This is where we started: the desire to create a few week-long summer soccer camps. The kind ubiquitous in other parts of the city — but quite rare in Pleasant Grove.

Why is that? Simple, because there’s no money to be made. So, the kids get ignored.

We wanted to fill the gap.

Quick, personal story: I got one summer soccer camp when I grew up in Pleasant Grove. (Of course, I had to travel north of I-30 to go …). To this day, I have ZERO idea how my mom came up with the money to pay for it. But she did. I was crazy-excited to go. I got there an hour early on the first day.

I still remember, all these years later, a couple of things that I learned at that camp. (One coach who would go on to play and coach professionally, Glenn Myernick, yelled at me for not looking around while I waited for a pass! I never forgot that!)

I want kids in Pleasant Grove to have that. (Not the yelling — just the lessons. And the fun!)

So the same camp that I was helped run and create north of I-30, the camp for which we charged $200-plus, we now run for $25. That’s for the entire week. And we only charge that so the campers and their parents will be a little bit invested. (Also, we happily offer scholarships for any family that might struggle to pay even that much.)

We’ve branched out since then. We do a lot more. But that was the germination of it all. And we’re hoping to do even more of those each summer ahead.