Skip to main content

Exploring the Sideline Shindig: Soccer Beach Bros

by Marissa Blackman

Soccer has kickstarted an entire industry of entertainment and fashion. Sideline Shindig is all about that industry. Soccer is the main attraction, but the beautiful of art and entertainment that surrounds the game is much like a party. That notion is what inspired the name of this blog

Freestyling is one of the many facets of the soccer-based entertainment industry. Countless people around the world have worked to make freestyling the art form that it is today. Freestyling has become a sport of its own. There are international freestyle competitions and professionals who have made a career of this art that stems from soccer.

The SoccerBeachBros, Wilmington's own group of soccer skill artists, have been gaining worldwide attention for their amazing tekkers. They currently have over 6,000 followers. 


Q: How did you guys get into freestyling?
A:  I wouldn't say we necessarily practice freestyle in our free time. We are all just naturally gifted soccer players that go out and kick the ball around together often. We see something in a video or on TV. and then at our next practice some of the boys will just start messing around with it, and we usually get it down.

Q: Who are some of your favorite freestylers?
A: One of our favorites has to be another fellow North Carolinian named Indie Cowie. She amazes us every time we see her perform or post something on Instagram. Also the F2 Freeestylers who are pretty much the most known freestylers in the world. 

Q: Do you ever use freestyling techniques in soccer games?
A: No, but I wouldn't categorize SoccerBeachBros as a primarily free-styling account, we like to showcase how diverse our soccer skill set is. We produce trick shots, tekkers, freestyle, skill moves, and shots on goal. Some of the content we produce can be used in in-game situations, such as skill moves and scoring goals.

Q: Do you have any advice for fledgling freestylers?
A:  I would say just go for it. I wish we had started our account earlier. There is no better feeling than pulling off a new trick or move and then posting the video up, and getting positive feedback. It shows the hard work is paying off. 

Q: On average, how much practice does it take for you to perfect a new move?
A: We have two very talented freestylers on SoccerBeachBros. Their names are Cesar and Tyler. They produce the exciting juggling stuff for those type of videos. Most tricks come pretty natural to them. It takes them maybe five or ten minutes to get it down. Once you establish a certain skill set, you have a certain range of tricks or moves that you can get down pretty easily. We also have another bro, named Sawyer, who produces on the ground tekkers, which is a completely different skill set, than normal tekkers.

Q: Do you guys have any interesting or funny stories about your time together?
A: We have lots of fun when we kick around because we have such a close friendship. Most of us have been friends since we were five years old. Probably the funniest thing that happens, is when somebody accidentally gets hit with the ball off the post. Also, we will occasionally go out and do some videos in public areas, or near an aquatic area, and somebody will do something stupid and we will lose a ball in the water, which is one of those "you had to be there" jokes.
Q: How did Soccer Beach Bros start?
A: One day we just decided to go kick around and brought out this cheap little go pro. We were watching some videos on a big account, and we were like wow we could do that. So, we just messed around and recorded the whole session, and put the best stuff into a video. I put it on my personal Instagram @Sawyer_Royall and we got lots of positive feedback. So, the four original bros decided to make an account. We couldn't think of a name, so we just put @SoccerBeachBros as a joke, until we thought of a better one. Some time went by and we had about 300 or 400 followers. We were going to change the name, and then a whole bunch of our friends (which were the majority of our followers at the time) said that they would unfollow us if we changed it. So it stuck. 

Q: If you had to choose between a career as a professional soccer player or a professional freestyler, which would you choose?
A: I think some of us would pick professional [soccer] and others would pick freestyling. I think there are positives and negatives to both. Being a professional soccer player, and playing at the highest level possible, is every young soccer players dream. There are also a lot of responsibilities that go along with being a professional player, whereas a freestyler may have a more chill and relaxed career. Both have the benefits of producing soccer for your personal enjoyment and those around you.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Not Everyone Is Messi"

By Marissa Blackman Brace yourselves because I'm about to go on a little rant! I can't be the only one who notices these things. I like to get my soccer content from a wide variety of sources. I scroll along the meme-based, click bait ridden accounts just much as I prowl through the latest writings from more reputable sources of "news." For the past several weeks, I've been seeing posts showing Cavani and Neymar debating over who will take a kick. They all have captions along the lines of "not everyone is Messi." I get what they're saying. Messi would let Neymar take the kick, but Cavani isn't going for that. Ok. Fine. But...there is something so grammatically terrible about that phrase. It must make sense to somebody, but it racks my brain. There's an even bigger problem with these incessant posts. Neymar has been trying to take a kick for weeks. Cavani has been telling him no for weeks. Cavani has ultimately taken most, if not all, of

Hammerheads Tie Montreal

by Marissa Blackman For the second time this season, the Wilmington Hammerheads FC  competed against FC Montreal. Although the first half of the match was competitive, both teams were lacking at times. There was a bit of disconnection in passes between the Hammerheads in the early minutes of the match which lead to some preventable turnovers. Montreal certainly made its presence known by maintaining a fair share of possession, but the Canadian club never did much with the ball. Each time Montreal attempted to approach the goal, the Hammerheads cleared the ball. There were virtually no moments in the first half where Montreal made a real threat of a goal. The Hammerheads made several goal attempts but none were successful. Although the first half was a goalless one, the Hammerheads seemed much more likely to score. In the second half, Montreal had a larger presence. Though FC Montreal maintained possession in the first minutes after half time, the efforts did not force Hammerheads

DIFERENÇAS ENTRE O FUTEBOL EUROPEU E O FUTEBOL BRASILEIRO

por Hugo Haacke Começando na Europa e se espalhando pelo mundo, hoje, o futebol é o esporte coletivo mais praticado em todo o mundo. Tendo objetivos e regras iguais, o futebol se diferencia de lugar para lugar na sua forma de jogar, torcer e gerenciar. Entre a Europa e a América Latina, onde o futebol é mais popular, há significantes diferenças, tendo como principal referência nesse continente, o Brasil, o país do futebol. A primeira diferença e mais perceptível é a tática e a forma de jogar. No futebol europeu, a velocidade durante a partida inteira é algo natural. Há também características gerais como o costume de manter a linha de quatro no meio de campo e, a estratégia de recomposição do time inteiro, o jogo mais centrado, objetivo e calculado. Já o futebol brasileiro, conforme o tempo passa, os técnicos vêm aproximando a tática de seus times ao futebol europeu – principalmente depois da copa de 1982. Mas em sua essência, o futebol brasileiro sempre se caracterizou por lance