Our Story

James Christie grew up in the Oley Valley, a small town in the rolling hills about an hour northwest of Philadelphia. The town was so small it didn’t have a football team. When James’s parents signed him up for the local youth soccer team, they were just looking for something to keep an active kid busy. What they got was a lifelong obsession.

James and his brother Rich spent hours kicking a ball against the barn wall. By high school, that obsession had turned into something bigger. Playing for his tiny school, James started making a name for himself, and the recognition grew fast. He was named a High School All-American, called up to the U.S. Under-20 National Team, and earned a full Division I scholarship to Philadelphia University, where he made the All-Mid Atlantic Team. He got his National C Coaching License and signed a professional contract with the Baltimore Spirit.

Then his body gave out. Chronic injuries forced James into early retirement from professional soccer. He went back to Philadelphia and started weight-lifting to rehab his knee, and discovered he loved that, too. He threw himself into fitness, earned the NSCA’s Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist designation, and built a career as a personal trainer.

But he still missed the game. As his twenties wound down, James packed his bags and moved to New York City with a plan to become an actor. Personal training would pay the bills while he made the rounds.

That’s not what happened.

One of his training clients found out he’d been a professional soccer player and asked if he’d teach a class for her son and his friends. James grabbed a bag of soccer balls and a few cones, met six kids in Central Park, and ran what would become the very first SocRoc class. Something clicked that afternoon. Teaching kids, watching them learn and compete and laugh and fall down and get back up, brought his love for soccer roaring back in a way he hadn’t felt since he was playing.

He never did become a famous actor.

What started as one class in Central Park grew into something James couldn’t have predicted. Over the next two decades, SocRoc expanded across Manhattan into parks, playgrounds, gyms, daycare centers, churches, synagogues, and schools both private and public. Today, SocRoc employs over 30 coaches and runs more than 200 classes a week.

Every coach on staff is handpicked and trained by James. They come from soccer cultures around the world (Italy, Argentina, Greece, Senegal, Colombia, Ecuador, Jamaica, Scotland, and more) and they share his belief that kids play their best when they’re having fun. James is still hands-on. You’ll find him leading classes, dropping in on sessions, working with coaches on curriculum. The name of the game hasn’t changed since that first afternoon in Central Park: make soccer fun, and everything else follows.

SocRoc was voted Manhattan’s Best Soccer Program for Kids in 2019. They’ve won it every year since. Seven straight and counting.

In 2021, SocRoc was growing fast, and James brought in the person he trusted most to help run the business: his sister, Heather Christie.

Heather took over as CEO and Director of Operations. She handles the organizational side of things so James can focus on what he’s always been best at: coaching development, curriculum, and being on the field with kids. Under her leadership, SocRoc has expanded its programming significantly, launching BBRoc Basketball and KOAA Sports (adaptive and inclusive programs for kids of all abilities).

SocRoc is, and always has been, a family business. James and Heather run it that way. There’s a personal touch, real accountability, and the kind of customer service you don’t usually get from a youth sports program. They know their coaches by name. They know their families. And they take pride in the fact that so many of those families come back year after year.