Consistency is hard to come by in the world of NYC pickup soccer. Erratic start times, players flaking out, or some other activity occupying the field can all cause a game can go bust. Not First Touch FC. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday morning, anywhere from 20 to 60 players, depending on the season and the weather, gather at Bushwick Inlet Park in Williamsburg for an hour of hyper-organized footie. (In summer, the game moves to nearby McCarren Park.) 
 
Credit Kyle McDonald, who founded First Touch FC in 2012, with the game's punctuality. “I've always just tried to keep it simple,” says the 38-year-old creative director and Michigan native, who moved to New York City a decade ago after living, skateboarding, and studying design in San Francisco. “People know to show up by 7:30 if they want a game. We count off the teams, pass out the pinnies, and go.” As promptly as play begins, it ends precisely an hour later with the shouting of "last play," good for ballers who have to hoof it to work.     
 
Early on, the biggest challenge was fielding enough players. “I used to have to call around the night before and beg people to show up,” says Kyle. These days, First Touch FC has nearly 3,000 members on MeetUp, maybe 100 of whom can be counted on to show up at least once a week. A $3 game fee covers the cost of permits and equipment. On a bright morning, when the weather’s just right and schedules align, the numbers might be enough for three separate games.   
         
As for skill level, the game's open-door policy results in a pretty wide range, from former Division I standouts and semi-pro internationals, to novices whose actual first touch of a soccer ball couldn't have been that long ago. This leads to the occasional lopsided match, but First Touch FC is usually fast-paced and competitive—besides being one of the most reliable pickups in town.

One of the challenges of pickup soccer in the city is securing field space, especially when the weather gets nasty. Remember that winter a few years back when a thin crust of ice made every pitch in New York unplayable for weeks? 

That’s why I’m excited about Socceroof, a year-round 70,000-square-foot indoor facility that’s opening next month in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. I recently got a tour of the space from Jonathan Lupinelli, the project’s French-born general manager and futbol bon vivant. 

Socceroof takes up the top level of a five-story warehouse on the waterfront. It’s a little off the beaten path, but there will be available parking, ferry service from Wall Street, and a shuttle departing every fifteen minutes from the 59th street subway station.  

As Jonathan and I exited the freight elevator, it still felt like a live construction site—saws buzzing, crew members scurrying about, building materials piled high. But then we turned a corner into the main corridor, where the finished playing fields glimmered green like an oasis against sweeping views of downtown Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, and the Verrazano Bridge. 

Socceroof GM Jonathan Lupinelli on one of the facility's large fields. 

Socceroof is designed around ten 5-a-side fields, 80' X 50', with the flexibility to combine two or three fields for larger games. The first thing you notice stepping onto the pitch is the incredible softness underfoot. “We spent a lot of money on the turf to avoid injuries,” said Jonathan. “Everything was brought in from Europe, including the crew who did the installation.” 

Instead of the usual rock hard substrate, a 2-inch matte underlayment supports the next-gen synthetic grass. After running a few lengths, I can tell you it’s like no surface I’ve ever played on in New York. And there are none of those annoying rubber granules that I (and my wife!) find all over the house after I play on most of the city’s existing turf pitches.  

It’s not just Socceroof’s playing surface that bears a European influence. The whole concept of 5-a-side soccer is core to how players learn the game abroad. “Foot five is a more technical game, with an emphasis on dribbling and passing,” said Jonathan, who grew up in Bordeaux and played high-level ball in France and Spain before attending college in the U.S. “Our vision is to help develop the game in the U.S. by making thousands of kids better each year.”

Socceroof's two French co-owners have the right mix of business acumen and soccer IQ to bring that vision to life. Jean David Tartour is a foot-five pioneer, having founded LE FIVE, a 5-a-side soccer community headquartered in Paris, with 22 centers throughout Europe. Jerome Meary has worked for years as a recruiter in Major League Soccer, and brings a keen understanding of player development in the U.S.

Workers put down pavers for the future rooftop terrace.

