Brothers Niko and Christakis Agisilaou are helping athletes hone their skills while bringing the community together through the third annual Street Soccer Bowl.
Located in Legion Park, Niko and Christakis have put together a tournament for players of all ages to compete at a high level on the lone outdoor court.
“It’s the only one (court) in the state of Kentucky, which is really cool for us to be able to host something like this,” Niko said. “We’ve played street soccer on tennis courts for over decades and then it’s been around my friends and family for awhile.”
There is a boys middle school division for ages 10-13, high school for ages 14-17 and an adult open division for ages 18 and up.
The 29 teams that registered all get three guaranteed games in hopes of competing in the semi-finals and finals of the tournament.
The games last two 15-minute halves with continuous subs, in order to get all players as much time and as many touches as possible.
With their family from overseas, Nikos and Christakis were inspired by the courts they saw on visits and have envisioned a tournament of this sort for a long time.
“My family is from Europe so when we were there on vacation and visiting family and stuff, we’d seen courts like this around every block whether it be a legit court made or someone putting two goals up and playing a futsal type deal outdoors… ” Niko said.
After missing the tournament last year because of COVID-19, the tournament opened up this year on June 13 with its largest field of play ever. Pairing that with food trucks like Kona Ice, Burrito Express and more makes for a great event for the community.
Ultimately that is the Agisilaou brothers goal, helping athletes improve their games and compete while also making this an event that everyone wants to come watch or be a part of.
“For me in all honesty, food trucks, sponsorships, businesses and all that, I’m all local,” Niko said. “I like the people that I have a relationship with and for them to be involved as well is huge for me and it’s fun to be around and everyone has a good time.”
Agisilaou said that being able to play in this environment is huge for kids, as it helps prepare them by gaining more experience.
“It’s huge and I think it’s bigger than they think as well,” Niko said. “They have a good time. They compete, they go out and play, they stay out of trouble… If you talk to higher level coaches in high school, college and even club, those coaches are like ‘man this stuff right here translates.’ Because if you go out right now and have an 11v11 game a kid may touch the ball maybe 15 times maximum. If you go out and play 5v5 a kid is touching the ball the same amount in a quarter of the time.”
While they just have the one court at the moment for use, Niko hopes that they continue to grow it for the kids and the community over the years.
“We would like to add other courts and stuff to grow this as much as we can,” Niko said. “It’s been great so far. Me and my brother kind of put this on because when we were younger if we had something like this we’d be in love with it.”
For now, the semi-finals are set to take place today, while the finals will take place on Friday at Legion Park for anyone interested in watching some soccer and supporting local businesses through the food trucks.
