communities, where there is not always affordable and easy access to soccer programs and play spaces, can benefit from all that the game of soccer has to offer.