I like that Socceroof is looking to elevate soccer in the U.S. But the facility is also a boon to old guys like myself who are just looking for a game. (“In France, we call you ‘veterans,’" Jonathan said, which with his French accent made it sound almost noble). Players of every age and ability will have access to the facility from 10am to midnight during the week and 7am to 2am on weekends. It’s $200 an hour for a field during peak hours, which works out to $20 per player, a bit less with subs. And there will be plenty of league play at every level.    

Socceroof will also have a big social media component, through an innovative app that lets players track their performance, create teams, and loan or borrow players, as happens in professional leagues around Europe. “The gamification is something new,” said Jonathan. “It’s a way to create that FIFA like experience and grow community both online and offline.”

Matches will even be videotaped, allowing players to download clips and share them with the world on social media. That might mean a lot of trick shots and gamewinners filling your Facebook and Instagram feeds. It should also inspire more soccer passion throughout New York, especially with a second Socceroof facility already in development, and others on the way.   

The first couple months of the Second Half were devoted to getting into shape—or at least starting the process. “Preseason” as I liked to call it. The conditioning continues, but I’ve also started keeping a record of matches played, to simulate an actual season. The plan is to play at least two matches a week, one in a familiar location (the home game) and one somewhere new (the away). That will force me to discover new pickup games around the city.

Obviously, with any pickup game, there's always an element of luck with which team you end up on. But especially with small-sided soccer, like the 6v6 and 7v7 that I often play, a single player can shape the outcome with hustle, determination, and leadership. Conversely, that one player with a piss-poor attitude or ball hogging tendencies can ruin his team’s chances in a hurry.  

Besides tracking my overall record and goals scored, I plan to include conditioning metrics, including minutes played, steps per minute, and total miles covered. This kind of big data collection is now common at the professional level, often as part of an injury prevention strategy. A player might be taken out of a match once he hits a certain distance, since the trainers know that his chance of a hamstring strain and other injury goes way up at that point.

In my case, the data collection is more of a motivation tool. For example, I’m already seeing how my win-loss percentage improves, with more goals scored, when I average at least 100 steps per minute throughout the match. So that’s the minimum threshold I’ve set for now. What would happen if I push it to 110 steps per minute? We’ll find out as the season unfolds.      

Overall Record (as of November 8th): 12-4-1

11/5 Fairfield 3-Touch.         11/2 First Touch FC.             10/29 Underground Footie
Win: 9-4                              Win: 2-1                                Win: 4-3
Goals: 1.                               Goals: 1                                 Goals: 3
Total minutes: 70                Total minutes: 60                 Total minutes: 70
Total miles: 4.96                  Total miles: 3.9                     Total miles: 4.1
Steps per minute: 104         Steps per minute: 83           Steps per minute: 98

10/26 First Touch FC          10/24 First Touch FC             10/21 Camden Plaza
Loss: 8-5                               Win: 4-1                                   Win: 14-11
Goal: 2                                  Goals: 1                                    Goals: 1
Total minutes: 60                Total minutes: 60                    Total minutes: 70
Total miles: 4.2                    Total miles: 3.86                     Total miles: 4.15
Steps per minute: 120         Steps per minute: 97             Steps per minute: 82

10/19 First Touch FC          10/18: Bed-Stuy FC (In)             10/14: Fort Greene SC
Win: 5-4                              Draw: 2-2                                   Win: 7-3
Goals: 1                               Goals: 0                                       Goals: 0
Total minutes: 60                Total minutes: 75                       Total minutes: 110
Total miles: 3.71                    Total miles: 4.18                        Total miles: 5.27
Steps per minute: 91            Steps per minute: 86                 Steps per minute: 84

10/5: First Touch FC        10/4: Bed-Stuy FC (Indoor)              10/1: Bed-Stuy FC
Loss: 7-1                            Loss: 7-3                                           Win: 7-3
Goals: 0                             Goals: 1                                             Goals: 2
Total minutes: 60.            Total minutes: 60                            Total minutes: 90        
Total miles: 3.8.                Total miles: 2.6                               Total miles: 6
Steps per minute: 101.    Steps per minute: 94                     Steps per minute: 103

