If You Build It, They Will Come: How Neighborhood Sports Club Built a New Field in Oakland

On a chilly Wednesday night in Oakland’s Jack London Square, a group gathers at a field on the corner of Second and Oak streets. The gated pitch is framed by a mural that reads: Neighborhood Sports Club (NSC). Stretched across two walls, seven larger-than-life jerseys and a pair of cleats are depicted. The vibrant kits — which include Marseille, Arsenal, and the France national team — are stylishly outlined in NSC’s signature baby blue, and honor the fandoms and family histories of each of the group’s three co-founders. 

In the background a speaker blasts Larry June, while teammates call for the ball, yell out in frustration at missed shots, and offer words of encouragement. On the other side of the cage, a few kids run around passing the ball back and forth. Family members and friends watch on, while players warm up for the next match. This is the second of three back-to-back matches that comprise NSC’s “Champions League,” which keeps players and supporters on the field until after 10 pm. 

Looking on is Jordan Jesolva. Jesolva, along with fellow co-founders Dylan Autran and Max Ornstil, has spent years working towards this exact moment. It might seem like a small thing — a little pitch in a big city where people can play soccer. But as anybody who’s ever tried to play footie in Oakland can tell you: fields are hard to come by. 

Students at Oakland International High, for example, have had to compete with Oakland Tech’s baseball team to gain access to a field where their team could play. And the open fields that do exist are not in the best condition. “I can't even list on my hand five soccer fields where I could go in Oakland to play with friends,” says Ornstil. He started to list off parks: San Antonio, where NSC still hosts a weekly pick-up game; Cesar Chavez; Raimondi. But when he gets to Raimondi, he interjects: “The conditions at Raimondi are really tough. It looks damn near the same as when I played my first soccer game there 25 years ago. It has not been taken care of. There's just not a ton of soccer fields [around Oakland]. And yet, there's tons and tons and tons of people who love football.” 

In 2022, Ornstil got a call from Autran and Jesolva, two longtime friends. They asked if he wanted in on a new venture — a sports club that would focus on soccer in Oakland. Ornstil and Autran had grown up playing on competitive soccer teams in Oakland, and then eventually went pro, playing in the U.S. and overseas. There, they got spoiled when it came to soccer fields. In Norway and France, for example, fields were abundant and doubled as neighborhood gathering spots. “If you’re one of these kids living in the Bay, you might see a random baseball field or a lot of basketball courts, but rarely do you see only a soccer field,” Ornstil says. “In Europe, you may see more street pitches around, but here you just don't see things like this.”

So Autran, Jesolva and Ornstil hatched a plan to build a field of their own. But as soon as they started telling people about it, they heard the same thing: “So many people would tell us, ‘Oh, I tried to open up a soccer facility’ or ‘Oh, I know someone who tried to…’” Ornstil recalls. “Each decade there's been two to three people or groups that are like, ‘let's open up a soccer facility’. For one reason or another, nobody has been able to do it. It’s similar stories of challenges with permitting and price.” 

For a while, getting the right permit was the biggest hurdle in their plan. “We even had a city planner laugh at us when we were down at the city office sharing our plans for the space we're at now,” Ornstil admits. “They literally laughed in our face, saying, ‘you can't put a soccer field there.’” The NSC founders were told that they would need something called a conditional use permit, which the city requires for “new activities, special site[s] or design requirements, and some new facilities.” But a conditional use permit application can only be processed on developments with a signed lease. And the permit itself could take upwards of nine months for city approval, which would mean paying rent on a lease for months without being able to operate — something the small business owners couldn’t afford. 

A new California law, SB304, which went into effect Jan. 1, 2026, lifted these restrictions on businesses seeking leases in an effort to revitalize Jack London Square. But the planners they spoke to, including the one who scoffed at their plan to open a business centered around a field, weren’t aware that the law had passed. In the midst of arguing with planners, the determined trio moved ahead with other elements of their plan — ones that didn’t involve a soccer field they controlled. That included dropping clothing lines, organizing community art events, and gathering players citywide to play pick-up at San Antonio Park in East Oakland. It all reflected the core elements they had fostered over time while grinding to attain their own space. 

