When were you founded, by whom, and what was the mission?

OSC has been putting youth from our most underserved communities on fields throughout Oakland since 1974. OSC was originally founded as a community recreation program by the owners of Oakland based Jade Soccer Store. As of 2021, OSC's mission has now extended itself to adult soccer which enables us to provide soccer to our members for their entire lifecycle, all while remaining active and connected to OSC. OSC also sees itself as more than just soccer, and hopes to help our members and their families in dealing with everyday life. We see so often that we have people held back from on field success because of off field issues. We owe more to our youth and as a club we felt that incorporating more than soccer into our mission would enable us to pursue strategies that can change lives, with soccer becoming a vehicle to that end.

The Bay Area has a lot of teams for players to choose from, what kinds of players gravitate to you and why?

Our club now has a pretty diverse membership between our collective youth and adult soccer efforts so the answer to that question varies by which section of the club you're looking at. For our youngest youth families, they are coming to OSC because we are a local and affordable place for their child to learn soccer and grow as an individual. For older youth families, we hope that players will ultimately choose our club because they see it as a place where their child can learn to compete and grow within the game, while learning to do so with a high level of personal accountability and a willing capacity to work within a team setting. Ultimately, we hope that families choose us because they see this as a club where you can learn to be a top player and also a top human being.

On the adult 1st team level, we hope to find players looking to be a part of what we think will quickly become the top amateur program in the Bay Area. This is a club where the sky's truly the limit in terms of future direction and ambition. Players will come here to be a part of building something special and propelling this club to the forefront of a new model for US Soccer. And for our over 30's, 40's and 50's, we hope they come here to support our efforts to change US Soccer while being able to continue to enjoy the game they love, to find and build community, and to give back to the youth members of OSC as role models, mentors and supporters.

With UPSL, NPSL, USL and even NISA out there, do you plan on growing the club to move out of the historic SFSFL? If so, what do you look for in a league? If not, what is it about SFSFL that makes you stay?

Our full focus for right now is making the club into the top team in the SFSFL, a league which we hold in high regard. It's a league which boasts big local clubs like Olympic Club, Mezcala, SF Glens, and SF City FC so each weekend gives you a test and something to compete for. For where we are today, it's a perfect place for our group and even as we grow the program, OSC will always maintain teams in the SFSFL although maybe in future years it's more of our U17/18's playing in this competition rather than our first team. Beyond the SFSFL, there are obviously tremendous options for growth for the club both in men’s and women’s soccer as well as at the youth level. In terms of what you look for, I think it's about progression to a league with a well-respected level of play, a national championship format, and the ability to gain entry into the US Open Cup. For us right now however, the clubs focus still remains on safely returning teams to the field as we re-emerge from COVID and to also check in with our members, many of whom have suffered greatly during this past year. We're excited however at the growth that we continue to see in this country and our ambition as a club will certainly have us taking steps beyond where we are today as soon as we possibly can.

Some clubs sell scarves and kits to make money, some clubs operate off the funds from pay-to-play youth systems - how do you keep the lights on? If the model you operate in right now isn't where you'd like to be, what is the ideal model for you?

It's true that we face serious challenges to operating our club given that our fees for members are a fraction of what other clubs charge for play. In recent years, Oakland has experienced rapid growth and redevelopment and we have families who are literally hanging on to survive in a city that is quickly becoming almost impossible to afford to live in. While we operate, today, through a membership model which comes with registration fees we do have a 5 year vision in the works which would enable the club to operate absent any player registration fees. This is not a finalized plan but does signal our intent to work towards reasonable solutions to pay to play sports, including public and private partnership to drive new supporting resources into youth development. If you look at national calls for reform over how we police communities, or for ways to help youth and families live healthier lives then I think government investment in programs like community-based soccer do hold weight. We know what we spend on incarceration and probation, and we know what we spend on policing and what outcomes we desperately need to achieve in terms of finding new and improved methods of community safe keeping. We also know about the costs for ongoing medical care for people suffering from chronic disease, most of which is preventable, and so the question does become why don't we view investment into youth sports as a vehicle to get ahead of some of those future outcomes which are likely, based off of historical record, should we continue to fail to act. OSC hopes to forge a new path forward for clubs facing similar challenges within their respective communities and we will obviously have our work cut out for us with lots and lots to do to push the ball forward towards reaching our goals.

If anybody wants a scarf or a kit, do you have merch? Where can we find it?

We are currently working through a club rebrand process and will be releasing merchandise as a part of that release which will occur later in 2021. Stay tuned to our social media posts and newsletter mailings for updates on when that crest will drop and when our first batches of new merch will roll out around that. We're really excited about the direction that is going.

You've slowly risen through the levels in SFSFL for the last few years, what does "success" look like in 2021?

Success for 2021 looks like winning. Doesn't matter who we play, we want to win in 2021. Ultimately, we hope to have teams in all three divisions of the SFSFL and to have those teams compete to win league trophies each year. The goal for the SFSFL is plain and simple, and that's to win and to put Oakland on the map in doing so. As we move forward with the club and we hopefully trend younger within the age of the players registered to our SFSFL teams then maybe those goals change and adapt to reflect more of a development focus, but even for U17 or U18 players who might play in OSC's SFSFL teams in the future the goal will always remain to play within our clubs’ style of play and to win games.

Did we miss anything? Do you want to tell us something we might not have known to ask?

We want people to know that we really hope to build community, both in Oakland and within US Soccer, with like-minded people who can share best practice and ideas for how we can all work to overcome the systemic challenges which continue to hold the game back in our communities. We see Oakland as being at a crossroads for the problems plaguing US Soccer in urban communities of color and hope that the work, we will do over the next several years will help serve as a model for others to follow in their own areas. And we hope to learn from others, who are already advancing soccer around the US in cities like Oakland. We all rise with the tide, and there is no better time than now for people to get involved. We openly welcome anyone from anywhere who would want to lend their time and energy to help OSC, and Oakland, fight for a better future.

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