US Youth Soccer Presents the 2024 Grassroots Symposium: Building on a Legacy of Inclusivity and Impact
Event Information
Event Location: Salt Lake City, Utah | September 20-22
US Youth Soccer proudly presents the 2024 Grassroots Symposium, a testament to our commitment to fostering inclusivity, belonging, and positive impact through the beautiful game. Building on the success of previous editions, this year’s Symposium will take place in the vibrant city of Salt Lake City, Utah, bringing together soccer practitioners, administrators, and visionaries from across the nation. New for the 2024 event will be a series of workshop presentations focused on TOPSoccer and the disability soccer community.
Empowering Soccer Practitioners:
The heart of the 2024 Grassroots Symposium lies in equipping soccer practitioners – program administrators, executive directors, board members, and coaches – with the tools they need to create programs deeply rooted in inclusivity and belonging. Our goal is to empower those who shape the future of youth soccer, ensuring that every child, regardless of background or ability, finds a place to thrive within the soccer community.
Uniting Diverse Organizations:
This year’s event is set to unite not only traditional soccer clubs, leagues, and associations but also nonprofits that leverage soccer as a powerful tool for positive impact. By bringing together these diverse entities, we aim to create a collaborative space where ideas are shared, partnerships are forged, and collective strategies are developed to maximize the positive influence of soccer on the lives of young people and families.
Event Highlights:
- Engaging Workshops: Dive into interactive workshops covering a spectrum of topics, from effective coaching methodologies to building inclusive soccer programs. We are excited to feature tailored content created in collaboration with TOPS Soccer and other disability inclusion experts.
- Dynamic Keynotes: Gain insights from renowned figures in the soccer world, whose stories and experiences will inspire and motivate.
- Networking Opportunities: Connect with like-minded individuals, fostering relationships that extend beyond the symposium and contribute to the growth of the soccer community.
Schedule
Please review the tentative schedule for the 2024 US Youth Soccer Grassroots Symposium. All items are subject to change.
Friday, September 20
Time | Activity | Location | Details |
---|---|---|---|
1:00PM – 4:00PM | Optional TOPSoccer Training | Utah Youth Soccer Association (Transportation will be provided from the hotel) | https://fs23.formsite.com/USYS/66nls17ia9/index |
5:30PM – 8:30PM | Happy Hour presented by Traveling Teams | USYS Hosted Social | Squatters Pub | Heavy Appetizers and Beverages will be shared thanks to our Summit Week sponsor, Traveling Teams |
Saturday, September 21
Time | Activity |
---|---|
7:30AM – 8:30AM | Breakfast: Wasatch Ballroom |
8:30AM – 10:30AM | Opening Plenary, Community Building, and Keynote Panel: Led by Diana Cutaia | Founder – Coaching Peace |
10:45AM – 12:00PM | Concurrent Workshop Sessions Strengthening Readiness for Executive Transitions: Mary Connor State of Soccer in Urban Environments: Coalition Building – Andrea Rodgers | Executive Director – Starfinder Foundation Small Sided Games with purpose for Grassroots & Adaptive Programs: Christina Lewis | Adaptive Sports, Player and Youth Development – Sporting Nebraska FC Supporting the Mental Health of Girls through Sports: Dr. Ramona Cox | Director of Champions Network – Doc Wayne |
12:00PM – 12:45PM | Lunch: Wasatach Ballroom |
12:45PM – 2:00PM | Quick Learns (4 – 15 minute sessions) + Informal Networking |
2:15PM – 3:30PM | Concurrent Workshop Sessions Coming Together for Youth Mental Wellbeing Claudia Larrea | Grants and Programs Manager – Beyond Sport Coach D Williams | Founder – Get Fit Fly Right Fundraising Strategies from the Field: Grassroots Fundraising for Youth Organizations – Andrew So | Executive Director – South Bronx United We Can’t Do it Alone: The Importance of Partnerships in Youth Soccer Nneka Arinze | Sport for Good Atlanta Manager | Laureus Sport for Good USA Caroline Foscato | Founder – Soccer Unity Project Adaptive Soccer Organizations Amanda Duke Boulet | Director of Performance – US Association of Blind Athletes Josh McKinney | Hall of Famer and Para-Olympian Kendra Halterman | Executive Director – USA Deaf Soccer Association Joslynn Bigelow | President – United Adaptive Soccer Association |
3:45PM – 4:15PM | Closing Plenary (Giveaways, Regional Community Building, Intention Setting for Day Two) |
4:15PM – 5:00PM | Attendee Happy Hour |
5:00PM – 5:45PM | Busses depart for America First Field (every 15 minutes) |
5:30PM – 7:00PM | Patio Pre-Game Hosted by USYS |
7:00PM – 9:00PM | Real Salt Lake vs. Portland Timbers |
9:00PM – 9:15PM | Busses return to Radisson Downtown |
Sunday, September 22
Time | Activity |
---|---|
7:00AM – 8:00AM | Breakfast: Wasatch Ballroom |
8:00AM – 8:30AM | US Soccer Opening Remarks: Road to 2026: All Soccer is Soccer |
8:45AM – 9:45AM | Concurrent Workshop Sessions Using Low- and No-Cost Emerging Innovation to Accelerate Impact: Safer Soccer Communities, Coach Training, and Player Development – Brooke Wurst | Managing Director – RAIS3 Partners” Title TBD: Creating Opportunities for All Players: Special Olympics, Unified Soccer and TOPSoccer – TBD | Special Olympics North America and Tamie Endow | MASS Youth Soccer and Filip Handl | Sacramento Republic Radical Collaboration to Improve Youth Experiences: Danielle King | Training Manager – Up2Us and Joe Marinkovich | Programming Director – Football for the World |
10:00AM – 11:15AM | Concurrent Workshop Sessions The Risks & Rewards of being a ROCKSTAR Coach Mentor: Patricia Cobb Richardson | Founder and Managing Director -Circles of Connections and Resilience and Jose Herrera | Program Coordinator – SWB Oakland and Alana Humphrey | Program Specialist – Senior at Independent Health Foundation Ye-Htet Soh | Program Manager – SWB Oakland and Swap Mushiana | Director of Behavioral Health and Wellness – SWB and Jennifer Tepper | Executive Director – SWB Switch the Pitch: Exploring Identity, Equity and Anti-Racism on and off the Pitch: Nora Dooley | Director of Soccer Without Borders Assist | Soccer Without Borders and CJ Brown | Director of Community Soccer – Chicago Fire FC Strategic Planning: From Ideas to Action Steps for Implementation: Anna Lavis | Head of Soccer Growth Strategy- US Soccer |
11:30AM – 12:30PM | Closing Plenary: Athlete Speaker TBD |
Registration and Hotel Information
Please use the following link to register online. Early bird pricing is $175/person and ends July 22. Regular pricing is $225/person and ends September 15. Link: Registration is now open!
