The Pirates Story
Pirates are the cheapest all-year competitive UYSA youth soccer boys team in the SLC Utah area. Think a few hundred dollars TOTAL, not thousands of dollars to start and lots later.------------------- OUR ANNUAL FEES -------------------⚽ UYSA Registration -- $83
(due when registering)⚽ Uniforms & Gear -- $50 used or $175 new
(due Sep. 1st)
4 game uniform sets + training gear⚽ Team Fees -- $100-200+
(due Sep. 1st)
After sponsor donation deductions, all remaining costs we simply split together including: training rentals , fields, refs, winter games, new equipment, GK gear, team events, etc.
------------------------------------------------------------------There are no hidden fees above and no surprise added fees going to be asked of you later. Our generous sponsors, DMS and others, donate to reduce costs for all. We don't waste money on tournament travel, we have lots of useful equipment and we are wise with any needed expenses.Pirates Head Coach Mike Firpo has been a firm believer and national advocate for decades for decreasing the impossible costs, time and travel of Rec and Comp youth soccer in North America - for ALL kids and families. Believing we could get many more players and families playing (and staying) in the game if soccer is affordable for all, not just the affluent or those OK spending small fortunes. Coach Firpo believes only a few club and ODP teams per state truly need to travel for competition, rarely. Having worked professionally in soccer and travel for decades Coach Firpo feels most travel should be left for families to decide, not for youth teams to play nearby teams in distant places or against similar levels to Utah.Pirates are proof that soccer / futbol does not need to bankrupt families of precious money and time -- while filling a team with happy players out to meet their potential, together.Coach Firpo is now a 1-team-only volunteer coach of 20+ years experience. He coaches to give back to the sport he loves, help boys reach their futbol potential and to develop strong men and future community leaders that will impact soccer and wider society positively with integrity, intelligence, creativity, care and respect for all others.Coach has many inspirational stories and quotes he shares with the Pirates players all year long but two stand out. One is even printed on our white Unidos uniform set to remind us to succeed we must risk failure and try."Who Dares Wins"
A Greek, Roman and British saying that the people who are bold and risk are the ones who get what they want in life."Football is one religion, and everybody's welcome"
Quoted by Zlatan Ibrahimovic, this reminds us that we are all together in this big beautiful sport that unifies the world.After moving from his home in New York City to Utah in 2004, Coach Firpo started coaching locally in various indoor and outdoor leagues for youth and adults. His early adult soccer networking group would go on to become the largest continual free adult pickup group for players in Salt Lake and nearby counties, which would grow and spread into many more pickup groups statewide. This group would later become UTAH SOCCER - a popular Facebook group for Utah youth soccer, adult soccer and pro soccer players, coaches, administrators, refs and fans.Since forming as U6s, Pirates has come in 1st or 2nd over 30 times in various indoor and outdoor leagues and tournaments. Our boys have made regional ODP, MLS, USL and UPSL youth teams in 4 different states.Pirates are strongly encouraged to play High School soccer in spring and try to become school captains and model student athletes on and off the field. Coach Mike Firpo is adamant development of youth footballers doesn't have to be at the exclusion of high school soccer, a unique experience that complements the Pirates all-year club commitment.Many of our players are #10s (playmakers) at their high school soccer teams because of their technical competency and creativity. Pirates has continuously been known for a fun to play (and watch) style of attacking fútbol. Winning but playing poorly = boredom and a chore or work. This in-turn leads to later burn-out for many kids and well-meaning parents who want the best for their children. Youth soccer development doesn't have to be so hard. Futbol should be joy, not pain.Coach Firpo's Pirates have DEVELOPED national level youth soccer players, most from little or no previous competitive soccer before joining us. In other words, we coach, we don't poach players to form an all-star team, win games at all costs and charge parents insane prices to travel to wasteful tournaments, missing valuable training, growth and fun. That is not development, that is player collecting.Pirates have very proudly NEVER club passed a player in any UYSA (Utah Youth Soccer Association) game. Everything we do is us. We don't borrow players to win games, leagues or tournaments and claim the laurels. That is also, not development, nor fair to the teams and players who comprise those teams all year long. Having someone come in to take your test for you and get an "A" but you get the credit, does not help you, them or your group. It creates team issues, player confidence suffers and it masks real development.Winning should never trump youth development. That is fine for pros and adults, not for mentally healthy kids. Pirates is about both winning and losing (mirroring life) and learning from all of it. Everything can be used for growth, if we allow it.Most learning comes from loss or rejection -- think Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Beckham, Messi, billionaires, celebrities or the successful people you know personally. If a player joins a statewide all-star team and just wins for social bragging rights, yet has done little growth -- they have wasted vital time. Though it may feel great initially, invisible potential is often squandered. We have to let kids struggle too in order to grow fully, whether that's today, next month or years from now.One Pirate moved to Nebraska to become the youngest ever player in the Olympic Development Program (ODP) there, later moving to Texas to join the FC Dallas Academy of MLS. Two of our boys started with Pirates as rec goalkeepers and became US Youth Soccer & ECNL national champion attackers. Hairo Campos, a 2007, won the USYS 2023 Elite64 National Championship playing up with 05-06 boys.Below is former Pirate Jace Thomsen scoring the final PK to win the 2021 US Youth Soccer National Championships.
