Soccer Down Here 1v1: Peachtree FC Founder Jon Hill

Time for a soccer down here one B one And this one is kind of cool because we get to catch up with John hillover at Peachtree FC, because there's some really cool stuff going on with peach REFC. So it's going to be an education for us all about what's going on there, what's going on currently in their calendar, and why it's a really cool thing currently on the field that they're chasing after in the USA s A. John hill Founder, Grand exalted pooh bah, let's see what

Oh gosh, A little bit of everything, uh, you know, playing on the team, managing laundry, coordinating the field space, registering players, making sure that you know, pay social media, pretty much everything at someone with Peachtree.

I'm doing it, Grand exalted Poopa, of everything going on at Peachtree FC. So reason that we're having you on in the immediate sense is what's going on with the us A s A. But what I wanted to do also does give folks a bit of an education is to what's going on with peach Tree FC. How it came to be, how you came to have ninety eight job titles that you're working on simultaneously. For those that don't know the history about Peachtree FC, what's the history lesson?

Yeah, So we started about five years ago. It started as a five a side team. We played at the Limberg Station soccer pitch, through soccer in the streets, we you know, grew interest in the team, eventually grew to seven a side. We were playing at Silverbacks Park doing seven a side, and then eventually about four years ago grew to being an eleven a side team and since then just just been growing every year. We you know,

And right now with everything going eleven aside, there's a run going on in the usas A regionals. So what has this run been like for you guys getting into the regionals A and have going on this run that you're currently on.

Yeah, it was a big learning experience for sure. So this is our second year participating. I guess in National Amateur Cup process. Last year we took part in the Georgia State Cup. We didn't progress from that in the first year. This past season we made it to the final, unfortunately lost in the final, but earned a qualification into

Qualify for the National Amateur Cup.

And you you get to that point, what did you learn about Peach Street FC, both on and off the field with this run that you got into this past season.

Yeah, so definitely learned. You know, there's another level above that we need to aspire to.

You know, there's.

A difference in what we play in our league format versus the State Cup and regionals, where the State Cup, Regionals, National Amateur Cup is played in the professional manner in terms of once you sum out, that's it. The current league we play in you and sub out in the first half, comeback in the second half. So fitness doesn't have to be as as strong in our current league. And so that was definitely a rude awakening of you know, being able to compete in ninety degree weather. You've got

So that was definitely some of the.

On the pitch, learning off the pitch, you know, Coordinating. You know, we have a group of about fifty guys and we were only able to take about twenty to the tournament. You know, everyone has has jobs. It can be tough, you know, to call out of work. The tournament takes place on a Friday through the Sunday, you know, traveling for three days.

People have family and.

Makes it you know, difficult to put together. It was more than I imagined it was going to be. So coordinating. That was definitely you know interesting to see hoving people drop out like the day before because work, you know needed, and all of a sudden they can't make it. So how much coordination goes in was definitely the lesson for future years for us well.

And at the same time, I would imagine also the idea of game planning and scouting and all of these different things and making sure that, Okay, so if I've gotten my fifty and I'm down to my twenty, when do we get together? How do we study? Who are we studying against? How are we studying who are we studying with? How are we all the game planning aspect for you as a founder, player manager, master of everything, I mean, I imagine that how much sleep did you get trying to game plan all this stuff?

Not much in the build up.

It felt kind of a relief once we got there, because it felt like, Okay, we can get past all of the you know, coordination and just focus on being here and playing. But in terms of the prepit it can be tough too, because it's not only you know. This year for us was definitely a difference in terms of how we have to play, but also, as you know, not all of the teams have you know, posts that show this is how they play or anything, and so it can be difficult.

You kind of show up and you know, you know, you don't know what to expect.

Some teams can play differently and you're not really sure what you're going to get, and so it makes it a little tougher to game plan. Versus if we're playing a team that you know, we played twice a year, especially at least that second time, we know, you know, this is who to look out for, this is how they're going to play. These are the things that we can adjust to.

And I know that in the past, your your diversity when it comes to all of the different nations that come together, has been a part of the DNA there at Peachtree FC. For those that may not know about roster assembly and the United Nations of Soccer that you kind of put together there with Peachtree FC, kind of break that down for folks of us.

Yeah, I mean, you know, it's the world's game, and you know, I feel that Atlanta, you know, it has such a diverse community here and so that you know, combination of the love for soccer and people from diverse backgrounds kind of just meshed into what Peachtree is. I mean, I think we're over twenty countries at least for sure that you know, are represented through those those fifty guys. And it's great because you just get to see, you know, on the pitch, just different ways of viewing how the

All right, how many of the different countries of origin can you name off the top of your head?

Okay, let's see, uh, Brazil, England, Somalia, Oh, gosh, where else?

Canada, Jamaica, Eritrea, uh, South Africa in the US A yeah, eight? Where else? Gosh, I'm drawing a blank right now.

Well, as we talk and you remember others, you can just go ahead and drop them into the conversation. Donorry about. It's a good start. But I know, uh so, you know you mentioned the idea of widening horizons and understanding and appreciating all the different aspects of the game because just in in those mentions you're talking about, Uh, several different continents, several different approaches, several different levels of the game, several different levels of the experience on the global stage

Yeah, no, it's you know, I think what's great is that everyone who comes in is open to learning and seeing.

You know.

This is what we try to do is especially with the two teams, is you know, we still treat it as one club, and so what that means for us is that we train together. You know, the expectation is any week, you know, a guy from the second team might come and play in first team, or maybe a guy in the first team is not doing as well, he's going to play in the second team, and so because of that, you know, we want to have.

This something that is consistent, and so how we play is, you know what we want to keep consistent.