After years spent driving by the lot on Oak and Second streets, envisioning how the corner could be transformed into the neighborhood hub of their dreams, they noticed a “for lease” sign go up. They called immediately, and were offered a lease in May 2026. They signed it, despite not having full assurance that the city would allow them to build out their vision. When they learned that they could, in fact, move forward without a conditional use permit, their plans for the pitch resumed.  

Construction on the field was finalized last November. In the beginning of December, they debuted “Champions League” — a tournament-style series of games between community-organized teams that transpire on the pitch every Wednesday night. But the space is more than just a soccer playground; they also have plans for a coffee shop and retail store. Due to construction taking longer than anticipated, and budgets that need to be revised, they have yet to cement a formal grand opening date, but they are aiming for this spring — four years after their journey embarked. 

As their plans are hashed out, they are still exploring other ways they can offer the space to the community, while helping meet the need for playable fields in Oakland. “We're talking with local clubs and nonprofits about hosting their own practices here,” Ornstil says. Clubs such as Oakland Genesis, a non-profit that supports young soccer players in reaching their athletic, academic, and transportation needs. And on Feb. 1st, NSC launched their introduction to football classes — entailing 90-minute sessions held every Sunday for a wide spectrum of abilities and experiences, followed by an intro level pick-up game. Ornstil notes it’s for anyone who has either “never played football in your life, played a little bit, [or] played a lot but kind of lost the game and are looking to refind it [in a] low stakes, friendly environment.” Their flagship Thursday morning pick-up runs, however, will continue to meet at San Antonio Park. “That's just something that has become sacred to us at this point. We want to make sure that there's a place where we could have 50 people and nobody's paying.” 

The current league has greatly evolved from the weekly pick-up NSC initially began. “In the beginning we were just praying six people would show up, because then at least we could have a fun hour and a half of three v. three,” Autran recalls. “And now on an average day, we'll have 40people.” According to Jesolva, the pick-up community holds NSC up: It’s “the glue,” she says. “Because of how good the energy is on the field, you can really see people create relationships off the field through that.”  

Lasting relationships have led to other collaborative efforts outside of the actual games and outcomes. “We've had a couple friends meet and start a magazine,” Orstil says. “We constantly see friends give rides to those who need it. Even someone who needs help moving or something. Our WhatsApp group is just people constantly showing up for one another.” 

Jasmin Jalali-Yazdi got introduced to NSC through the pick-up matches. Growing up, she moved around a lot; so to stay grounded, she sought out her local rec leagues. “Wherever I moved, I've always found a rec soccer club or a group of people who play soccer that I can be involved with. What NSC does differently is that they prioritize the culture. Even before the game, it’s embedded.” 

Jalali-Yazdi isn’t the only one singing NSC’s praises. Erica Wheeler-Dubin started playing pick-up with the NSC crew over a year ago, and the pick-up has been a reparative experience. A visual artist who played soccer in Sweden and Italy after her college career, Wheeler-Dubin describes how the NSC pick-up community helped her feel safe enough to love the game again. “Eight months into building a relationship with NSC, I was in a position of needing help with transportation to and from the field for safety reasons and despite it feeling like a vulnerable ask, I was met with care, understanding, and support. They provided consistency and an open door for connection.”  

For Wheeler-Dubin, that level of care has played a significant role in her ability to show up to the pitch and play. “Having female players as part of the leadership team has symbolized another layer of belonging. The biggest part of the corrective experience for me has been more integration of female and non-cis male players in a predominantly male space.” 

But in order to continue cultivating that kind of environment, people need space. Literally. The fields need to exist. And that is what drove NSC’s co-founders to keep pushing despite being laughed at, put off, and discouraged by the city’s spiritless bureaucracy. Soon, when they turn on the lights at their pristine field to host new and returning players, they’ll illuminate something bigger and more meaningful than the city’s soccer limitations and shortcomings.

“It impacts that community,” Ornstil observed, “The second there are lines and goals and a field, it completely changes the way people interact with a space. It brings life to it.”