Copa de Calle over weekend of March 28 through 31. | Photo courtesy of Ryogoku Soccer Academy
Copa de Calle over weekend of March 28 through 31. | Photo courtesy of Ryogoku Soccer Academy

Daisy Garcia Montoya

Education Reporter

As the 2026 World Cup nears, Kansas City is starting to see excitement and momentum grow.

Ryōgoku Soccer Academy — an international school and soccer academy for boys ages six through 12 — brought a two-day soccer tennis tournament to the City Market and Crossroads areas over the weekend of March 28 through 30, to highlight the ‘beautiful game,’ community diversity and to serve as a fundraiser for the school. 

This tournament, called Copa de Calle (Street Cup), saw competitors participate in soccer tennis — a fusion similar to pickleball, where feet replace the paddles and a soccer ball is kicked over the net. The matches were split into two sessions with youth participating Saturday morning (Sunday session postponed to the evening due to rain) at the River Market (20 E. Fifth St.) and adults at MADE MOBB (221 Southwest Blvd). in the Crossroads on Saturday and Sunday evenings. 

Copa de Calle over weekend of March 28 through 31. | Photo courtesy of Vy Nguyen

Teams competed for a grand prize of $200 with jerseys for the winning youth team and $400 for the adult team, with all participants receiving a swag bag and a tournament shirt. 

Brad Leonard, head of the Ryōgoku Soccer Academy, said that the match locations were chosen due to their proximity to stops along the Kansas City Streetcar route. Their accessibility makes it more attractive for people as well as the exposure for non-participants to join in on the fun. 

“The idea here is that we’re going to start in City Market. They can hop on the streetcar, go down to Crossroads, support some businesses, restaurants, and do a little shopping in the afternoon,” Leonard said. “We want people to experience Kansas City as we do, we love Kansas City and we want them to experience the city we enjoy.” 

Planning for this tournament officially began in January with other local businesses such as MADE MOBB, Café Ollama and Café Cà Phê collaborating as co-hosts. Additionally, sponsorships with other businesses allowed for participants to enjoy other freebies such as  protein drinks from Chobani. 

At the match sites, food and drink vendors, activities and  local DJs such as FK Menace were also featured to provide participants, spectators and others an opportunity to further engage with the event and provide an atmosphere similar to a ‘First Friday’ event, while being family-friendly and open to all ages.

As for the Ryōgoku students, Leonard said that students were very involved and excited in the tournament, often engaging in the planning process by providing ideas on how it should look like, how to get the community involved and ways it could be marketed. 

“We have 30 boys from 22 countries and so it’s super cool because even their parents get involved and just present new ideas that maybe you didn’t think of or haven’t done so they’ve been a huge part of the execution of this,” Leonard said. 

As Kansas City prepares to welcome thousands of people from all over the world next summer as a host city for the 2026 World Cup, events such as Copa de Calle help further engage the community and showcase the diversity of the city.

Photo courtesy of Xay Vongxay

With the event serving as a fundraiser for the academy, making people understand the importance of grassroots soccer and promoting visibility and opportunities for urban core communities is another key takeaway that organizers would like individuals to leave with. 

Opportunities to play soccer oftentimes are limited due to the high costs to play for students which Ryōgoku aims to eliminate to provide more inner city youth the opportunity to develop their skills in a welcoming environment for new players. 

“Everybody in the world loves soccer, why not use that to bring people together?” Leonard said. “I think this event, just by people coming, is not fully formed, right but that’s the idea. We want people to come and give their input and make it theirs because it becomes the community’s event. That’s the way we do everything and that vibe should inspire several people to join our community like ours, whether it’s in Kansas City or somewhere else, and just start to get more involved.” 

For those who didn’t get the opportunity to participate, Leonard shares that planning for a fall Copa de Calle is already underway with more match sites along the streetcar, and a format allowing for larger teams. To stay up to date with any future announcements: follow @copadecalle and @ryogokusocceracademy on social media.