Fielding
Opportunity

Standing on the field at Energizer Park at halftime, looking out at the crowd filling the stands, Jorge Flores couldn’t stop thinking about all the kids who were watching. As the soccer coach answered a few questions about the mission of the Dream Big Foundation, which was being recognized by St. Louis CITY SC’s Exceptional Neighbors program honoring St. Louisans who are making the city a better place to live, he knew how meaningful that moment would be for the kids his organization serves. 

“It just felt like this moment of, ‘Wow, the parents are watching, the kids are watching to see what their coach says about them,” he says. “It was so rewarding for the organization itself, but just for the kids to see it. This is their future. This is why we’re doing it. So it was such a special moment.”

Flores has spent much of the past 10 years working to make the game of soccer more accessible to kids from all backgrounds through his work with the Dream Big Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit youth organization that provides inexpensive soccer programs to kids from low-income families. Flores, who was born in Jalisco, Mexico, and immigrated to Chicago with his family when he was 3 years old, started playing soccer as a teenager after his family moved to St. Ann. 

He was passionate about the game, but his family couldn’t afford for him to play club soccer, which can cost thousands of dollars each year, and he ultimately stopped playing his senior year of high school.

Flores never lost sight of his love for the game, though, and in 2015, he started officiating state-wide youth soccer tournaments and local club leagues. Officiating games made him increasingly aware of the pay-to-play system, in which kids like him were left off the playing field due to financial constraints.

“I felt like there were a lot of kids that wanted to play but weren’t able to based off of where they came from, with little financial support at home,” Flores says. “We’re first-generation immigrants, so it was always a struggle for Mom and Dad to support me through high school. I kind of use that as a chip on my shoulder. There’s got to be hundreds of kids around me that are in a similar position, so if I can get to them before life gets to them when they’re all grown up, then maybe we can change that and change the direction of the community.”

Flores quit officiating and took it upon himself to launch the Dream Big Foundation in 2017 to increase the number of kids able to play competitive youth soccer. Over the past eight years, the nonprofit has grown primarily by word of mouth and has assisted nearly 100 kids in playing soccer. Currently, Dream Big has two teams: a U9 team and a U17 team, with plans to launch a co-ed team in the winter of 2025-2026. The teams move around the St. Louis metro, but most of their games are played at Sportport International in Maryland Heights, and many of the kids who play for Dream Big live in surrounding areas such as Bridgeton, St. Ann, and St. Charles.

Dream Big ensures that kids from all backgrounds have a safe place to learn how to play soccer, make friends, and develop foundational life skills such as discipline, patience, and teamwork that will help them realize their potential and follow their dreams. Flores hopes that playing soccer through Dream Big can have an impact on kids that goes far beyond the field, and the growth he’s seen in players over the past eight years is a testament to that work. Of the very first Dream Big team that he coached, for instance, about a dozen players are currently on the varsity soccer team at Ritenour High School. Seeing those teens not just continue to play soccer, but build a new path for themselves, is what keeps Flores going. He’s also encouraged to see older players return to Dream Big practices to help younger players learn skills. 

“It’s just such a good thing to see, because they’re coming from homes that don’t have opportunity,” Flores says. “So to be able to engage with those kids and affect them and get them to stay on the right track, and to see them still engage in school and maybe hope for a scholarship to change their life, to continue their future, it’s awesome.”

Flores’ hands-on approach to coaching — he’ll even drive players to and from practices and games when their parents are at work — has made an impact with both players and their parents. Nick Hess, for instance, has noticed a marked difference between Flores’ coaching style at Dream Big and that of some other youth soccer programs. His 9-year-old son, Bennett, has been playing soccer since first grade, and Hess was initially a little hesitant about the world of club soccer, where kids are treated almost like professionals. When Bennett started playing with Dream Big a few years ago, Hess appreciated that his son was exposed to a wider range of kids, and he was also struck by Flores’ hands-on, personalized approach to coaching, which emphasizes skill development and teamwork over winning.

“What I love about Jorge is it’s all him,” Hess says. “He’s hands-on and takes it seriously, so he’s learning the skills and getting better at the game, but never has it become impersonal or a job where he’s just trying to get more wins. Jorge really just wants every kid to be as good as they can at the sport and play hard and have fun. He cares about the kids more than he cares about winning a trophy, and I think this is how everyone would want their kid to be coached.”

As word of Dream Big has spread across St. Louis, the organization has found crucial support to help it grow. In 2023, for instance, Dream Big received a $15,000 grant through PepsiCo’s nationwide “Team of Champions” program, which seeks to improve access to soccer in underserved communities. Flores hopes to continue to expand Dream Big’s reach across the St. Louis area: in addition to launching a co-ed team, he also hopes to launch all-girls teams and add more women to the coaching team. Within the next five years, he’d love to be able to open a brick-and-mortar facility for Dream Big to open its doors to even more kids in the metro.

“The numbers, statistically, with club teams just growing, and more kids participating in soccer programs, I think the soccer scene in St. Louis has grown tremendously,” Flores says. “So with us, it kind of just happened to be at the same time. It was 2017 when we started this and now it’s come to be, like a soccer scene, a soccer city.”

Putting down roots in St. Louis is a natural next step for Flores, who says the city means everything to him and Dream Big. He’s energized by the way St. Louis has grown into a bustling soccer city since the launch of St. Louis CITY SC in 2019 and is grateful for the community who show up to support Dream Big because they understand the vision. When he hears the occasional criticism about the city, he says, he feels the opposite way.

“For us, it’s like, ‘What can we do to improve?’ And it starts with the youth,” he says. “Whenever you’re able to change the youth and the outlook on the future, I think the community itself is going to change. To be behind that and to support that is just so rewarding to me. And I’m going to continue to do it. It’s changed my life completely. I see that there’s a lot of kids like this that continue to struggle, so it’s always a part of me to continue to fight for our mission and help as many kids as we possibly can. It’s been awesome to just start this and see how it can actually change lives around you.”