For a special Halloween treat we asked Southern California native and SoCal Premier League expert, Dennis Pope to reach out to one of the kindest monsters in all of Los Angeles. The LA Monsters! Dennis asked away and LA Monsters President Nik Lachowicz was obliging enough to fill our buckets full of awesome information about this fantastic organization.

What is the origin story for L.A. Monsters FC?
The LA Monsters FC is Southern California’s most exciting, collective based, Not-For-Profit Community soccer club! We are a dynamic and forward-looking all volunteer non-profit soccer club focused on youth in the LA Harbor Area. We now successfully operate over 15 soccer teams (200+ kids) in the highest level club leagues in California (SOCAL), a Coaches/Men’s team in the SWPL, and our Super Minis Monsters Juniors program for 2017, 2018 and 2019 aged youth. We take pride in offering local youth opportunities to play soccer at the highest club level which gives them healthy community athletics with potential college and professional exposure for at least 75% less cost than other local expensive soccer clubs. Our goal is free soccer for all our players and currently about half our kids play for free. Our model is now proven successful because our local youth players have been and are being recruited by both the LA Galaxy and LAFC Youth Academies and one Monsters FC player was selected to the B2009 US National Selection (ID2) squad.

Our business plan, aka the Monster Plan, raises funds to target outdated and abandoned soccer fields in under privileged neighborhoods. We then secure the real estate rights to the field and rehabilitate the field. We then organize all volunteer family run teams for local kids and grant our teams access to the highest level leagues for little or no cost to the families. Our Monsters Plan can be applied anywhere in the world.

Who founded the club and why?
The Monsters story began when the San Pedro Godfather of Soccer, Paul Butterfield, a San Pedro native, created a men’s amateur soccer team called the San Pedro Monsters about 15 years ago to have a local Port of LA soccer club. In 2019, a group of local business people, led by president Nik Lachowicz, took over the Club and created the current non-profit club by merging with the local and historic Wilmington Juniors youth soccer club run by German Delgado.

How did you finish last year and what goals have you set for this year?
Our men’s team is mid table in the second division of SWPL and we hope to be back in the 1st division again next year. We love the SWPL because Matt Morris and Co run it so well, are completely support of what we do, and the competition level is very high and there is a NISA promotion opportunity. We make a little merch for our team but nothing major. We are a non-profit all volunteer program so if any wants to donate to us it is tax deductible.

Does L.A. Monsters FC do anything to help their local community? Do you support causes or organizations we can draw attention to here?
A recent local community success story is our co-founding of the new Wilmington Youth Soccer League (WYSL- pronounced whistle) in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of the Port of LA. WYSL consists of 200+ kids in the Port of LA area in a parent coached all volunteer recreational league. All kids get cleats, game and training kits, warm-ups, equipment, a two-month season at the WAC for $30 per kid, in addition to being enrolled to the Boys and Girls Club with all its benefits.

Next up for our Club is our Monsters FC Trunk or Treat Halloween party where our parents, coaches and friends decorate our car trunks and park at our Wilmington field for some fun trick or treating for all our players and coach’s families.

Please come join and support the thousands of Monsters FC family members at our weekend games in the LA Port area and support our local youth to get the opportunities they are denied by the current expensive soccer club culture. Please reach out to anyone on the Monsters FC if you have any questions or want more information about our Club. Thank you and GO MONSTERS FC!

If you could schedule a friendly or two with any clubs within a 100 miles, who would you play and why?
If we could schedule a friendly with any club it would be with our South Bay neighbor, the LA Galaxy. We want to play the LA Galaxy Academy teams ages 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013 and our Coaches/Men’s team wants to play the LA Galaxy II(Los Dos) because we think we could beat them for South Bay bragging rights, lol.

OUR YOUTH TEAMS:
SOCAL League
B2016 FLT 3
B2016 FLT 2
B2015 FLT 3
B2015 FLT 2
B2013 FLT 4
B2011 FLT 1
B2010 FLT 2
B2010 FLT 3
B2009 FLT 2
B2009 NPL
B2010 FLT 2 (Palmeras-provisional)
B2011 FLT 1 (Palmeras-provisional)
B2011 FLT 3 (Palmeras-provisional)
B2011 FLT 1 (Palmeras-provisional)
SUPER MINIS MONSTERS JRS:
BG2019
BG2018
BG2017
MENS/COACHES TEAM:
2nd Division – SWPL (SOCAL PREMIER)
FIELDS:
Wilmington Athletic Complex
Harbor Sports Complex

WILMINGTON YOUTH SOCCER LEAGUE – WYSL- OUR BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF LA PORT PARTNERSHIP

Follow LA Monsters on Instagram HERE
And on their website HERE