Youth 4 Youth Helping To Level Off Soccer’s Uneven Playing Field

Free clinics, camps and showcases

His idea blossomed into Youth 4 Youth FC, an organization that allows soccer players – boys and girls – to play without paying money while allowing them to improve their skills and demonstrate them to recruiters at the college and pro levels at showcases.

The players are coached by individuals who are not much older than they are. Those coaches have experienced the rollercoaster ride of youth soccer and understand what players go through.

“I think making free programming for soccer is incredible,” Marisa Kresge, Director of Youth Development at Gotham FC, said in a recent interview. “The more opportunities that we can expand towards players and not limit them either geographically or financially, is just huge for the growth of the game. To see it right in our backyard in New York City and looking into the surrounding areas to provide these high-level opportunities, it’s really cool. It’s an awesome experience to be able to be a part of and help support and grow.”

Kresge wasn’t alone in her assessment.

“They offer a great platform for players to showcase themselves,” said Selvin Jimenez, head of scouting for the Guatemala Under-23 national team. “When it is not pay-to-play, you can get the best talent around.”

Youth 4 Youth is born in high school

Babini grew up in lower Manhattan in New York City and played for several youth clubs and academies, Downtown United Soccer Club, Brooklyn FC, Met Oval Academy, Manhattan Soccer Club, and the U.S. Development Academy.

“I started to realize that the pro game wasn’t for me,” he said. “It wasn’t going to happen for me because I had been missing something. That was really sort of brotherhood, mentorship, having someone who I could look up to, who had lived the journey and could guide me through it.”

At 16, Babini was allowed to pursue a high school project, with a $300 budget, for one year.

“Which, at the time, was cool,” he said. “Sounded like a lot of money.

“I thought, what had I been missing in my journey? What would have really helped me? I always think I had, like, consistency and confidence problems as a player. And I think part of that was because I just didn’t really have the right guidance, and I didn’t know what mattered and what didn’t. I knew I wanted to create something.”

It’s one thing to think of an idea; it’s another to see it realized and grow, especially by someone so young.

“I wanted to at least try to bring it to life,” Babini said.

Babini started coaching children in local parks. He and a few friends would go up to groups of kids that were perhaps three or four years younger than them.

“Hey, we’re going to run you through a session, and we’re going to film it,” he said to them. “It’s going to be free. The kids would at first be like, ‘Who are you?’ But eventually it started to become a reputation.”

When he committed to attend Brown University at 18, Babini decided to incorporate Youth 4 Youth FC.

“I was like, ‘Okay, I don’t know if I’m going to end up playing at Brown or not,” he said. “I wanted to make sure, like this summer and moving forward, I have something really valuable from the game. I have a way to not exploit but like to make use of all this time that I’ve dedicated to it.”

It has grown tremendously in five years

Babini, a modern culture and media major as a part-time student at Brown, has turned Youth 4 Youth FC into a full-time job. Jackson Ten Oever is the club’s technical director, and Keanu Stingone is the director of coaching. The club has 40 coaches.

Youth 4 Youth just grew and grew. It has seasonal showcases. It recently held two on Randall’s Island in New York City for boys and girls. It provides private and small group training, clinics for players (between the ages of nine and 18), mentorship, and college showcases.

Making sure players can find the right mentors was a big deal to Babini. He felt he and his staff could share their wisdom and experiences with younger players.

“There’s nobody bridging the gap,” he said. “There’s nobody connecting the mentor to the mentee. We thought, how do we get 50 coaches and ambassadors who played at the Division 1 or perhaps professional level, and then now we’ve over a thousand players that we match up.

“I never found one because I didn’t have that system in place.”

Finally finding a mentor

Noah Hammerschmidt found one in Babini. Hammerschmidt, who attended the Institute for Collaborative Education in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, was invited to play in a charity event.

“I had been in a tough situation because I left NYCFC at the time when I played, and didn’t have a club at that moment,” he said. “I connected with Brando. It was that season that college recruiting started.”

They kept in touch. Babini was there to offer advice.

“Me And Brando forged a huge personal relationship,” Hammerschmidt said.

After Hammerschmidt committed to attend Princeton University, he spoke to Babini about coaching last fall.

“I obviously was inspired by this program, and I was in a position where I could help younger players,” he said, joining the organization on a high-school internship.

For the past year, Hammerschmidt returned the favor and mentored players.

