Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach Mini-Pitch

The Challenge

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Long Beach engage over 3000 local youth each year with fun, educational activities to equip them for success in life. With 90 per cent of members coming from low-income households, the organisation needed a safe space to coordinate activities—such as football clinics and inter-club tournaments—and for local youth to gather for pick-up games. A proposed solution was to transform an underutilised basketball court at the clubs’ Westside Centre location into a mini football pitch, but this plan would require financial contributions and collaboration from several partners.

The Solution

The Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation had partnered with the U.S. Soccer Foundation to increase access to football for young women with the United for Girls initiative. After learning about the clubs’ efforts to meet the need for athletic resources in Long Beach, initiative leaders decided to partner with the organisation to repurpose the Westside basketball court with Musco’s Mini-Pitch System™ modular sports solution. Complete with fencing, goals, benches, lockable storage, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant access, and Musco’s TLC for LED® lighting, the Mini-Pitch System™ provides club members with an all-inclusive athletic resource to facilitate the development of organised activities and extend playtime later into the evenings with clean, controlled lighting.