9/28: Sunrise FC.             9/24: Bed-Stuy FC                         9/22: First Touch FC (McCarren Park) 
Win: 2-1                             Win: 5-3                                          Loss: 5-2
Goals: 1                             Goals: 1                                           Goals: 0
Total minutes: 60.            Total minutes: 100                         Total minutes: 60
Total miles: 4.2                 Total miles: 6.18                             Total miles: 3.3
Steps per minute: 102     Steps per minute: 102                    Steps per minute: 91

9/21: First Touch FC         9/18: Bed-Stuy FC
Win: 5-3.                             Win: 9-7
Goals: 1.                             Goals: 3
Total minutes: 60               Total minutes: 90
Total miles: 4                      Total miles: 5.25
Steps per minute: 102       Steps per minute: 92

I’d known adversity during the Second Half challenge—the nagging hamstring injury, the scheduling conflicts, the time the hotel receptionist on a work trip informed me cheerfully of the complimentary beer and wine at the rooftop bar. Oh, come on! Free booze?!? 

Then August 22nd happened, and shit got real.  

The day started out beautifully: a sunrise photo shoot in Brooklyn Bridge Park followed by a 7:30am pickup match in Williamsburg (netted a hat trick in the 4-2 win…) and an honest day’s work at the office. Around 4pm, my wife Rebecca took our soon-to-be-5-year-old son Alexander to the doctor. He’d been peeing a lot, had a suddenly unquenchable thirst, and over the weekend his mood took a turbulent turn for the worse.

In hindsight, the signs were as clear as the urine blasting through his system. But it wasn’t until the doctor ran the blood work and saw that Alex’s sugars were off the charts that we got our diagnosis: type 1 diabetes. Or as my wife put it on the phone with appropriate urgency. “He probably has diabetes. We have to get the hospital right away.”

The next 48 hours were a blur of doctor’s meetings, family phone calls, tears, fitful sleep, and bad hospital food. As we quickly learned, type 1 diabetes is the more severe form of the disease, in which the pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone needed to break down sugars and starches into glucose that can then be used for energy. It differs from type 2 diabetes, where the body continues to make insulin but no longer uses it properly.

Day two at Mount Sinai hospital. 

Type 2 can often be controlled with diet and exercise. Those lifestyle changes matter with type 1 too, but no amount of effort will ever cause the body to start producing insulin again. Every carbohydrate that enters Alexander’s body will need to be counted and covered with a dose of insulin. There’s a lot of new technology that makes the disease more manageable, including a device that monitors glucose levels without the need for finger pricks, and a pump that administers insulin automatically. But my kid’s relationship to food and drink, and by extension my own, will never be the same again.   

Leaving Mount Sinai that first night, the enormity and permanence of the situation started to settle in. Diabetes had landed like an anvil in the middle of our world, and it was here to stay. My first instinct was to deep-six the Second Half and go sprinting into a six pack. Fortunately, I was too tired to do anything other than collapse in a heap on the pullout sofa at my in-laws’ place on the Upper East Side.

I was up with the sun the next morning, a routine I’d started with my training a month earlier. As I made my way back to the hospital, I realized that the strength, structure, and endurance that this process was giving me would be essential in the days, weeks, and, yes, years to come. 

Alexander at his 5th birthday party, five weeks after his diagnosis. 

Some days after the diagnosis, a friend offered comfort by talking about how Alexander is going to be in control of his body better than anyone. It brought back an earlier moment in the hospital when Rebecca had broken down in front of the doctors. “What’s going to happen when he’s 14 and wants to try beer?” she cried. That recalled my own adolescent impulses and escapades, when I didn’t just try beer so much as become one with it. 

It’s heartbreaking that Alexander got hit with diabetes, and that his life is forever altered as a result. But if I had to find my own bright side, I see how, at 5 years old, he’s gaining discipline and self-knowledge that, at age 43, I’m only beginning to work on. I watch him prick his own finger to take a blood sample, or listen as he and his big sister problem solve the upcoming Halloween haul, and it’s like a tiny piece of my universe clicking into place.         

