Do you call it soccer or fútbol? Either way, start cheering “Vamos!” Lace up your cleats and warm up because XL Soccer World is coming!
For those of us soccer fanatics who reside in Lake Nona, we usually take to pick-up games, school teams or Orlando City matches to get our fix. As of early 2019, we won’t have to travel far to take the pitch. XL Soccer is officially coming to Lake Nona and will break ground in early 2018!
The building will be located behind the Valencia campus next to the Lowe’s, which is currently under construction. Ciaran McArdle is one of the owners of XL Soccer World. He’s worked alongside his business partner, Kris Lamb, for 15 years with their soccer-specific travel company, XL Soccer Tours. Ten years ago, they started the indoor soccer business, and now Lake Nona gets to join the team.
“It’s incredibly exciting! We have been working on this for a long time, and to finally be able to announce it feels great. As a Lake Nona resident, it’s going to be fantastic to have an indoor soccer center on our doorstep. Tavistock has been tremendous to work with over the past couple of years, and they have shown they really care about having an active lifestyle as a big component of Lake Nona.”
XL Soccer World will be a 50,000-square-foot building with two indoor boarded turf fields, two hard-court futsal fields, birthday party rooms and XL Sideline, which is the soccer-themed café/bar. Of course, the building is 100% air conditioned, so it’s a pleasant temperature to play in, especially for living in Florida. The hard-court futsal fields are designed to be multi-purpose, so they can transform into volleyball courts. XL Soccer World will be able to assist the local volleyball, lacrosse and flag football programs with field space, in addition to soccer.
It’s no shocker that soccer has exploded in Orlando over the last couple of years. The Orlando City Lions have a booming fan base that took off instantly, and the Nonahood has large numbers of children and adults alike who enjoy passing the black and white ball. The closest XL Soccer World as of right now is about 40 minutes away from the Nonahood. Knowing how busy Lake Nona residents are and how we take pride in both our work and our play, having a location minutes away definitely will be beneficial. According to McArdle, residents can look forward to a whole lot of soccer!
“There will be adult leagues each night and on the weekends. We offer youth development programs from two years old all the way through to high school, along with soccer camps every week of the summer and during spring break. We offer pick-up soccer multiple nights of the week, too,” McArdle continues. “[Lake Nona residents can look forward to] games that aren’t rained out! Seriously, though, we can look forward to a soccer hub within the community. We don’t have somewhere we can take our children on a regular basis and not have to worry about the rain or it being too hot to play. The same goes for the adults, having regular adult leagues on a year-round basis in a climate-controlled facility encourages us all to play more or even try the game for the first time. We will have a place where we can all go and watch the Orlando City games and be surrounded by soccer fans.”
For those who have never kicked a soccer ball before, XL Soccer World is still something to look forward to. It’s a place to start playing for the first time.
“We have a league called ‘Fun and Frolics,’ which is specifically for players who have either never played before or aren’t too confident in their ability. It’s non-contact, and we don’t even turn the scoreboard on. It’s great fun, a great workout, and much less boring than going to the gym. It’s also going to be a great place to watch live MLS games, European soccer and the World Cup in 2022.”
McArdle encourages any fellow Lake Nona residents to talk soccer or make any suggestions if they see him out and about. We all know Lake Nona is rapidly growing, and XL Soccer World is just one of the many developments our community has to look forward to!