“Every kid I coach is like a younger brother to me who, in a way, does look up to me,” said Hammerschmidt, who played for the Met Oval Academy in Queens. “I hope that I’m a pathway that they can believe in as well. It’s fun. During the summer, I coached a week at camp. I had a great time with the younger kids.”

Giving back as a mentor was important.

“To have a mentor and someone who’s already gone down that path, who’s failed, succeeded in different ways per se, and has that ability to guide you, I think is incredibly important,” he said. “Maintaining that personal relationship with that mentor, as you grow older, and as you encounter new obstacles, I think there’s nothing more helpful to have as a young player.”

Since Hammerschmidt will be heading off to college later this month, he won’t be able to coach regularly. He became a Youth 4 Your ambassador.

Babini has called Hammerschmidt “sort of the poster boy of our program.”

Showcasing the talent

The showcases, which are Youth 4 Youth’s centerpieces, got a big boost when Nike came on as a sponsor last October. That ensured the players could participate without paying a cent.

“Number one, the scouts know that the talent pool is going to be meritocratic because it is not about you can pay for this,” Babini said. “You’re here vs. you can’t pay; you’re not coming. The scouts are more attracted to the event. The players know that it’s free and they know that more scouts are coming. More players apply to be there.”

About 1,800 boys applied for the first showcase. The staff had the unenviable task of picking only 65 candidates. Scouts from FC Cincinnati, the Guatemalan national team, Connecticut United, MLS NEXT Pro, New York City FC and more than a dozen colleges attended. Fifty-one players found schools.

One of the staff’s most gratifying moments came when Menelik Richards of Liberty High School in Bethlehem, Pa., emailed Babini pleading to be part of a showcase.

Here is his email:

Dear Coach Brando,

I submitted my application but I know due to me not being on ECNL or MLS NEXT, I won’t get picked for the showcase, which is a good reason. Although I strongly believe I just need one opportunity and I would excel … Can you just please look at my tape, and if you don’t think I’m [a] good fit then I’m not.”

Babini went back and watched his highlight tape.

“2026 grad. Tenacious fullback. Asking for ONE opportunity,” he wrote on LinkedIn. “We changed our decision and put him on the final roster.

“Now?

“He’s heading to college.”

That would be the College of Staten Island, a Division II school in New York City.

“That’s quite significant for Youth 4 Youth,” Hammerschmidt said. “What I saw the most joy in was seeing someone who didn’t get an opportunity and really push for it. Through Brando and Youth 4 Youth’s work, it was made possible. Seeing someone like that succeed through one of our showcases was quite amazing.”

Part of the philosophy of Youth 4 Youth is seeing the potential in a player.

“There are certain success stories that haven’t resulted in college or professional contracts yet,” Babini said. “But it’s a story of a kid coming to us. They were not at the level to even join our group training, but we saw something in them. We saw something in their approach, their mentality, and we trained them, and it became good enough for the group sessions. Then they became the best in the group sessions, and now they’re attending our showcases.

“We don’t measure success and outcomes as much as we measure success and trajectory. Did you, number one, increase the curve of your trajectory? And number two, have you stayed on the upward path? We’ve got a lot of that. We’ve got thousands of players on that path.”

Recent showcases and the future

At the recent showcases at Randall’s Island – 65 boys participated on Saturday, July 26, as did 65 girls on Sunday, July 27.

“The talent level was very high,” Gotham FC’s Kresge said. “There’s a vast range of players between the different age groups. We’re looking at some younger players. There’s definitely some on our list that I walked away with that we’re pretty excited to watch play again in their own environment and track them as they move forward.”

Babini said that he hasn’t scheduled Youth 4 Youth’s next showcase “because so many things change between showcase to showcase.”

He said that he planned to talk to Nike.

“How do we bring this to the next level?’ We’ve done this. It’s impactful. It’s a proven concept. The coaches love it, the players love it,” Babini said. “How do we now amplify that impact and amplify the storytelling and the brand value for them?”

His long-term goal is to have 10,000 players participate an expand to other cities and areas.

“It’s not just having 10,000 players. It’s changing the lives of 10,000 players across the country,” he said. “Every player who gets through the elite pathway in the U.S. knows who we are. They’ve been in our program; they know the value that we have. It’s building out the showcases and building out the training around the country, and providing an opportunity for brotherhood and sisterhood everywhere.

“As much as I love New York, there are players who deserve this opportunity in Philadelphia, Dallas, Chicago, and even in less urban markets. It’s just a matter of figuring out where to go next.”