Heart of the City

Heart of the City offers soccer, travel soccer, league play, and tournaments, including college showcase tournaments for high school teams. The program also includes educational field trips, life skills opportunities for younger teams, and weight training for certain age groups.

• Ages: 4–18 years old
• Schedule: Year-round training with a preseason summer camp, fall season, winter season, and spring season, with Elite 2026 winter practices held Monday–Thursday at various times for boys’ and girls’ teams from U8 through U19.
• Price: Affordable fees, scholarship opportunities, and flexible payment plans, with free registration to sign up for tryouts.

Heart of the City was founded by community members in 2014, added a competitive travel and college preparatory program in 2018, expanded college and career-readiness programming in 2019, and began diversifying post-secondary readiness programming in 2020. Programs include free after-school camps and clinics as introductory soccer experiences, a developmental in-house Soccer Academy for boys and girls ages 4–14, and the HOTC Elite Travel Team as a competitive soccer and post-secondary-readiness program for high school boys and girls. The organization runs 18 teams for boys and girls ages 7–19 and offers a dynamic curriculum, youth development and support, and a positive youth development pathway focused on health and wellness, social-emotional learning, post-secondary readiness and workforce development, college soccer recruitment, and family engagement. Heart of the City states that it uses soccer as the vehicle to teach youth essential life skills, develop them as leaders and mentors, and connect them with postsecondary opportunities, and it lists core values of health and wellness, empowerment, access, resilience, and teamwork.

The program’s mission statement says that Heart of the City is committed to providing an accessible youth soccer program and access to high quality programs and experiences for its athletes. The staff includes experienced USSF licensed coaches, including former college players and ODP coaches, and the leadership team includes a Director of Sporting Operations named Letisia and a dedicated college soccer recruitment program led by a recruitment specialist. Heart of the City reports established relationships with college coaches and recruiters and offers a dedicated college soccer recruitment program for its players.

Heart of the City serves youth ages 5–19 from Lake County communities such as Waukegan, Gurnee, Zion, North Chicago, Round Lake, Highland Park, Highwood, and other nearby areas. The organization states that it helps underserved and at-risk youth develop critical life skills and lead safe, healthy, and productive lives, and that it is amplifying social support referral services to connect youth and families to resources including mental health, crisis support, food, and housing. Heart of the City notes that it is a 2024 Project Play Champion.

Testimonials from athletes, parents, and community members describe coaches who are involved in teaching all players, attention to player development, and a structured environment, and they mention that Heart of the City has provided impactful experiences and support on and off the field.

Last updated January 15, 2026.