🏆 This goal would mark the first time ever that a Utah team won a boys national championship in soccer! 🏆
Jace was named to the USYS Nationals Best XI in 2021 and ECNL All Conference First Team in 2023.
Most of our 2007s are younger (born later) and the majority of the team actually plays 1 to 2 years up an age level as 2008s and 2009s ~ improving their growth potential. Our boys improve in skill and character through a tough-but-fair meritocratic (earned not given) all-year environment of training and games that encourages growth, teamwork, sacrifice and accountability ~ while having fun playing skillfully. We truly value creative soccer / futbol whether it is on grass, turf, sand, concrete, wood or rubber.Pirates' main ingredient to our development special sauce is FUN! Pirates players talk about and watch lots of football games from leagues and tournaments from all over the world. Pirates players and families truly love soccer and understand our place in the most global sport. We play it freely as street footballers but we love it as fans too. That makes training (solo or with the team) and development a joy, not pain.How can a child be expected to get good at something in a vacuum of not understanding the whole game, not grasping tactics required at higher levels because they never mastered technique early on, not getting the needed support of their family and the increasing feeling like soccer is grueling?They cannot. So few (especially the less priveleged) make it to the top or stay for long in a youth dev ecosystem like that.That is why one of the first things a new Pirate gets assigned to do when they join the team is to watch a film called Concrete Football. It's a wonderful documentary about the dynamic street soccer scene in France that has made a previously non World Cup winning nation into the best continuous producer of modern worldclass football talent. France did this by embracing their entire population, turning to the creative game owned by children (not adults) and produced Zinedine Zidane and thousands of amazing players that fill the world's best clubs and several national teams.The film shows our newest boys (some of whom are coming from Sunday Leagues, Rec or little organized futbol prior) how being a player need not be expensive to develop skill, grow passion, nurture talent and make soccer a lifelong love, for all people. In this way, Pirates players quickly become aware that they are a part of the world's biggest common activity ... futbol ... and if they want to get good too, they just need to embrace the ball, play alot and have a bunch of fun doing it!Soccer is a highly technical team sport that requires the mind to overcome exhaustion (mistakes) in order to win. To individually excel you need to be creative, flexible and inventive, not just robotically running and repeating. Pirates encourages players to become true "artist athletes" on-field - learning, adapting, daring and trying new things.Coach Firpo has been a North American soccer builder and advocate since the 1990s with a strong belief that youth fútbol and all sports should be fun, not a chore or work, and that youth soccer should be free or VERY low cost for all kids. This is how he fell in love with the global game in NYC.There are many totally free and fun ways to play competitive youth soccer - if coaches, clubs, families and players are creative, steadfast and help make it work together and don't spend too much time and money following pushy FOMO marketing, academy salesmen, free college ride mirages, pro dream peddlers and false promisers that end up doing more harm than good for kids who just want to play soccer.Pirates players have solo training requirements to do at home called HTS ~ Home Training Series where they use a ball, a wall, a few feet of space and little else but their imagination and ingenuity to work hard while having fun outside of games, scrimmages, team trainings and events to work on their individual skills and creativity. That confidence building they do by mastering the ball, propels our boys further-faster and keeps them wanting to improve and stay in the game. We have proven that expensive extra private training while nice if you can afford it, is not necessary if a player puts in the time, creativity, initiative and has ownership over their own growth.Coach Firpo hopes more teams, clubs and leagues in Utah and nationwide can follow the Pirates' example of real affordable, creative and fun local futbol that builds champions on and off the field, while letting families and players save valuable time and resources.We are not about shiny trophies, money (our coach does it free), traveling to waste family free time/money or glory-hunting. Pirates is about loyalty for our tiny but mighty team, love of our beloved fútbol - "The World's Game", playing creative skillful and fun attacking soccer, respect for ALL, the thrill of competition, building character, showing leadership, perpetual growth, training hard together and at home, dedication to discipline and accountability, giving back to the group and community, belief in the development process, team first always and 100% PASSION in all we do.To join other young men devoted to growth, character building, helping community, reaching soccer potential, creative fun futbol and giving to the team ~ click below.
