I’m Alex. My job at ONELOVE is to create and sustain a social network for all of America’s, and eventually the world’s, most passionate soccer players, coaches, and fans.
My older brother Jamie is an artist and a graphic designer (JRV). We initially came up with the idea for ONELOVE while playing pickup soccer in different parts of Los Angeles in 2006.
*A few things worth knowing about Jamie that he probably wouldn’t tell you himself: He believes in people. He never asks permission. His creativity is fueled by something he calls the “beautiful struggle.”
The Valhouli Bros in Barcelona/1989 – photo credit: JNV
How it got started…
Jamie had been coaching soccer and snowboarding in Vermont before planning a weekend visit to the west coast. I had already spent 2 years out of college working tirelessly to make a career in the movie business. I was lost. He convinced me that it was time to venture out into the city and find a game.
I had no interest in playing at first. Jamie decided to go out on his own, returning every night with stories about the people he was meeting; how they played and how they interacted with one another.
He told me about the languages they spoke. He even talked about how conflicts would arise between players and then be resolved almost instantly by a beautiful play.
This was better than a movie. I had to go and see for myself. I realized, after touching a ball, that I had been sabotaging myself in a frenzied attempt to be ‘somebody’.
After a couple months of daily pickup games, I had forgotten what was so important about racing through life. Jamie’s weekend trip turned into a 3 year stay.
It all started with the ONELOVE 10. Jamie sketched it out one day after a game and we began printing it on shirts and sporting them wherever we went. On the street, people would inquire about the meaning of the ONELOVE 10. On the field, no one really had to ask. It was an ideal and a fundamental observation about the power of the game to bring people together.
A little history…
While our mother taught us how to love, it was our father who showed us how the game was meant to be played. He was a Greek immigrant who captained a championship squad at Colby College and would never (EVER) hang up his boots for as long as he lived. He would also never stop learning, dancing, cooking, inspiring, laughing, and LIVING until his time was up in 1995.
A little farther back…
It was 1989 and our family had just moved to Barcelona from New Hampshire. We had been raised on soccer, but we hadn’t yet embraced it as OUR game.
We lived in a tiny apartment above a Chinese restaurant at Arimón y Muntaner. The TV was busted when we got there and nobody seemed to mind that it never got fixed. Within a matter of days, we enrolled at the TARR football school. We took family trips to Camp Nou and to Mallorca for beach soccer.
For play time, we met up with friends and teammates for street ball in front of our building and futbol sala (now futsal) at the basketball courts up the street.
We even stayed at the dusty fields after practice until hunger beckoned us home for Mom’s chicken and rice at the family table. Those were the Huck Finn years. They planted the seed that would become ONELOVE.
All preachy-ness aside…
If you’re passionate about something, you don’t really care where it takes you. ONELOVE has given me a sense of freedom that I never knew existed. Money can’t buy this kind of wealth. If you work too hard (or not hard enough) and are haunted by the idea of happiness, freedom, purpose, and human connections, go find a game. It’s worth a try.
Make your voice heard…
The ONELOVE story is about impressions and decisive moments. If you ever get a burst of inspiration, write it up, paint it, sketch it, sing it, shoot it, do whatever it is you do, and send it to alex@onelovesoccer.com. We want to hear what you have to say.