Like the saying goes, sometimes the child is the father of the man. 

Every pickup soccer game has a style and character all its own. In this new series, I’ll describe various games around the city, starting with the one I’ve played in the most. 

Photo: George Wieser

The best pickup soccer fosters community, as much as a fiery love for the game. No game embodies this better than Fort Greene Soccer Club, which has been going for decades on the dirt pitch (a.k.a. the “dust bowl”) in the heart of Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park. Itai Gruss, a 25-year-old operations manager who grew up across the street, used to watch his father play, before joining himself as a teen. “The park was a scary place back then,” he says. “But whenever a game was going on, everybody felt safe.”

I came to Fort Greene Soccer Club shortly after moving to nearby Clinton Hill in 2007. From the outside, the game looked pretty rough and tumble, and the rocky pitch wasn’t exactly inviting. But once I screwed up the courage to ask to join, and showed a passion for the sport, I was welcomed with open arms, if also the occasional elbow. 

The game used to attract enough ballers for three or four teams, with the same diversity of its surrounding community. Five continents might be represented on a single side—maybe players from Japan, Morocco, France, Colombia, and Jamaica, their respective styles meshing in balletic, multicultural brilliance. It was always winners-stay-on, which stoked the competitive fires, and tempers too. But however heated the play, matches always ended in a handshake, and maybe a barbecue or house party to follow.

The numbers started to dip a few years back, after a faction of more recent Fort Greene residents grumbled about the trampled grass and clouds of dust. “Lawn-menacing soccer players and those who want the grass to grow are at odds in a Brooklyn park,” is how the New York Times characterized the debate (unfairly, in my mind, though I’m not the most reliable narrator.) At one point, the parks department even raised a lathe-and-wire fence to limit ball games. But in time the fence disappeared, and play resumed.

Fort Greene Soccer Club is still looking to regain its heydey momentum. But the spirit lives on. And on those magical weekend afternoons when the Fort Greene core comes out, it’s some of the best, fiercest pickup soccer in the borough. And the community that’s thrived around the game for so long is still the tightest I’ve ever known.    

Okay, the hamstring isn’t completely cured. But positive thinking is part of the treatment, so that’s my headline and I’m sticking to it. Plus, I do believe I’m on the path towards full recovery with this most common of soccer injuries—a result of the constant changes in speed and direction that players engage in throughout the match. One study found that an estimated 40 percent of injuries in England’s Premier League are hamstring-related.

I’d been nursing a strained hamstring for about 8 months when the Second Half kicked off, back in July. The injury had me playing at maximum intensity level of around 70 percent. On a good day, I’m now at 90 percent. Here’s the five-point plan I’ve used to get there:  

Weight management. This of course is a main component of my total fitness regiment, but the hamstring has been a major beneficiary. As coach Hoog put it, “when you lose all that extra weight, your hamstrings aren’t going to have to work as hard.” Makes sense, and I’m already feeling the effects. Another benefit to weight loss: as my body fat has decreased, my hamstrings are becoming proportionally leaner and more compact. That's improving the overall flexibility of the muscle group and its communication with my knees and hips.                

Yoga. I’ve never been much a stretcher, let alone a yoga goer. Foolish pride on both counts. Since joining Kahlila Kramer’s all-male “broga” class a couple months back, the workouts have brought my whole body into better alignment, while stretching the hamstrings specifically and getting them to work with my back and hips. As yoga goes, the class if pretty gentle, so I won’t run the risk of opening the hamstrings up too much—a concern for soccer players, who need the connection between the hamstring and surrounding tendons to remain firm.              

Foam rolling. Kahlila’s private classes often include a foam roller. Its positive impact has been enough for me to purchase a roller of my own (the OPTP PRO-ROLLER Standard), which I now try to use every day, especially before and after intense training sessions. A kind of self-massage, foam rolling helps release and lengthen the fascia that covers the muscles. In my case, the fascia around the hamstring has become restricted, causing pain and tightness. A few minutes a day of intensive rolling has really helped to break it up.                        

