Free The Game: A Mission to Bring Street Soccer to Youth

Joining a soccer team often comes with a high cost, excluding youth in lower socioeconomic classes. Finding space to play soccer for free can be difficult for youth in these communities, but Travis Winn is working to change this. 

Calle, a lifestyle brand founded by Winn, was originally established in 2022 but investors took it in a different direction starting in 2012. In 2019, Winn worked to revive the brand with a renewed purpose: empowering youth through street soccer. 

“You just needed a ball and some friends, and they would make goals in between this crack and that wall. It’s a very innocent and simple game that unites countries.”

“One of the biggest regrets from Calle 1.0 was [that] we never built a court where people could play when we were gone,” Winn explains. “I bought the rights to the brand back [because] I felt like I wasn’t done with what the mission was.” This led to Free the Game, a nonprofit where 10% of all Calle sales go toward building free-access soccer courts in underserved communities.

Free the Game recognizes the paywall young players face when wanting to play soccer. Parents are put under immense stress to pay for travel expenses and club dues. Free the Game’s free courts are taking the struggle away and providing equal opportunity to all youth, no matter their gender or economic background.

Winn himself feels that frustration. “Soccer is the poor man’s sport. That’s why it traveled to the rest of the world,” Winn explains. “You just needed a ball and some friends, and they would make goals in between this crack and that wall. It’s a very innocent and simple game that unites countries. But in America, it’s become very exclusive to be at the top levels.”

Free the Game emphasizes fun and personal growth over strict competition, which not only builds skilled athletes but also fosters a love for the game. Winn holds that love for soccer personally, as he has played soccer all his life. He was first introduced to street soccer when he served an LDS mission in Spain and saw firsthand how effective it was at engaging and teaching youth.

Street soccer differs from traditional soccer in several ways. Street soccer is fast-paced in a 4v4 game, whereas field soccer is 11v11 and gives players fewer opportunities to interact directly with the ball. Winn describes why street soccer is effective at teaching kids the game: “As you shrink the space you have, it pressurizes it a little bit; it’s constant play,” he says. “It trains the kids to be efficient and proficient. A smaller space equates to a greater level of success.”

Free the Game has successfully built two courts, one in Sugarhouse Park and one in Sherwood Park. Salt Lake City was recently given a major $350,000 grant to make four additional courts in various parks. Winn has big plans for the Valley after these courts are completed. “We want to create a network of interconnected courts where communities are thriving,” he says.

“It trains the kids to be efficient and proficient. A smaller space equates to a greater level of success.” 

Winn is proud of what Free the Game has begun to build in Salt Lake and shares a special experience he had while driving by the Sugarhouse court. He was having a rough week and says, “I was like, ‘If someone’s playing there, it’ll be worth it. It would feel good after this shitty week if someone was playing on it.’ It was a blessing.”

You can follow Free the Game’s journey through their website freethegame.org or on Instagram @free.the.game. You can also follow Calle @calleslc and support their business in downtown SLC at 625 S 600 W. 10% of all purchases are donated to Free the Game and will help to build more courts across Utah. 

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