SoccerZone
SoccerZone
Written by Darcie Duttweiler Friday, 26 September 2008
Tim Medina, co-owner of SoccerZone, has never played on a soccer team.
“People ask me all the time how I can own a soccer facility and not play,” he said. “I tell them it would be like an alcoholic owning a bar.”
Medina, however, does coach soccer, a hobby that came upon him unexpectedly. Before his son was born, Medina toured as the bassist for Outlaw Circus and opened for Warrant and Quiet Riot. After his son was born, Medina decided to shelve the nomadic musician’s life.
One day while kicking around a ball, Medina’s 4-year-old son decided he wanted to play soccer but was too young to enter a league. Medina, still rebellious from his rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, lied about his son’s age and entered him anyway.
“They totally busted me,” he said. “They said he could stay in the league if I coached him. So I read up on it and decided I could do it.”
After coaching for the Town and Country Optimist Soccer Club, where he became a commissioner, and working his day job as the Central Texas district manager for Discovery Zone, a children’s entertainment venue, Medina met Jon Horton, another soccer coach. The two decided Austin needed a better indoor soccer field.
“There was only one in Austin,” Medina said. “It was dingy, and the [air conditioner] was broken. We thought we could do better. It took two-and-a-half years of begging, borrowing and researching, but we did it.”
In 2004, Medina and Horton opened SoccerZone in Cedar Park. After its success, they soon eyed the south.
“A lot of people play down south, and we thought we could own all of Austin,” Medina said.
The partners approached Darren Brown, a property tax and general business lawyer who played in a league at SoccerZone, for advice on land on Manchaca Road.
“They came to me for help with property tax issues, and I told them I wanted to help run the south location,” Brown said.
Brown now practices law part-time while co-owning and managing SoccerZone South. Medina may admit to not playing soccer, but Brown is an avid player.
“I’ve played since I was 4,” he said. “I always wanted to open an indoor facility because there never was one [growing up]. I played football in high school and college, but I always loved soccer.”
SoccerZone South opened April 1 with a $3.2 million facility that is 44 feet tall and 35,000 sq. ft. It includes a large field for league play, as well as lacrosse and flag football games, and a smaller field designed by Medina for three by three games.
Players can purchase membership cards to participate in the leagues, where scores are updated online, and kids can participate in ultimate Frisbee tournaments, Soccer Tots programs or after-school classes to learn sports such as dodgeball and wiffleball.
“It’s not just a soccer facility,” Brown said.
The space is also available for birthday parties. Children can play Wii and arcade games or bounce on “Chaos,” an octopus-shaped inflatable apparatus with three slides.
“Mia Hamm has even played on it,” Medina said.
Indoor vs. outdoor
Besides the ability to play year round, indoor soccer varies slightly from the outdoor version of the sport.
- The field is smaller and covered with turf.
- Since turf is harder than grass, no slide tackling is allowed.
- The boundaries are walled, meaning no ball is out of bounds unless it is lobbed over the wall.
- Teams have six players on the field rather than 11.
- Games are 45 minutes instead of 90.
- Goals are smaller.
SoccerZone, 9501 Manchaca Road, 280-2244, www.soccerzonesouthaustin.com
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