Soccer in East Charlotte

Monday, 16 February 09, 01:25 AM · Comments (0)

While Charlotte, North Carolina has grown by leaps and bounds over the last two decades, anyone who drove through Charlotte's east side, or "Eastland", for the first time could hardly tell.

As a native Eastlander it pains me to say that the stories of violence, decay and neglect are mostly true. Businesses are evaporating, homes and businesses sit abandoned and in an extra insult, the area was hit especially hard by the recent recession.

Soccer is somewhat popular in East Charlotte, probably moreso than the majority of Charlotte which largly favors basketball (and Eastland is no exception). On a trip through Eastland one will notice tennis courts which have been converted for futsal use, and public soccer fields which are often in use.

Those reasons are why it came as no surprise to me that Concrete2Green, a company founded by Akbar Majeed specializing in transforming abandoned urban areas into soccer pitches, recently chose Eastland Mall's seldom used ice hockey rink as the location for their newest project, an indoor soccer court.

I sincerly hope the project is successful and will allow the people at C2G to continue their work elsewhere, as their hearts are in the right place.

Despite being stereotyped in a America as an expensive suburban summer sport, soccer is the people's game, and the more people who have opportunies to play it the better.

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