By Jimmy Carlton Sportswriter Published Dec 22, 2017 at 1:47 PM

A valuable and underutilized piece of city land in the Menomonee Valley will finally be put to good use, as the site of cost-free youth soccer programming next year.

The Milwaukee Torrent Community Foundation announced on Friday that it had entered into an agreement with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee to provide afterschool soccer to children at 10 Milwaukee Public Schools in 2018. MTCF will program activities both onsite at each MPS location and, from April through September, outdoors at the Viaduct Fields, 212 S. 35th St.

"I am totally thrilled about this," Andreas Davi, the owner and head coach of the Torrent, told OnMilwaukee after signing the contract Friday morning. "It’s great for the Torrent, it’s great for the Foundation, it’s great for Milwaukee and it’s great for the kids. What we’re doing now is exactly what the City wanted with the Viaduct Fields."

Owned by the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Milwaukee, that space, approximately 13 acres under the 35th Street viaduct along Canal Street in the Menomonee Valley, was earmarked for no-cost youth soccer and fields. But due to a lack of compelling proposals and contentiousness among local groups, including political, nonprofit and youth sports leaders, the City had trouble finding an entity that would properly and positively utilize the land.

The partnership between the Torrent Community Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee, which was two years in the making, apparently satisfies RACM’s demands. The Torrent don’t have their own youth soccer teams and the Boys & Girls Clubs are open to everyone, which Davi believes will encourage kids of all backgrounds, ethnicities and abilities to participate.

The agreement begins on Jan. 8, 2018, with 10 MPS schools – mostly on the South Side – selected to take part in the first year. According to Davi, during the winter session, the MTCF and Boys & Girls Clubs will program at two schools and up to 60 children per day, every day, reaching a maximum of 300 kids a week. In the summer, when youth activities in the city are needed even more, Davi hopes to see that figure double, with Torrent players helping him coach. Going forward, he expects the number of schools and participants to grow every year.

"This is a huge step toward providing soccer to kids in the inner city, or who don’t have access to a club or the money to play on one," Davi said. "Also, we are able to introduce the game to so many kids who have never played it and give them a chance to play."

Thanks to a contribution by the Boys & Girls Clubs, the Torrent will be able to provide the sessions for free, which fulfills the City’s wish. Donations from supportive companies in the Menomonee Valley helped pay for goals, and the MTCF will supply balls, cones, pinnies and other equipment. Davi said he plans to line the fields himself.

Over a few months, thanks to the hard work and vision of many people involved, the Valley Fields changed from land that, according to one source, the City couldn’t even give away for free to a well-developed community space that benefits Milwaukee Public Schools and local youth soccer.

Born in Milwaukee but a product of Shorewood High School (go ‘Hounds!) and Northwestern University (go ‘Cats!), Jimmy never knew the schoolboy bliss of cheering for a winning football, basketball or baseball team. So he ditched being a fan in order to cover sports professionally - occasionally objectively, always passionately. He's lived in Chicago, New York and Dallas, but now resides again in his beloved Brew City and is an ardent attacker of the notorious Milwaukee Inferiority Complex.

After interning at print publications like Birds and Blooms (official motto: "America's #1 backyard birding and gardening magazine!"), Sports Illustrated (unofficial motto: "Subscribe and save up to 90% off the cover price!") and The Dallas Morning News (a newspaper!), Jimmy worked for web outlets like CBSSports.com, where he was a Packers beat reporter, and FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he managed digital content. He's a proponent and frequent user of em dashes, parenthetical asides, descriptive appositives and, really, anything that makes his sentences longer and more needlessly complex.

Jimmy appreciates references to late '90s Brewers and Bucks players and is the curator of the unofficial John Jaha Hall of Fame. He also enjoys running, biking and soccer, but isn't too annoying about them. He writes about sports - both mainstream and unconventional - and non-sports, including history, music, food, art and even golf (just kidding!), and welcomes reader suggestions for off-the-beaten-path story ideas.