by Chelsea Sektnan
Soccer coach Billy Hansen’s path to founding SIFA (Soccer Is For All) grew out of a lifelong passion for the game and what he saw while coaching club soccer in the South Bay.
Hansen, a retired professional soccer player, said the roots of SIFA began after he started coaching his daughter’s club team in 2014 and saw how expensive club soccer had become.
“I started coaching here at the club level, which was very expensive for everybody,” Hansen said. “I thought it was way too expensive.”
At first, his Beach FC team was made up mostly of local South Bay players. Then he sponsored a player from San Pedro whose family couldn’t afford club soccer. A few years later, he recruited a player from Hawthorne who also needed financial help.
“She was kind of the catalyst,” Hansen said.
One day a player urged Hansen to come watch her friend play.
“Boom, I went out to South Central, and that’s really the whole catalyst of the whole thing,” Hansen said. “They were all playing with boys. There are no girls Latin leagues, and then that just became a recruiting ground for me.”
Since then, Hansen has continued recruiting players from those leagues and similar communities where the cost of club soccer can be out of reach.
“I was going out there ever since and finding these kids that no way in a million years could pay to play,” Hansen said.
Talented girls across Los Angeles were being overlooked because they couldn’t afford club soccer. Initially, Hansen paid the players’ club fees himself. Four years ago, with the encouragement of fellow soccer coaches, he founded SIFA to help more young, low-income players compete at the club level.
Hansen’s involvement in soccer began with AYSO in Manhattan Beach when he was 7. At 12, he joined the Manhattan Hurricanes club team. At Mira Costa High School, where he graduated in 1985, he was a team captain and an Ocean League MVP.
After playing two years at El Camino College, he went to Humboldt State, where he was again the team captain and an All-Conference First Team selection. After college, he played for the Los Angeles Heat and for Santo FC, a first-division Brazilian team, in Brazil.
In 1988, he returned from Brazil to coach the Mira Costa High School freshman/sophomore team and later spent three years coaching the Mustangs’ varsity team.
When Hansen’s own children started playing soccer, he was struck by how expensive the sport had become. Club soccer can cost families $3,000 or more per year.
“It’s a pay-to-play system,” he told Daily Breeze reporter Michael Hixon in a 2024 story. But club play is necessary for both development and exposure to high school and college coaches, Hansen explained.
“Club soccer is the number one avenue to get recruited,” said Jeff Joyner, associate head coach of Long Beach State women’s soccer and a recruiting adviser for SIFA. “Those fees can be anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 a year.”
Joyner said Hansen’s approach stands out even within the competitive world of club soccer.
“I don’t know many coaches who go to those pockets of L.A. looking for soccer players,” Joyner said.
For players like Izabella Munoz, the opportunity changed everything.
“I was always playing intramural little leagues, but I’d never played club,” Munoz, who grew up in Hawthorne, said.
Munoz met Hansen after an AYSO All-Stars game in Manhattan Beach. Hansen approached her and her father and invited her to attend a Beach FC practice.
Initially, she felt out of place.
“I come from not really associating with such an official league. I like to be on my own,” Munoz said.
She said Hansen encouraged her to stay and continue developing as a player.
“Billy gave me that space and the opportunity to play at a higher level,” Munoz said.
Now 20, Munoz attends California State University, Fullerton, and plays semi-professional soccer with Scorpions FC.
“It definitely opened up so many levels of soccer that I didn’t even know about,” she said. “I don’t think I would be who I am without Billy.”
Diana Ferman remembers driving to a tournament in Norco with her daughter, Hazel, when Hansen noticed her play.
“Billy saw Hazel and liked her play. He asked her if she would actually like to join Beach FC,” Ferman said. “It was the biggest blessing ever.”
Ferman, a single mother, said SIFA helped make club soccer financially possible for her family.
“SIFA has blessed us in a very immense way that I can’t even explain,” Ferman said. “My daughter being able to play at the club level was a blessing for us.”
“My daughter didn’t want to do college,” Ferman said. Now Hazel has committed to East Los Angeles College.
“SIFA changed her entire perspective, not just on soccer, but on getting a career,” Ferman said.
Carol Kolinkovich, a CPA who volunteers as SIFA’s treasurer, said the focus on mentorship and education is what separates the organization from many other youth sports programs.
“It’s not just about the soccer,” Kolinkovich said. “It’s about being good adults going forward.”
Kolinkovich said many players involved with SIFA become the first in their families to attend college.
“They have educated them on the importance of college and guided them through that process,” she said.
Since SIFA’s founding, the organization has helped produce 51 first-generation college soccer players from underserved communities throughout Los Angeles.
Players described Hansen as a steady presence during difficult moments in their lives.
Vy Le, a Palos Verdes Peninsula High School senior, joined Hansen’s team during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I felt really isolated from my peers, my friends, and my family,” Le said.
She later became team captain.
“Billy’s team helped me find a sense of belonging,” she said.
Le said Hansen removes obstacles for players that can make club soccer feel impossible for many families.
“I never had to worry about a ride to the game, or if I could afford to stay in a hotel, or if I could afford a meal,” Le said. “Whatever it was, Billy made sure I was never worried.”
For Hansen, the mission remains personal.
“It’s about giving back through my passion for soccer
,” Hansen said.
For more about SIFA, and to donate visit SoccerIsForAll.com