Acupuncture. It was also Kahlila who put me on to acupuncture and I’m glad I followed her advice. I’m trying to go once a week to Brooklyn Open Acupunture, a communal clinic in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood. The open setting lets acupuncturists treat multiple people at once, which keeps costs in check (current rate per treatment is $20 to $50). 

Acupuncture stimulates the body’s internal resources, including natural anti-inflammatories and pain-killers. As the acupuncturist explained during my initial consultation, my injury has resulted in a lot of restriction between the hamstring and surrounding fascia. The strategic placement of needles in my foot, leg, hip, buttock, and neck is reactivating those pathways.

Awareness. There’s a reason so many hamstring injuries happen at the end of soccer matches: fatigued players use shorter strides, which puts added pressure on the hamstring muscles. Though it goes against the Second Half ethos, I’m forcing myself to ease up in the later stages of my games, or anytime I feel my legs getting heavy.

There you have it: my five-point plan for full hamstring recovery. Along with the power of positive thinking, I’m certain it will have me back to full strength in no time. Keeping up the routine should help prevent the injury from sidelining me again in the future.          

Note from Dan: The Second Half isn’t just my story. It’s also the story of people I meet along the way. Up first in this new series, one of my favorite ballers on and off the field, a man whose spiritual respect for the game is always a source of inspiration. 

"Soccer for me is like praying. It’s a form of physical exercise, but there’s also this deep spiritual side. Just juggling the ball for a few minutes brings me closer to myself. It helps me align. At the same time, it’s very communal. As a Jamaican, soccer is the first sport you play, after running. I grew up in the same town as Usain Bolt, but it was always soccer for me. I first played with my dad, then later my uncles. I know that anywhere I go, I can communicate with people through the language of soccer. It breaks down social barriers. When I’m not playing, I’m trying to learn something new. Right now, I’m learning how to teach art full-time. My art is very connected to soccer. In college, I used to juggle the ball before class to focus my attention. It’s all about patience and attention to detail. That’s something I tell my kids when I’m coaching. How you are on the field is how you are in life."
—Bushwick, Brooklyn     

Turning lost youth into full-grown discovery. That's what The Second Half is all about. In my case, the game of soccer provides the catalyst for change. The journey begins around the time the first of these photos was taken, in what would be the high point of my playing days, freshman year at Westfield High School in New Jersey. Looking at the photo now, through thirty years of hindsight, it's obvious what's about to happen. The diffident body language, the downcast gaze—not exactly the image of a warrior in the making. On some level, I must have known that my fall had already begun. I just didn't have the power to stop it. Until now.      

Here's the back story: I’ve been playing soccer since age five. Some of my earliest memories are of juggling a black-and-white leather ball in the backyard of my childhood home, firing it with increasing force and accuracy into the hedgerow that lined one side of the property. Through the youth and travel leagues of the 1980s, I developed into a pretty good player, and the sport became core to my identity. Entering high school, I was one of four freshmen picked for the varsity squad, which was a big deal at the time. The coaches saw a ton of potential in our incoming class, the nucleus of which had been playing together for the better part of a decade.

Alas, this would be where I peaked. Though I was a starting defender on the senior team that took home the state championship, and went on to make the University of Vermont’s Division I squad (well, the B-team, anyway), I never developed beyond my 14-year-old self.   

Looking back, I can see I never even tried. I didn’t supplement my school team playing with club training the way my more committed peers did. I didn’t work on my physical condition. Far from it, I was part of the beer ball brigade in high school, whose favorite extracurricular activities were Camel Lights and Old Milwaukee. College, where I joined a frat, was even worse. After a year on UVM’s team, I gave up competitive soccer for good.

I never left the game completely, though. As adulthood pressures—job, family, mortgage—have mounted, so has my playing time in the pickup games around my home in Brooklyn. They’re an escape valve for the tensions of everyday life, as well as a community not based around making money, my kid’s school, or beer. As I like to tell my wife, “It just feels good to run around.”

