Before they became one of Long Island’s top under-10 soccer teams, the North Fork United Sharks were just a group of neighborhood boys who loved to play.
It started at JB Browder’s seventh birthday party, where his father, now assistant coach Chris Browder, asked the boy what he wanted to do for his birthday.
“I just want to play soccer,” he told his father.
The boys spent nearly two hours chasing a ball around the yard. The bounce house barely got any attention. Afterward, Browder looked at the other parents and wondered why they had to wait until another birthday party to do it again.
Every Saturday morning that summer, the boys got together to play. There were no coaches blowing whistles, no organized drills and no scoreboards. They picked teams, played til they were exhausted, argued over goals, settled their own disputes, laughed a lot and came back the following weekend to do it all over again.
“We just let them play,” Browder said. “There were no expectations. They just loved it.”
Three years later, many of those same boys are Premier East Division champions in the Long Island Junior Soccer League. They just completed an improbable climb from pickup games at a backyard birthday party to the highest tiers of youth travel soccer on Long Island.
The Sharks’ championship is the clearest sign yet of something that’s been happening quietly across the North Fork for more than a decade. What began as a small parent-run soccer club with just two travel teams has evolved into one of the East End’s largest youth sports organizations, serving roughly 500 children from Riverhead to Orient and Shelter Island through recreational, developmental and travel programs.
North Fork United Soccer Club, now in its 14th season, fields 16 boys and girls travel teams with more than 230 players competing in the Long Island Junior Soccer League. The club also has another 260 players in its year-round developmental and recreational programs, serving children ages 4 to 14.
This spring, four North Fork United teams won multiple division titles: the U10 Sharks in Premier, the U16 Lightning in Division 1, the U13 Stripers in Division 3 and the U9 Threshers in Champions. Three more teams — the U10 Whalers, U10 Sandpipers and U12 Storm — reached Long Island Cup finals. Along the way, North Fork United has helped fuel a soccer culture that coaches say is stronger today than at any point in the club’s history.
Building a club, not just teams
The club was founded in 2012 to give local children a chance to play. The goal wasn’t to produce championship teams.
“There were limited opportunities for travel soccer past Riverhead,” said club president and Sharks head coach Dan Kelleher. “The whole point of North Fork United was to provide more opportunities —not just for Mattituck kids, but for the entire community.”
Longtime NFU training director Marco DaFonte said the club grew deliberately, starting with its youngest players.
The coaches created introductory programs for 4- and 5-year-olds before expanding into developmental and travel soccer, while recruiting local trainers, high school coaches and parent volunteers.
“I think once we really started building a culture, a little soccer community, that’s when things started taking off,” DaFonte said.
The developmental program prepares the youngest kids for travel soccer, allowing them to learn fundamentals before moving into more competitive play.
“We’ve gotten into a rhythm,” Kelleher said. “The developmental program is really the feeder.”
DaFonte said another key has been accessibility.
Some youth sports can become prohibitively expensive, the coaches said. North Fork United has emphasized affordable registration fees, scholarships and opportunities for children from across the region.
“Soccer is almost like a sport for all,” DaFonte said. “We’re bringing together players from Orient to Riverhead, from all different backgrounds and demographics.”
The Sharks’ championship roster includes Zachary Basile, Matteo Boch, JB Browder, Hugo Garcia, Charles Kelleher, Preston Knoedler, Grady Meehan, Sebastian Santiago, Liam Schlachter and Isaac Toussaint. The coaches are Kelleher, Browder, Knoedler, DaFonte and trainer JC Monzon.
The North Fork United Sharks in action (Photos by Erik Morgan)
Growing up together
The Sharks became one of the club’s greatest success stories because many of the ten boys had already spent years growing up together. Most attended that birthday party, and many spent three summers playing pickup soccer every Saturday morning. They play soccer, baseball and lacrosse together.
“They’ve been playing together since they were four years old,” Kelleher said. “By the time they’re 10, they know what the other guy’s going to do.”
Browder saw the potential early.
“When we started playing together, I remember thinking, ‘Wow, these kids are really good,'” he said. “A lot of them had been playing with their dads or brothers and sisters since they were really little.”
Natural talent helped carry the Sharks through the club’s developmental program and into travel soccer, where they quickly won the Champions Division and earned promotion to Premier. Then came the hard part.
A lesson learned
Their biggest breakthrough came after their biggest defeat.
In their very first Premier Division game, the Sharks traveled to Floral Park full of confidence. They lost 8-1.
“We got absolutely schooled,” Browder said.
The opponent passed more crisply, defended better and controlled space more effectively, the coaches said. For the first time, athletic ability alone wasn’t enough.
“They knew better how to play as a team,” Browder said.
Assistant coach Ed Knoedler remembers the conversation with the team afterward. Rather than dwelling on the score, the coaches challenged the boys to decide what kind of team they wanted to become. The loss also forced a reckoning on the coaching staff.
“It was an eye-opener for us coaches, too,” Knoedler said. “We were watching [the other team], thinking, ‘Look how they’re doing this. This is what we need to teach.'”
Practices shifted. The emphasis became spacing, passing and defensive positioning, and “seeing the open player,” Browder said. “Seeing the openings on the field.”
There were more losses, followed by long drives back home to the North Fork. But the kids kept at it and kept improving. One weekend they nearly upset one of the Premier Division’s top teams, leading 3-0 before eventually surrendering the lead.
To the coaches, even that loss felt like progress.
“We told them, ‘Look where you were a few weeks ago,'” Knoedler said. “‘You’re heading in the right direction. Keep believing.'”
By the following spring, everything had fallen into place. The Sharks hit their stride and captured the Premier East Division title, becoming just the second North Fork United team to accomplish the feat.
A soccer culture comes of age
DaFonte says the Sharks’ championship is part of a broader transformation. When he first joined North Fork United, he remembers children arriving at practice wearing baseball cleats and basketball jerseys. Today, many wear jerseys from professional soccer clubs.
“Now kids have favorite teams. They have favorite players,” DaFonte said. “They’re just enjoying the sport.”
This summer’s World Cup has only added to that enthusiasm.
North Fork United has organized watch parties at local businesses, drawing hundreds of players, parents and community members to cheer on the U.S. and many other teams together.
“The World Cup definitely helps grow the sport,” DaFonte said last week. “The games are on at normal times, the U.S. is doing well, and the kids are excited.”
The club has worked to build and grow girls teams at younger age levels, an effort DaFonte credits to dedicated coaches and increasing demand from local families.
At the same time, North Fork United has begun running into a different challenge: space. Practices and games now occupy local fields nearly every day of the week, and club officials say additional athletic facilities have become one of the community’s biggest needs.
Challenges ahead
To Kelleher, one the most remarkable parts of the Sharks’ story is where it happened.
Most away game require long drives west. The club serves a relatively small population spread across the North Fork. Yet year after year, local teams continue to stay competitive against programs drawing from much larger communities.
The Sharks will face another test this fall as they move from seven-on-seven soccer to nine-on-nine play on larger fields against older competition. The coaches expect another adjustment period. But if the last three years have taught them anything, it’s that the Sharks are ready to take it to the next level.
“We punch way above our weight,” Kelleher said.