Expanding and Keeping Up the Great Work

As one of Play Where You Stay’s most impactful supporters, your past contributions have allowed PWYS to grow into a premier sports organization that makes soccer in Memphis more accessible, inclusive, competitive, and joyful.

To share our appreciation, we will be reaching out four times per year to share details of PWYS news, programs, and initiatives.

Thank you for being a part!

When Play Where You Stay was founded in 2018, programming focused on bringing soccer to Memphis neighborhoods for children ages 5 to 11 by creating an after-school barrier-free opportunity to learn, play, and exercise in nearby lots and parks. In 2019, we launched a competitive program for children ages 12 to 18 to supplement middle and high school team sport experiences with skilled off-season “club” play and competitive training.

In the fall of 2021, Play Where You Stay supported Snowden’s Middle School girl’s team. We learned that school teams face challenges finding skilled soccer coaches and accessing appropriate equipment to ensure players maximize their potential and get a great experience learning a team sport.

This spring, in partnership with 901 Girls With Goals, we are supporting teams at Wooddale High School and Lester Middle School. Together we are providing a PWYS coach and soccer equipment. Both teams have a winning record!

We also expanded to Wells Station and Sherwood Elementary Schools bringing our signature K-5 instructional program to the campuses.

Working with schools is a great way to increase access and share the sport at a higher level. We are excited to learn from these initial pilot opportunities as they adjust and grow.

While we were able to fill an entire roster for our PWYS HS Girls team in 2021, we had a tough time recruiting Middle Schoolers. Due to several factors including COVID, visibility of PWYS, and the additional barrier to sports specific to young girls, we weren’t able to roster a full 11v11 Middle School Girls team that year. Instead, we began with small aside training for those interested players.

However, in 2022 we saw an increase in the number of Middle Schoolers trying out for our program. We were able to roster 22 players for our PWYS MS Girls team and they are competing at the Memphis Shelby Soccer Federation League at Mike Rose Soccer Complex. So far, it is a learning season for these players—many of whom are new to the game.

The HS Girls team, now in their second complete season, is having a great start to their MSSF League season after finishing third place in the Greenfield Indoor Winter League. We are very proud and thankful for all the work the coaches are doing!