Unfortunately, though my love for the game is stronger than ever, my 43-year-old body has never been in worse shape, and so I’m losing steps on the soccer field at an exponential pace to younger, faster players.  That’s made me nostalgic for the natural gifts of youth and full of regret that I didn’t fully commit myself to the game. I wonder not only how good I could have become but what kind of confidence I would have gained if I had made different life decisions.

A while back, I was at a dinner for my daughter’s youth soccer league. Robin Fraser, a retired professional player and, at the time, assistant coach with the New York Red Bulls player, was the guest of honor. During the Q&A, someone asked about his current playing habits. He talked about his regular workouts and various club teams. “I’m 47 years old and I’m still doing the exact same thing I did when I was 7,” he said.

Those words have stayed with me. They’re so contrary to the accepted wisdom on middle age. I hear it all the time on the soccer field, guys saying they’re going to hang ‘em up when they’re 45 or 40 or whatever age they deem (un)fit. Here was another narrative. Still going hard at 47!

It’s inspired the Second Half challenge. What if I give it one last shot, to see how good a player I can be? Obviously, my peak physical potential is behind me. But this is not about being the best player on the field. It’s about being the best soccer player I can be, and using that experience to enrich my life’s second half.

I’m not sure where the journey will lead. I know I want to explore the best pickup games in New York City, once I get into top shape. And I’m eager to meet other “second halfers,” to hear their stories and strategies. Beyond that, I’ll go wherever the game takes me—only this time, I’ll be all in.

It’s just past 7am on a Tuesday and McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is already a swirling, sweltering hive of activity. Joggers run circles around the red, rubber track. Personal trainers, versed in everything from crossfit to martial arts, bark inspiration at their huffing clients.

The turf field in the middle of the track sits quiet, for the moment anyway. As the minutes tick past the hour and the temperature nears 90°F, a scrum of soccer players starts to coalesce along one sideline. Most are in their thirties and forties, with a smaller faction of twenty and fifty somethings. They’re lads mainly, though a handful of women might mix in.

The U.S. is the most represented nation, but not by much. A large contingent hail from Columbia and Spain. Several players sport British accents. Australia has a solid quorum. Denmark, Morocco, Portugal, Japan, and Italy all send out a player or two. Altogether, more than twenty nations make up the patchwork of middle-aged, Tiger Balm-smelling ballers.

At 7:25am sharp, the game’s organizer calls everyone in for the count. “Two games of nine,” he shouts. “Ones and twos on the far field. Threes and fours on the near. Evens get the bibs.” Within minutes, the pitch springs to life, a motley mix of fluorescent green and orange jerseys chasing a bouncing leather orb. It will stay busy for the next sixty minutes, until someone shouts, “last play!” signaling the end of soccer for the day.

But only for this game.

First Touch F.C., as this game is called, is one of dozens, if not hundreds of pickup soccer games played every day in New York City. On this very pitch in Brooklyn, another game will break out in a couple hours. Over in Prospect Park, another half dozen games will be played throughout the day, including Sunrise F.C., which has the same 7:30am kickoff as First Touch F.C., every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the year.

Manhattan provides more fertile ground for informal futbol, including Chinatown’s famed Nike Field, where former basketball great Steve Nash (an avid soccer player) holds his annual Showdown NYC soccer tournament. In Queens, Long Island City is one of many pickup meccas. Bronx ballers head to Van Cortlandt Park. And in Staten Island, Silver Lake Park, with its sweeping views of the Verrazano, has some of the busiest pitches in the borough.

It’s hard to know precisely how much pickup soccer is played throughout the city. The New York City Parks Department lists more than 60 official soccer fields on its website, but the actual number is far greater. Tap “pickup soccer” into the Meetup app and you’ll spend hours down the rabbit hole, discovering more games in every borough, many with memberships in the thousands. And that doesn’t count the organized leagues, like NYC Coed, which started in 2004 and now runs dozens of leagues in Chelsea, the Lower East Side, and Williamsburg.