So that way, you know, it might be a guy's first time playing in the first team, but he at least has an idea of like, okay, well this is what we're trying to do. And so I think that that's what's great is that everyone who plays on the team is very open to saying like, okay, well this is you know, how I like to play, but also appreciating this is how as a team we're going to play, and so combining those together to help us be successful on the pitch.

John Hill, Master of Everything, over to Peachtree FC, hanging out with us for a one B one here over on the SDCH network. When you started as a five five five team, you're talking about something five years ago, and a lot of folks may sit there and say, yeah, okay, you know, five years ago, but no, five years ago in some aspects is really quick. In some aspects, I'm

At times it does and at times it doesn't.

There's moments where, you know, even from year to year, I go wow, like, you know, just last year we didn't have a second team, and now that second team got promoted into the first division of ADSL, And then you know, to think about that a year ago is beyond what I expected to think. I mean five years ago and think, oh, we were a five A side team and now you know, we've got to play in a regional tournament as an eleven side team.

Definitely not something that was in my mind at that point. So yeah, a moment.

Said it's kind of crazy to think, oh, it's been five years and where it started and where it is now. And then other times it's like, wow, yeah, this is flown.

By when it comes to picking leagues and picking paths and okay, this is where we want to go, and how much thought goes into this process and how much thought has gone into the process to figure out what your path is going to be. Okay, we're strong enough as a five A side, let's go to seven on seven. Okay, we're strong enough as a seven on seven. Let's go

Peach three, Yeah, I think the beginning the five aside to seven aside and then the sevens to eleven probably less. So there it was just that that people were interested in joining. It's like, okay, well now we've got, you know, fifteen guys to play five aside. With fifteen guys as everyone's going to get barely anytime. So those kind of moves up from five to eleven probably not as much. I think once we hit the elevens, there was a lot more thought behind it. So the first team, you know,

So in that second.

Year, we actually waited to even look at starting a second team until we felt comfortable that we were going to remain in Division One. Once we had you know, kind of felt okay, yeah, we're going to be okay in this division for this season and moving forward into next year, that was when we started the process for the second team.

Uh.

And then we kind of ended up with that same thought process this past season, where you know, the second team performed above expectations. I did not expect them to get promoted when we first started the team in that first year, and so as they were you know, ending towards the are getting towards the end of the season, and.

It looked like we were going to be promoted.

It's like, okay, well now we're back in this issue of potentially two teams in the first division, and that kind of worked out well with the timing of APSL looking to move into Georgia was Okay, this is kind of a perfect opportunity for us to keep the club aspect but allow both teams to still progress.

I was going to ask, I know that the alphabet soup is out there a lot of these days, what was it that attracted you? So that was what attracted you to the APSL going into that, going into that league?

Yeah, yeah, so you know, I think what interested us in enjoying the A P s L. Actually, before uh starting, Peachtree had lived in New York and was playing for a team that was part of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League New York.

International f C.

And uh, you know, they already had it used to be called the EPs L Eastern Premiere Soccer League is now changed to the A P s L, and uh, you know, had seen how it worked there and felt that as it was coming down into Georgia, I was like, oh, this, this feels right for us.

You know.

What they try to do is is allow it to be affordable and accessible, you know, with with Pea Tree being run by me it you know, it's not backed with with tons of funding where it's like we can just you know, take huge risks and go and make a team that you know has to to you know, bring in so much money to be able to continue to run.

And so I like that aspect.

The APSL and ADSL are now linked, and so you know, basically if our first team were to finish last in APSL, we would get relegated back into the ADSL. I like, you know, the fact that they're looking to combine with leagues that already exist in the area. I definitely am a bigger fan of promotion relegation right from bottom all the way up to the top. I know it's not quite like that here, and so I'd say this is probably the closest that has it.

You know, even if you were to win the APSL.

I think they just had their national final. They have a tournament that I think if you win it, you actually get the option to go and play in in NISA, you know, at the professional level, and so it does have an option to basically go from starting a grassroots team in the ads L all the way up to potentially playing at a professional level.

So and one of the other things that I noticed is that as of was it last month, you're also a five oh one C three.

Now yes, yeah, so that was exciting for us to do. You know, that's how the club runs is basically is a nonprofit anyway, so it made sense for us to do it.

You know, the core of the club is not to make money.

It's to provide a platform for for guys to be able to play affordable and accessible soccer at a you know, competitive level, and so it kind of made sense for that opportunity.

I think.

You know, what it does is hopefully encourages you know,

Okay, So now that you've made the run in the USA SA, this is the question for the fans and the followers of peach REFC. So all right, so you made the run this year, what are you getting ready for for next year? No patients obviously here question.

So the yeah, that's it's funny, we got we finished with that. Tom like, okay, this is this is good. We know what we need to work on.

You know.

The plan is, uh, you know, first team will be playing a PSL, the second team will be playing in the.

First division of AD s L.

The goal is to hopefully bring back some trophies by the end of April May next year, and then go ahead and do our State Cup run again, hopefully again, finish with a trophy one step further this year or this upcoming year, and then a better run at regionals.

Are looking forward to seeing that growth. For folks that want to find out more about what's going on over there at Peachtree FC, John, how do they do it?

Yeah, So we have Instagram account for both of our teams. It's f C Peachtree for the first team and f C Peachtree two for the second team. We have a blue Sky account which is FC Peachtree and then we also have our website, peachtrefc dot com. And what's great about the website is there's a calendar page where everyone can see, you know, the schedule for the team and when we have games and where they're at.

As we always will be keeping an eye on step with their at PEACHTREFC. John Hill, Founder, player manager, kit washer, the guy who flips the light switch on to make sure that everyone can see at practice. Great to catch up with you, my friend. Fantastic run that you guys had there in the U S A s A. And obviously we're going to be keeping an eye on the

Appreciate it. Thank you for having me