- Friday evening social
- Breakfast, lunch, and coffee breaks on Saturday
- Ticket to RSL match on Saturday evening
- Transportation to/from America First Field
- Dinner and one beverage at the stadium
- Breakfast and coffee break on Sunday
- Access to Conference App
- Conference Materials distributed digitally through the app
- All programming (including plenary sessions, keynote addresses, breakout sessions, and networking opportunities)
If you can no longer attend the 2024 Grassroots Symposium, refunds are possible. Cancellations received in writing/via email before August 15th, 2024, will receive a full refund. Refund requests made after that date will receive a 50% refund.
You also are able to transfer your registration to another person, free of charge. Please inform Jessie Nance (jessie@luminanceconsulting.com).
When and where will the Symposium be hosted?
The 2024 Grassroots Symposium will be held in Salt Lake City, at the Radisson Downtown Salt Lake City from Friday, September 20 to Sunday, September 22
Is there a room block with discounted rates?
US Youth has secured a special rate of $139/night at the Radisson Downtown. The Room Block closes on August 15.
We highly recommend booking your hotel as early as possible. There is a citywide convention at the same time as our event and hotels in the entire city will be extremely limited! You can cancel reservations up to 72 hours in advance without penalty.
US Youth Soccer has secured a special group rate of $139/night at the event venue, the Radisson Downtown Salt Lake City.
Link: Grassroots Symposium + Leadership Summit – Start your reservation (passkey.com)
2024 Grassroots Symposium Event FAQ
The 2024 Grassroots Symposium will host leaders from state associations and community-based nonprofits running innovative soccer programming from across the country. Through carefully curated plenary sessions and workshop sessions, attendees will have ample time to engage in working groups with other stakeholders and develop action plans. Expert facilitators will guide attendees through working sessions where time is dedicated to building relationships, strategic planning, and shared understanding of how to grow the game of soccer at all levels in this country. Spending time in working groups will allow all attendees to better understand the barriers to access, and the resources available to reduce silos and build stronger programming across the country, in a localized context.
US Youth Soccer and its advisors understand the importance of using collaboration to advance the opportunities for all young players and their families. We look forward to having the best and brightest minds in attendance at the 2024 Grassroots Symposium. In addition to structured content, attendees will benefit from informal networking moments including USYS hosted happy hours and meals.
If you are involved with a soccer-based youth serving organization, or an organization that runs soccer programming, we highly encourage you to attend. Sessions will be tailored to individuals that are decision-makers at the administrative level, fundraisers and development personnel, and programmatic leadership.
Depending on the size of your organization, we recommend 1-4 members of your team plan on joining the event. We will have up to four concurrent workshops running at a time. There will be ample work time in both the plenary sessions and the workshop sessions so your team can engage in strategic planning and action steps to take the work back to your local communities!
Reach out to Jessie Nance (jessie@luminanceconsulting.com) to inquire about group rates.
We highly encourage all attendees to plan on attending the entirety of the Symposium. As much work will be done in collaboration with other attendees, we appreciate you contacting Jessie Nance (jessie@luminanceconsulting.com) to inform of us an early departure.
We will share the preliminary schedule in mid-July. Exciting updates and announcements will continue to be announced as we continue to build content with our committee of nation-wide experts.
In the meantime, the flow of the event is as follows. We recommend arriving by 4pm on Friday, so that you can join us for our kick-off happy hour to build connections with fellow attendees!
US Youth strives to create an inclusive and respectful space for all attendees. To do so, we have incorporated several resources to increase accessibility, including language interpreters if requested, all-gender restrooms, physical and emotional accessibility resources, fragrance-free spaces, and more.
During the registration process, registrants are given the opportunity to express their accessibility & disability needs. If there is a specific request in which you need a reasonable accommodation, please reach out to the US Youth team.
We will provide more information as we get closer to the conference.
Follow us on social media for updates: @USYouthSoccer | #Grassroots2024