The beginning

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March 2021, two friends were at work talking about youth soccer in Othello.  Tomas and Saul had played soccer their entire life.  Tomas had older children, one about to turn 10 who loved to play the sport.  Tomas wanted his son to play something higher than recreational soccer, something more competitive, but where could he play?  His son TJ had played with a much older team when he was 8, the season ended, and before it could start again COVID hit.

Tomas and Saul figured there were many other kids in Othello who had the talent, but not the opportunity to play competitive locally.    If we wanted our kids to play anything higher than recreational, we would have to take our kids to surrounding areas in Tri-cities, Spokane, or Quincy.   I know we couldn't make the commitment to join a club out of the area and attend weekly practices and games, our schedules simply wouldn't allow it.    Othello has a high percentage of Hispanic population with a lot of them working in the fields.  Tomas had gone through it when he was a kid, his parents were field workers who worked all day, they didn't have time to take him to practices.   Soccer is what kept Tomas out of trouble his whole life, even with the limited opportunities he had.  Tomas and Saul thought, what if we started something local?  They had nothing to lose but a lot to gain.  

Conversations were held with the soccer rep during that time Kevin McDonald.  Kevin offered his help and knowledge with registering our first team... we just had to come up with the players.

March 23rd, 2021, Tomas put out the first ad on Facebook looking for players, inviting them to be a part of this journey.  There were about 5 kids who showed up to the first practice, we were getting somewhere.  As we held more practices, more kids started to show up, the word was getting around about the team.   We had a mixture of players, some with experience, and for some it was the first time kicking a ball around.  

April 11, 2021, we had our first friendly game against a Tri-cities team.  This team had been playing together for years already, so they were a lot more advanced than our team.  We didn't have many practices before this friendly, and well it didn't go to good for us, let's leave it at that.   The kids had fun and they were happy to have a team, Tomas knew there was a long road ahead of him to get the team ready for any sort of competitive matches.   Saul eventually went on to do other things, but this wouldn't have been possible without his support.  

As time went on, more kids began to show up, there were times Tomas had 20-25 kids at practice.  Tomas couldn't say no to anyone who showed up and wanted to play, he wanted them to play rather than doing nothing at home or hanging out on the streets.   Eventually when the time came to submit the team for the league, he could only carry 14 on the roster.   He had to choose his players, but he always invited the others who didn't make the team to go out and practice with them.

New players have joined, others have left the first Othello United FC team for one reason or another.   We want to thank their parents for bringing them, we wouldn't be here today if it weren't for the kids who were part of this first group, Othello United FC B2011.   

Fast forward to December 2022, we are officially an approved non-profit organization, we have seven teams and approximately 100 players.    The future looks bright, Othello has a lot of talent to offer that we can cultivate locally.

We run this organization strictly through volunteers and donations, our coaches and staff do not get paid.  We are constantly looking for more volunteer coaches.  If we had more volunteers we would have more teams, come join us, lets grow together!