Freeport Village Fútbol Club keeps winning

On the green grass of a field in Freeport’s northeastern sector, neighborhood children  shout, run, kick soccer balls into goals, and win championships.

They are the children of the Freeport Village Fútbol Club, which started in 2015 with nine traveling teams for children ages 9-19. In that first year, both of their girls’ teams won the 2015 Long Island Cup Championship for each of their age divisions at Stony Brook field. The Freeport Lady Lightning, ages 12-13, and the Freeport Lady Stingrays, ages 14-15, were both coached by Alex and Sonia Dixon.

“The Freeport Village Fútbol Club is a non-profit soccer organization whose mission is to foster the physical, mental, and emotional growth and development of its youth through the sport of soccer at all levels,” said Sonia Dixon, who is also a board member of the club. “We have dedicated and passionate volunteer coaches who provide a professional, safe, and positive soccer environment while developing talented youth players.”

Their talent pool is very local. Most of the children are from Freeport’s northeast sector. Some of them walk along Merrick Road from the new Moxey Rigby apartment complex. Others walk from farther away, or ride bikes, or are ferried in cars by family members.

Their teams practice at the Cleveland Avenue athletic field, also known as the Buffalo Avenue field because its nine acres are situated between those two streets. The field has served the Freeport Public Schools since 1949, but is also for public use outside of school practices.

Players drill with coaches twice a week, Dixon said. Once a team is established, it is registered into a travel league, which competes at fields throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

Unlike most area soccer clubs, FVFC coaches and staff volunteer their time in order to keep costs for the families low. Dixon describes their area as a “low-wealth, high-need community,” many of whom are working-class, some of whom are immigrants. 

“We only charge for registration, because we have to pay the league,” Dixon said, referring to the Long Island Junior Soccer League, “and we pay the referee so we can play. We don’t ask for anything else.”

The FVFC handles costs for uniforms and other maintenance matters. Tournament fees are split up among the families.

And they keep getting results. The Freeport Hotspur (boys U13 team, ages 12 and 13), coached by the Dixons, won their division championship for the Long Island Junior Soccer League Spring 2022 season as well as the LIJSL Sportsmanship Award during the fall 2021 season for their division. The Freeport Milan (boys U19 ), coached by Pablo Castro, and the Freeport Sea Wolves (boys U16), coached by Alex Noboa, are the current LIJSL Spring 2022 Cup Champions for their divisions.

“When you train these kids and they go into the school system, they make a difference,” said Dixon. Members of FVFC have become varsity players at Freeport High School — like the Dixons’ own daughter Ancksu, who graduated from Freeport High this year after winning high honors on the school’s varsity soccer and basketball teams. She is headed for Mercy College on an athletic scholarship.

Setting up opportunities like Ancksu’s is what the FVFC is really about.

“This is what we do,” Dixon said. “We are doing our very best to keep our youth afloat so they can have a chance. You have a healthy community, you educate the parents, you help the children, and that’s the future. That’s our fight.”