What we’re about
This group, Washington, DC Pick-up Soccer, is the biggest coed soccer group in DC. We play year-round, but have far more games during the summer when daylight lasts past about 6:45 PM, and people can just walk to games after work. Everyone is welcome and it is free to join!
Attending our mall games allows you to become part of a long tradition, and it's a great way of getting to know new, healthy, and friendly people in a casual setting. Currently, we have three games per week near the mall and two near Maryland. Do you know the secret reason for Marine One’s flight path? It's because the president, like any sensible person, enjoys watching a good game of the world's greatest sport and it gives him a perfect 45° viewing angle! (Hehe. Just kidding. The truth is that he is usually deprived of this pleasure, because we pause play to gawk back.)
Tourists without any cleats getting bored of seeing exhibits in DC’s 261 museums are especially welcome; the Organizer (Jason Taylor) actually likes to think that if all people were forced to interact more and specifically had to play soccer together at least once in the extended back yard of the world’s most powerful leader, we’d all, regardless of what language we speak, the color we are, our gender, etc., be one step closer to world peace:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r99tcxqyGek
After games, we sometimes chat a bit while we change shoes and get ready to walk home. Relax! Don't be too rushed or too shy. Ask other players which way they are walking or going. Get their direct contact information. You may find it handy when the weather is iffy or when the security people moved our game to "an undisclosed location." Aside from building your own network, more communication and discussion allows everyone to contribute and cooperate to make games better.
RSVP liberally, but always check if there are enough RSVPs before going. Ideally, please put on your profile roughly where you live so others who rsvped without a car know who to ask for rides. Before heading out, it can help to review the RSVP list to remember names of players with face pictures on their profile. (Knowing the names of your teammates helps you communicate with them during the game.) If you arrive late, count the number of colors and non-colors or whites vs. darks to know which side you should probably join. Unless the organizer says otherwise, you can just join the side with fewer players, but the best thing is to wait until another player arrives and go on opposite teams simultaneously.
Each game location/venues has different players and organizers. Parking near the mall games during the week is difficult because they overlap with rush hour, but for the Tidal Basin games try Ohio Drive. Parking at other games is better. If you know of a good field closer to you and are willing to host and organize your own weekly game let me (Jason) know. If we can get a backup co-organizer I will probably decide to green light your venue and you will have no problem getting the players you need for hosting your own game. This flexibility we allow is why we don't allow the opposite (player recruitment or "poaching" of our best players for for own and probably expensive league not a part of our mostly free group) unless it helps the group overall. Call me at 240-471-5613 if you see any such behavior or have questions. That effort would be better spent helping our own games become better. Also let me know if you see any errors in any game descriptions, directions on where to meet, or have an idea of how to improve.
Curious why we have a treasurer when our games are usually free? The reason is because we are trying to improve our games by supplying all co-organizers with portable Pass goals. A set is only $80 and shrinks to the size of a briefcase suitable carrying on the Metro. If you would like to donate funds for goals and can spare $5 please hit the green chip in button. I hereby promise that 100% of any donations will either go towards goals or will otherwise be spent to make the games better. (I don't mind the fact that I pay for all meetup fees out of my own pocket since doing this actually allowed me to save money from being able to cancel my old $125/month sport and health membership. I personally preferred playing soccer with cool people over boring gym machines anyway. ) Selfish donations (earmarked only to make games you already are going to better) are especially encouraged.
We hope to see you at our next game!
Sincerely,
Jason Arthur Taylor, Organizer for Washington, DC Pick-up Soccer and Safer Soccer
P.S. I respond within 48 hours to all communications made directly to me including meetup.com chats; if you messaged me for any reason and I didn't respond, I didn't actually get your meetup.com message. Please email a copy and phone it.
P.P.S. Washington, DC Pick-up Soccer is not liable for any injuries that may occur while playing. By attending our games, you accept full responsibility of your person and belongings, waiving any right to hold the group, the field owners, or the field caretakers responsible.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Soccer ZeroCapital View Homewood Park, silver spring, MD
● Ultra-light ball (~1/8th as heavy as a normal 5). This allows zero chances of ball causing brain injury. (Hence the name, Soccer Zero.) It's also nice to do toe kicks!
● Injury-based foul system. This means that the rules apply even for same-team-side fouls, too. You can use your hands to protect yourself from the ball; hand balls are only called if you did it to gain an advantage. Yellow cards will cause the fouler to sit out for 120 seconds. Strong kicks of balls to anyone's head, called "face kicks", or nuts (for male players only), are yellow-card fouls even though the ball is so light it doesn't matter as much. This penalizes inconsiderate play, something we really do care about. Reckless players or anyone getting a red card is banned. (Before heading, you need to have an idea of where other nearby players are.) So, as an example, if you kicked the ball at high speed to your own teammate's head you have to sit out for 2 minutes.
● No out of bounds. This makes it more interesting and easier to ref.
● No offsides.
● No goalies for the senior team. (The senior team is the one that is ahead in points.) This rule is used in place of an offsides rule, since it implies you cannot win by sticking some fat player who stands in front of their relatively small Pugg goal all day long.
● Next point wins. The purpose of this rule is to prevent people from not caring at all if the score becomes very lopsided. However, it is not guaranteed any game will end this way. This keeps the incentive to try to to win using the traditional point system. At the 10-minute warning, if the scores are 2 or more different, the ref MAY ask the captain of the junior team if they want to have a next point wins ending. If the answer is yes, the captain of the senior team will be asked he they want to challenge it. If the answer is yes a coin is tossed. If the captain of the senior team correctly guesses the coin toss then there is no next point wins ending and whoever has the most points in 10 minutes wins the game. Players who cannot understand the rationale of this rule or who disrupt games by arguing about it could be de-rsvped from future games.
● Goal resizing. Sometimes a strong player comes on mid-game after teams were picked by the two captains. If someone like Ronaldo joins a team and/or both captains agree to goal resizing to make the game more balanced the game will be stopped and the goal sizes altered to make it more even.Games are in Silver Spring, MD. They are reffed. Clean red and blue pinnies are supplied. A weekly invitation including a recap of the prior week's game is sent out to any players who want to read it. See here (https://www.meetup.com/safersoccer/boards/thread/23643732/0/).
RSVPs aren't required but players who come but don't RSVP early are questionable. The reason is that it should increase their own enjoyment. You see, the ideal number of players for a pickup soccer game is perhaps 6x6 - 8x8; some players won't attend if they think the turnout will be low, and others will just assume the game will be cancelled even though we always play. (As a practical matter, smaller games are less fun since the comics won't have the audience they need, but, they do have two hidden benefits: shorter, more intense games/workouts and fewer face kicks/yellow cards. So we play no matter how small or large.) So non-RSVPers are a little short sighted, since they don't seem to want to maximize their own enjoyment in the long run. Rational and sane players who have a good chance of attending RSVP a week early here and in the subgroup. But, not all of our players are rational, so expect more people to show up than the # of RSVPs showing here.
Location map (cut & paste url into a browser)(park on Plyers Mill):
secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/2/1/7/2/600_364808562.jpeg
