Hed invited me to a free coaching clinic the Roots were putting on at their practice facilitythe former Raiders headquartersin Alameda. Hodul emphasized that the club was very grateful to the city and county for making the building available in the first place. Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team, formed in 2018 and based in Oakland, California. Oakland Roots Soccer Club President Lindsay Barenz at their training facility, which was the same for the Oakland Raiders in Alameda, Calif., on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. And the groups ambitions remained buoyed by the belief that Oakland would want, or at least prove open to, the service the Roots would be selling. [57] They eventually would forgo the season and start play in 2022. Follow him on Twitter @DmoWriter. ago. It might be easy for residents and fans to write the Roots off as something admirable but fundamentally cute were it not for the clubs competitive ambitions. Lower-division tends to be a tough draw. Heres how that happened. We all thought, Wow, what better place to deploy such a concept than in Oakland, California?. Founded in July 2018 by six local soccer fans and investors, Roots has quickly grown into a cultural phenomenon in the United States soccer scene. Professional sports teams have used and abandoned Oakland. Oakland Roots joins USL Championship - Soccer Stadium Digest It makes you feel great as an Oaklander.. Oakland Roots prepped for big season under new head coach Read Less by: Alex Baker. Oakland Roots is a purpose-driven mens soccer team that seeks to harness the magic of Oakland and the power of sports as a social force for good. Sporting Goods Companies With Fewer Than 100 Employees . . I believe I harbor a baseball players subconscious distrust of not being able to use your hands. Thank you. He reported for the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley and his freelance work has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, Texas Monthly and Longreads. Professional Sports Team Oakland, CA linktr.ee/oaklandrootssc. Two years later, Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, majority owners of the Golden State Warriors, finalized a move from Oakland to San Francisco, and added insult to injury when they tried weaseling their way out of a reported $45 million still owed to Oakland and Alameda County taxpayers on their way over the bridge. 32 reviews of Sweetroots Salon "I love coming to Mio to see Jeannine. In case you havent been, heres what a Roots game is like. For Roots games the pitch is widened using a modular turf system. Their absence has left the Oakland sports scene on life support. Oakland Roots founder sues team and board members, alleges he - SFGATE The diversity of the crowd, the pride, the energy, he told me. The clubs crestan Oak tree rising like a clenched fist out of stained-glass soilhas become ubiquitous, spottable everywhere, from stickers affixed to light posts along Lake Merritt to the chests of such high-profile stewards as Portland Trail Blazers point guard (and East Oakland native) Damian Lillard and Hamilton star Daveed Diggs. Theyve trained and educated women and minority coaches to help them get their coaching licenses. Their funds have driven the anti-racist project, Lilli Barrett-OKeefe, Common Goals Executive Director, told me. The Roots also support Chapter 510 with financial contributions. The Oakland Roots soccer club was born, in earnest, in the summer of 2016, when Edreece Arghandiwal, a marketing director and entrepreneurial creative type whod worked on projects for brands such as Apple and set designer Susan Linss, met Benno Nagel, a veteran soccer player and coach whod previously worked for clubs in Croatia and the Netherlands. That complex, which is co-owned by the Oakland and Alameda County, has been used for the past two years by the Oakland Roots, the citys newest soccer team. How the Oakland Roots built a team for a fiercely proud city, $12 billion stadium-anchored real estate development, Proudly powered by Newspack by Automattic. Oakland Roots soccer team may be left with no home to train in Tweets & replies. Saturday, March 19, 4 PM At Memphis 901. Centerlines Finest Flower & Vape at Pure Roots - Oakland County One feels inclined to grope about for a catch. With the new funding however, the club was also finally given license to begin building the infrastructure with which it would carry out its mission of transmuting the power of sport into a force for social good.. The club had just one win through their first 13 games, leaving the team with less than 1% chance to make the playoffs according to fivethirtyeight. Oakland was one of the first cities to prioritize equity licenses for those like Mr. Blunt, 42, who got teased in high school because his name is a common term for a cannabis cigar. More pertinently, Id spent the better part of the last two years documenting the depressed state of Oakland sports, and I was sensitive to how much damage the scene had incurredand dubious about the potential of any upstart team to revive it, even one with lots of good press. Because through its approach to public service, the club is transcending such delineations of worth. Ive spent the last few months trying to find one. The club for us is about purpose and community off the field, Hodul said. Oakland Boys Power Roots to First Home VictoryRoots emerged victorious for their first home win of the 2021 season in front of a packed house at their altern. I love it., It is special. Also, a 2023 Calendar for major soccer competitions is included. How Oaklands hometown soccer team overcame a slow start and internal strife to build a team with purpose. Rapper G-Eazy becomes Oakland Roots investor, goes from Billboard to the owner's box. Oakland Roots SC 2022 schedule. Search Crunchbase. On their own, the Roots started the Oakland Roots Justice Fund to support campaigns aimed at increasing racial and gender justice. Oakland Roots SC Schedule - USL Championship The key, as I would learn the next day, when I connected with Arghandiwal for an extended conversation on Zoom, was the fusion of he and Nagels love for Oakland with their belief in the potential of sports to do good. Last March, Oakland