Aris F.C. ONE OF THE SMALLER CLUBS OFFERING HIGH-QUALITY, COMPETITIVE soccer in Tennessee, Aris F.C. is a case study in how to launch and grow a club organically. Officially established in 2014, Aris F.C.’s roots go back about six years ago after club founder and Director of Coaching Andrew Petrou began informal training on the weekend with his son and a friend. Before long, word of mouth began to spread throughout the community and more and more of his son’s friends began to show up on Saturday afternoons to train with Petrou. “Before I knew it there were 13 kids on a Saturday afternoon training and the parents kind of got together and said ‘you know what? My kid has more fun training with you on Saturday than with his club team. Would you be interested in coaching a team?’” Petrou agreed to coach an Under 13 boys team under the Nashville Soccer United (NSU) umbrella. It was this rag-tag bunch of guys who were the basis for what is now Aris F.C. “Basically, there were a bunch of boys who became disenfranchised with the clubs they were playing for. They weren’t very happy,” Petrou says. “They weren’t the best players by any means, but they just wanted to play or get the training that they liked.” After outgrowing NSU, many of the parents came together form a new club, Aris F.C. Today, the club serves between 250-300 kids on 15 teams. Petrou says the club’s relatively small size is manageable and provides for a better soccer experience all around. “I don’t like to have more than two teams per age group,” Petrou says. “You have a lot of these corporate clubs with five or six teams per age group. I don’t like that. It’s like a sweat shop of children. “I said if I ever form a club it’s going to be the complete opposite,” he adds. “These clubs get so big because they need the money. It’s one thing to need the child, but another thing to want the child.” Together with Director of Player Development Nat Hubert and the coaching staff, Aris F.C. has earned a solid reputation for developing coachable, well-mannered players and supportive parents. The club offers soccer programs for kids in the Under 12 through Under 18 age groups, as well as strength and conditioning, one-on-one and goalkeeper training.
ANDREAS PETROU Director of Coaching FA 1 • USSF E TYPES OF PROGRAMS OFFERED Competitive ADDRESS 1832 Stillwater Drive Brentwood, TN 37027 PHONE: 615-633-5967 WEBSITE: www.Arisfc.org