Year-round youth soccer development for players U6–U18 at The Lab in East Pasadena. Small-sided, technical training that builds the player first — then the team.
Three places players come to us from. Find the one that sounds like yours — it points to the right program. Most players start and stay in Foundation.
Your player is young or new to soccer. They need touches, coordination, and confidence on the ball before anything else — taught properly, with a standard from the first session.
Your player is on an AYSO, rec, or club team, but team practice skips the individual work — first touch, weak foot, 1v1, reading the game. This is where those gaps close.
Your player has a season or two behind them. The effort is there; the teaching isn’t. This is where a trained coach takes over the technical work.
Most programs are a conveyor belt from rec to club, club to the next club. FTBL isn’t that. We develop the player: touch, technique, reading the game, the will to compete. Built over seasons, not sold as a shortcut. Your player keeps their AYSO or club team. We coach; you decide where they play on Saturday.
Train with us and keep your current team. No conflict, no pressure to leave, create your training schedule
Foundation is open enrollment. Every player who wants to learn the game has a place in it.
One team per age group. Standards and playing time are earned on the field, not bought.
Volunteer coaches give kids their Saturdays, and youth soccer would not exist without them. But there comes a season when a player needs more than a good person with a whistle — when they’re doing the drills and not getting better, when the same mistake shows up every game, when nobody has told them what to work on.
That’s the moment families find us. Not because rec soccer failed, but because a player outgrew what it was built to give.
You don’t have to leave anything. Most of our players still play AYSO or club on the weekend. We take over the technical work during the week — the part their team hasn’t got time to teach.
The difference between a session and a scrimmage is whether someone qualified is teaching. Every FTBL session is run by a trained coach who knows your player’s name, what they’re working on, and what comes next. Nobody is here to supervise.
Our staff coaches in Spanish and English, so no family has to translate their way through their own child’s development.
Not volunteers, not parents filling in. Coaching is the job.
Small enough that every player gets corrected by name, every session.
Most programs build teams and hope players develop inside them. We do it the other way around: years of individual development — touches, technique, reading the game — and Academy Teams is where players who are ready step into competition.
Coordination, comfort on the ball, and the habit of using both feet before anyone tells them they have a weak one.
The same skills, now against real resistance. Moves stop being tricks and start being decisions.
Scanning, timing, and understanding why a pass works — the part that separates a trained player from a fast one.
Players don’t graduate out of learning. The work gets more specific, not less necessary.
Both teach the same game the same way. The difference is how often your player trains, and whether there’s league play attached.
Technical, small-sided training for any player who wants to keep developing. Choose the frequency — the coaching standard doesn’t change.
Foundation One or Two
Recommended — real progress
For the all-in player
New Foundation rates take effect September 1, 2026. Families enrolled before then keep their current rate through January 2027.
For players ready for league play. Earned by Foundation players ready to compete — twice-weekly training and a full competitive season, fees included.
2× / week + league
Academy Teams isn’t a fourth program — it’s where Foundation players go when they’re ready. No open tryout, no tryout fee. Earned on the field, in front of coaches who already know your player.
Three steps. Start with a free session — no cost and no commitment until you’ve seen how we train.
Bring your player, watch them train, and meet the coaches. Free, and no commitment attached.
Choose how often your player trains — once, twice, or three times a week. We’ll tell you where we’d place them and why.
Reserve your player’s spot and set up your monthly membership. Foundation is month to month.
Monthly membership. Foundation is month to month; Academy Teams is a season commitment. Questions about fit or cost? Ask at your first session — we’d rather answer them in person.
Players ages 5 through 18, grouped by age and stage of development. Foundation One starts at five; Academy Teams run one team per age group from U7 through U13.
No. Foundation is open enrollment — any player can join, with no tryout and no tryout fee. Academy Teams is by invitation, earned by Foundation players who are ready for league play.
One is where a player builds the base — first touches and confidence. Two sharpens the same skills under real pressure. We place by the coach’s eye, not strictly by age.
Yes. Foundation is individual development alongside whatever team your player already plays for. We’re club-neutral — no conflict, no pressure to leave.
Foundation is $150 per month for once a week, $225 for twice a week, and $300 for three times a week — at either level. Academy Teams membership is $250 per month and includes league, referee, and field fees plus game and training kits.
In East Pasadena — serving families across the San Gabriel Valley.
Yes. Our staff is bilingual, and we work with families in both Spanish and English.
