We have often talked about the value of showing up to get things done. Hiding behind emails and texts can never be substituted for meeting someone and sharing ideas and information face to face, or with another old school idea, like a phone call if time and distance don’t work. Even in the socially crazed world we live in today, meeting someone and sharing a meal or a drink, or say…a soccer match…can’t be beat. Sorta.
Part of that element of showing up involves networking, the simple trading of information and ideas big and small to connect you from one person to another. Frivolously blasting people with intro’s on LinkedIn is a no no. Showing up at events to catch up with colleagues and meet new ones is really the way to go, and has helped so many expand their circles, their ideas, their friendships and their opportunities personally and professionally for as long as business has been done.
Then you have a different type of networking and showing up being done in a small soccer pitch in Los Angeles, similar to one that has been done in several places in a basketball court several years ago.
Meet The Association soccer league
Billed as a place where soccer and culture meet, and partially coordinated by colleague Mario Flores at Sportivo, The Association recently launched in Los Angeles with teams made up of colleagues at a wide variety of brands, ranging from SpaceX, and Beats by Dre, to Red Bull and Jason Markk.
Supported by adidas, El Jimador and Kia, games are played Thursday evenings with every week curated by a participating brand. A DJ lends the soundtrack to the evening while teams play on concrete fields enclosed by pallets that serve as fencing; night-club-style lighting lends a unique ambiance. Games are free to attend and open to all ages.
The five versus five influencer soccer league was built around merging street soccer, art, music, and fashion in a 10-week season at the adidas soccer L.A. Base, a futsal-style warehouse in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.
The goal is simple; have a curated group of like minded individuals come together to storytell about what they are doing to build their networks and see if there are common areas of collaboration. Each brand gets a chance to host and tell the latest and greatest, and then take to the pitch for some five on five competitive soccer.
While scores are kept, the real unique value are the potential scores for brand building and networking, with a collaborative passion around soccer and a drive for some cutting edge business development. Now social networks around curated leagues have existed for years; some of the biggest deals on Wall Street have been forged in highly competitive hoops games in places like Basketball City, and pickup soccer leagues have sprung up in urban areas pulling together a unique group of passionate players whose skills extend beyond a field and into entrepreneurship. However The Association being invitation only with a core of disruptive brands is a little different.
While we didn’t get a chance to attend this time out in LA, it is an idea that can have some very interesting upsides as sports, pop culture, entrepreneurship and art continue to converge, this time on a soccer pitch.
It’s a new type of competitive networking which goes beyond drinks and snacks. While it may not be for everyone, for an engaged group it is certainly something to watch. Let’s see how it plays out not just in final scores, but in some unique collaborative business ideas down the road.
