At this Little Haiti soccer club, nobody gets turned away, none of the families pay a fee

They are one of a kind.

Little Haiti FC, which is believed to be Florida’s only free and yet competitive club soccer program, got its start in an unusual way.

It was exactly one decade ago when Ransom Everglades and Miami Edison played a high school boys’ soccer game.

Former Ransom coach Dave Villano — who took seriously his school’s motto of “Honor and Excellence” — came away impressed with Edison, which won 3-1 that day.

“I said, ‘Oh my gosh, these [Edison] guys are phenomenal,’” Villano said.

After the match, Villano introduced himself to Gomez Don Laleau, who was Edison’s coach at that time, and their conversation went something like this:

Villano: “Where do your kids play club soccer?”

Laleau: “They don’t. We’re from the inner city. We don’t have money for that.”

Villano told Laleau he would “circle back” once the season was over to discuss the lack of club soccer for Edison’s kids.

“[Laleau] thought I was blowing smoke,” Villano said. “But after the season, I called him and said: ‘Why don’t we start a club that competes at a high level but doesn’t charge the kids a dime?’”

With costs for travel, uniforms and membership, parents can easily spend $6,000 per year to put a kid into a club soccer program, and that puts the sport out of reach for thousands of talented kids throughout the country.

To get ahead, it’s not enough to play high school soccer for three months. Kids usually need year-round training to have any hope of earning a college scholarship and get noticed by pro scouts.

Call from Ransom coach

When Laleau got Villano’s call, he felt it was the answer to his prayers. Starting a soccer program had long been his dream.

“Dave is an angel, and he was heaven sent,” Laleau said. “I think God knew this program was needed.

“People often criticize kids when they get in trouble. But in the summer, there’s nothing for these kids to do. We blame kids, but we never give them the tools to succeed.”

When Laleau hung up the phone, things started to happen quickly.

First, Laleau came up with the name, “Little Haiti Football Club (FC for short).

Secondly, Villano came up with the club’s first donation. He “passed the hat” and anonymous donors pitched in $4,000 to get the project off the ground.

Third, Laleau — who needed a field for Little Haiti FC — called his friend Pat Santangelo, a former Florida Highway Patrol trooper who by this time was working for then Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado as his vice president of community and government relations.

Santangelo had been involved with the Haitian community since 1992. That’s when the Haitian national soccer team held a game in the Orange Bowl, and they needed to provide security for the other team. Santangelo and his trooper friends decided to help the cash-strapped Haitian team by providing security for free.

From there, Santagelo got to know Laleau, and he knew of the issues in the community.

“In the summer,” Santangelo said, “(Laleau) would lose kids — to gangs, drugs, jail or maybe even dead.”

After getting the call from Laleau, Santangelo worked with Regalado to allow the club team to use Little Haiti Soccer Park., 6301 NE Second Ave.

Pretty soon, Santangelo became so enamored with Little Haiti FC that he became one of the club’s five co-founders, a list that includes Villano, Laleau and a pair of Edison teachers: Dr. Jean Armand and Samuel Prunier.

The program started with high school boys only. Since then, it has grown to include girls, and there are teams in six different age groups.

There are more than 200 players in Little Haiti FC — about 45 of them female — and there’s also recreational soccer for kids just learning the game.

In addition, Little Haiti FC has men’s and women’s semi-pro teams in the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL).

Goalie on World Cup team

Among the club’s many success stories is goalie Nahomie Ambroise, who helped Haiti’s women’s team make the World Cup for the first time in 2023.

Dioline Dimanche, a 24-year-old nursing student, plays for Little Haiti FC’s women’s team in the United Premier Soccer League.

She was born in Haiti but didn’t play soccer there because there were no available programs. It wasn’t until age 15 — shortly after she arrived in Miami — that she started playing soccer with Little Haiti FC.

Dimanche now mentors younger girls at Little Haiti FC.

“It makes me feel like I’m able to help,” she said. “This program keeps kids get off the streets. It helps kids to stay in school.”

Strong academic record

To her point, over the past seven years, nearly all participants in Little Haiti FC have graduated from high school, and roughly 80 percent have pursued higher education, according to Santangelo.

It costs about $120,000 annually to run the program, and the founders often have to dip into their own pockets to pay the bills.

Everyone involved is a volunteer except for the six coaches, who are paid between $500 and $1,000 monthly.

“At this level,” Santangelo said, “you have to have great coaches.”

Little Haiti FC recently got a $70,000 donation from the Brady Hunter Foundation, a North Miami Beach nonprofit.

“We were thrilled to support their incredible work on and off field,” said Paige Bresky, chief of philanthropy and brand development for the Foundation.

In addition, Sport Shake, a popular beverage in Haiti, donated a van for transporting players, and the Miami Dade County Commissioners’ Office donated a second van.

FIFA visit

Little Haiti FC got a motivational boost in April when Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA — the world’s governing body for soccer — saw the club play in person.

Infantino came away impressed, according to Santangelo.

“He had never been to a Florida tournament before, but he had heard about our free program, and he came to see us,” Santangelo said. “He spent a couple of hours interacting with our kids, taking photos and awarding medals.

“He also scolded USA Soccer for allowing our sport to be ‘pay for play.’ He said the USA is missing out on a lot of talent because of that structure.

“In the end, after 10 years of us struggling to make ends meet as a program, it was a great honor to have the president of FIFA visit us.”

Little Haiti has also made an impact off the soccer pitch.

Over the years, the club found shelter for nine girls who were homeless.

In addition, Little Haiti FC brought in experts to help players and their families with college-application counseling, immigration-law assistance and healthcare issues.

Villano, who was the boys’ soccer head coach at Ransom for 36 years, initially heard some grumbling from the parents of a few of his players at his former high school.

The criticism went something like this: “Why are you helping the opponent?”

But Villano never wavered from what he learned about honor in nearly four decades at Ransom.

“We were taught to make a difference for those less fortunate,” Villano said.

“Little Haiti FC has grown so much. We remain true to our original mandate: Any kid who shows up, we coach. We don’t turn anybody away.”

Little Haiti FC

What: Competitive club soccer program that is free for all players.

Where: Little Haiti Soccer Park, 6301 NE Second Ave. Miami, Fl.

When: Practice is from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Who: Players, male and female, range from age 5 to young adults.

For more information: Visit LittleHaiti-FC.org or call Pat Santangelo at 305 495-7266.

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