Sportstutor excited for partnership with Louisville City FC

July 20, 2020 | 12:07 am

Updated July 19, 2020 | 10:36 pm

Graphic by Owensboro Times

For nearly two decades, Sportstutor has been progressing the game of soccer throughout the Owensboro area, but now the company is extending its reach even further with a new partnership with Louisville City FC and Racing Louisville. 

Louisville City FC currently plays in the United Soccer League, while their counterpart Racing Louisville plays in the National Women’s Soccer League. 

Sportstutor founder/director Ty Stauffer said the idea has come a long way in the past 18 years. 

“I was in the backyard just messing around with my kids and one thing kind of led to another and next thing I know, they had a bunch of kids in the backyard teaching them tricks and things,” he said. 

What started with an hour of basketball and an hour of soccer instruction turned into one of the premier futsal programs in the midwest. 

Futsal is played on a smaller area than normal soccer and is mostly played inside. It focuses more on foot skills and teamwork given the players have less space to operate. 

“I think kids would learn more,” Stauffer said as his reasoning to focus on futsal. 

The decision turned out to be a pretty good one. 

“We were kind of one of the early adapters of futsal in the country,” he said. “We would go to the national tournament, we’d be really competitive. In the region, we were one of the top programs in the region.”

As time went on, Stauffer saw what was happening with some of the professional youth programs and knew they needed to gain ground in outdoor soccer. 

“Those professional entities have their own youth teams and the distance between where we were playing and the top level of youth soccer just became greater and greater over the last 6-8 years,” he said. “We have some really good kids and their exposure to things just became more difficult. It became more difficult for us to get into certain tournaments.”

He said they figured out how to serve as a middle man to help families find what step was best for them. 

Stauffer and Sportstutor looked at different area clubs in Kansas City, Cincinnati and Louisville. 

“It became apparent that we need something to help us expose our players at a younger age to what the opportunities could be and what that atmosphere looked like,” he said. “Being in a professional environment, seeing how a professional team trains, seeing the facilities — those are all important things. It was showing the kids the picture and what a dream could look like.”

With those other cities, the distance became too much. 

Stauffer said they wanted something less than two hours from Owensboro so Louisville’s proximity, plus its NWSL team, proved to be the deciding factor. 

Discussions started last year around Christmas, but COVID-19 put a hold on the process for a time. 

Stauffer said this is a huge chance for their younger players to see something they wouldn’t always be able to see. 

“There’s still some details to be worked out but I do think it’ll give our young players, kids under the age of 12, the opportunity to see a professional environment and what the scene could look like for them as early as 13-14 to making the step in competitive youth soccer,” he said. 

Stauffer said he’s looking forward to the kids seeing what this partnership means. 

“I can get up in front of these kids, some of our older kids can get in front of them and try to explain what the pathway looks like and what they’re going to experience but it’s a lot different than actually seeing it,” he said. 

July 20, 2020 | 12:07 am

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