city councilmember and Mayoral candidate Loren Taylor went so far as to author a resolution to Recognize the Oakland Roots Sports Club for its many contributions to the City of Oakland and its dedication and commitment to the city. When I asked him to elaborate he told me, They show up consistently across Oakland and partner with a diverse cross-section of nonprofit organizations throughout the city, from East to West and from flatlands to hills. This community is fiercely proud. Then, in collaboration with local retailer Oaklandish, the group dropped the merch, and thats when everything changed. John Fisher and Dave Kaval, meanwhilemajority owner and team president of the Oakland Athleticsare currently in the process of cajoling Oaklands city council into forking over hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds so they can build a $12 billion stadium-anchored real estate development on the West Oakland waterfront. [10], The club opened the inaugural 201920 NISA season as the league's first game, at home in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 4,500. The Roots rise is real, but it has not come easy. Caltrans will turn off the Bay Lights, an art installation on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, on Sunday, perhaps indefinitely. It was cold, and Arghandiwal32, tall, and possessed of an eagle-ish intensity that radiates from his eyes any time he talks about his teamwas bundled in black Roots joggers and a black Roots hoodie, which he had cinched up over a black Roots cap. One question remained, though: how to do it right? What can we do?. Steven Aldrich, a tech executive and Roots lead investor, was all smiles after the first game. Back to the Roots offers gardening kits to grow organic and gourmet mushrooms at homes. Previously, he reported in rural Alaska and central Texas, including at KYUK News; Spectrum News 1 Austin; the Austin Chronicle;and, Alaska Public Media. And what it had to look like, Arghandiwal said, was an organization committed earnestly to being about the Town in an authentic way., We believed, Arghandiwal told me, That as long as we showed the community real authentic love, they would love us back.. [46] Roots merchandise featured in Kehlani's video "All me" on February 13, 2020. T. Bailey. Even if it were up for sale, he couldn't afford the house . Heres how that happened. Prior to that, Hodul was pursuing a doctorate degree in music education, but a broken wrist left him unable to play his instrument, and as a result he started working with soccer media outlet Midfield Press. His face was painted with amazement, looking out from the top of the . San Francisco, CA. In a time when the city's professional sports landscape is looking increasingly grim, the Oakland Roots, a lower-division professional soccer club, has provided a refreshing "Oakland first" attitude it tries to embody in every aspect of game day. We became passionate about building something that was purpose and impact driven in a city that has through its history been at the forefront of political activism and arts and diversity and culture, Arghandiwal told me. 306. Planes fly overhead every few minutes, and the fence of the complex backs up to the airports own. [39], On October 23, 2022, the Roots upset San Diego Loyal 30 in the first round of the playoffs. Before the club played its first-ever game at Laney College they invited Corinna Gould, spokesperson for the Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone and co-founder of Indian People Organizing for Change, to bless the field. Thank you. This would be the Oakland Roots, The Towns upstart Division II mens soccer club, which played its first game in Oakland in 2019, and which aspires to the ideal of professional sports less as a private enterprise than as a kind of public service: the clubs stated purpose, which can be found on their website and social media pagesand which employees repeat like an incantationis, To harness the magic of Oakland and the power of sport as a force for social good.. As a fan, sports tend to be most fulfilling when you can allow yourself to believefor a goal, a game, a series, a seasonthat the fortunes of your favorite team matter for reasons nobler than private profits, and that your favorite players compete not just for a paycheck, but the pride of the community they play for. Wednesday, March 30, 6 PM The club stated the fund would support new and existing initiatives by the Roots and community partners to "support causes at the intersection of racial and gender justice. To receive notifications via email, enter your email address and select at least one subscription below. This organizational effort goes beyond helping individuals score goals to achieve victory on the field, and instead reflects a collective purpose and commitmenta long-term strategy . . Oakland, CA. The role of a chief purpose officer is to ensure that purpose is the lens through which every decision is made, Geddes told me in the Roots practice facility. Oakland native Max Ornstil (second from left) is a veteran USL Championship defender, playing . Its not gimmicky, its real, she said. [36], Oakland upset the Mountain Division Champions El Paso Locomotive in the first round of the playoffs, breaking a 470-day home unbeaten run by the Texas side. We amplify community voices, share the power of real information, and investigate systems, not just symptoms. We were standing now beside rows of weight-lifting and cardio equipment. "Our home-field advantage is such a huge . And theyre expanding; the club recently announced the launch of a womens team. In Oakland of late, fans have been subjected almost exclusively to this latter kind of experience. The Soul will kick off in the USL W League for the 2023 season.[58]. We acknowledge that the land where Oakland Roots works, trains, and plays sits on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ohlone, more specifically, the Confederated Villages of Lisjan, in the territory of Huchiun, encompassing regions throughout the greater East Bay Area. It was clear, though, that Arghandiwal relished his role as an executive, too. They donate training expertise and equipment to the Oakland Parks and Rec Departments Town Camp Program.