Since moving to New York City in 2000, I’ve maybe played in thirty of these games, both pickup and organized. I’ve seen how each game is unique, in the rules that are followed, the quality of the pitch, and most of all, in the skill and character of the players. At the same time, every game is the same, with two teams figuring out a way to put a round ball into the back of the other team’s net.

My goal with The Second Half is to experience as many games as possible, for as long as I can play the game. Is there a single best pickup game in New York? I reckon there is. But it changes all the time, depending on who shows up, the chemistry on the field, the flow of the game, and a million other factors that make the simple game of soccer so beautifully complex.

With any luck, I'll catch a few of those games along the way.

The decision to change your life has to come from within. But once you reach it, you need all the help you can get. I knew I’d never be able to tackle The Second Half alone, so I mined my personal network to assemble an A-plus support network. Besides the expertise they bring, the financial investment means I have that much more skin in the game, which will hopefully translate into correspondingly better results.

The actual expense varies from week to week, depending on my schedule and that of my team members. If I’m firing on all cylinders—a pair of soccer and yoga sessions each, a visit to the acupuncturist, a meeting with the nutritionist—the total outlay might be up around $200. Over the course of the month, it probably nets out around $600.

That’s real money, for sure. But I’m getting some it back through lifestyle changes. Going off the booze, for example, works out to more than I care to admit. And I’m cooking more meals at home, which means a much lighter restaurant bill.

Whatever the total cost of my professional support network, it’s absolutely worth it they’re able to see me on a path of lasting health and wellness. Here’s a closer look at the core members.         

Stephen Hoogerwerf, Coach
I first met Stephen ten years ago at the pickup game in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene Park—the “dust bowl” as it’s known, after the dirt-and-sand pitch on which it’s played. Like me, Stephen has lived and breathed soccer his entire life, starting with the playing fields of his hometown New Orleans.  

Stephen came to New York to study sports science at Long Island University, where he also served as an assistant coach for the men’s soccer team. His resume also includes stints with Manhattan Soccer Club and New York Cosmos. He’s currently the Director of Coaching at Chelsea Piers and Head Soccer Coach at the Collegiate School. And he does private lessons on the side, mainly youth, but more and more adults as well, which makes The Second Half a great fit for both of us.

Kahlila Kramer, Strength Trainer  
Kahlila is a personal trainer and registered yoga teacher, as well as a fellow parent at my kids’ school in Brooklyn. She received her personal trainer certification in 2007 shortly before the birth of her first child; in 2011, she finished her 200-hour yoga teacher training and went on to complete another 100 hours in trauma-informed yoga. What drew me to Kahlila is the men’s class (aka “broga”) she offers, as well as her experience working with clients through specific injuries (a bum hamstring, in my case). I also like her non-judgemental approach to teaching and training, and the focus on self-acceptance. Besides yoga, Kahlila has a lifelong love of movement, dance, and martial arts.       

Danika Hendrickson, Meditation Coach
Danika is a certified yoga teacher, astrologer and ayurveda practitioner, based in New York’s Hudson Valley. She teaches at the Omega Institute and Satya Yoga Center. I’ve known Danika personally for more than ten years, and have had a few professional sessions in that time, around yoga and astrology. When I first mentioned The Second Half project, she talked about how the alignment of my Virgo sign made this an ideal time in life to embark on a major transformation. Besides the meditation, I’m eager to benefit from Danika's expertise in restorative yoga, conscious eating, and more. 

Elizabeth Fassberg, Nutritionist
Elizabeth is the founder and president of EAT FOOD, a food and nutrition consultancy based in Manhattan. We’ve crossed paths professionally over the years and she also happens to be my wife’s cousin, which helps with the rapport.

What I like most about Liz is her reality-based philosophy toward diet and nutrition. “There is a lot of misinformation out there,” she said during our first call about the project. “The silver-bullet, one-size-fits-all diet plan is a myth.” Liz is less rigid in her approach, working with clients to create nutritional programs that suit their lifestyle while still hitting the targets. I can’t wait to see what that looks like for me. My wife is pretty excited, too.