CONTRIBUTED BY ELIZABETH GOMEZ

Brazilian SC Logo
Brazilian SC Logo

For devoted soccer families moving to Okinawa, there are a few choices for play. The best option for our family proved to be the Brazilian Soccer Club, coached by professional trainer Roberto Iwashita.

Brazilian SC Play 2
Brazilian SC Play 2

We began with summer soccer camps to get a feel for the club. Having just come from the madness of a stateside competitive soccer organization, we were looking for training and coaching without politics. After a year with the club, our family remains sure that we have found what suits our daughter’s needs best.

Brazilian SC Play 3
Brazilian SC Play 3

The kids come from a variety of backgrounds. Japanese children mingle with Brazilian and American players. Communication ranges from English to Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish. I love that my child learns about other cultures and languages while working on her favorite sport!

Brazilian SC Play
Brazilian SC Play

Games and tournaments are mainly held with Japanese opponents who are sharply skilled. While sometimes the kids find themselves outplayed, they never go a game without learning and improving. Additionally, the players are exposed to traditional soccer on a variety of field sizes, futsal, and beach soccer.

Please visit the website for more information on how to participate in summer camps or obtain a tryout for the fall season.

For help in English and further information, you may write to me at: elizgomez@hotmail.com

24 COMMENTS

  1. Some of the comments in regards to the Coach and the club are just plain crazy, we pay for the quality of coaching and pay him to make your player better and competitive. I am here as an advocate for Coach Roberto and his club. My son who now plays on a very competitive club in Germany was only able to because of how prepared he came here by Coach Roberto and his staff of coaches. ( The Director of the club and the Director of Coaching offerered my son a spot on their U11 team no questions asked without even going to a tryout but while watching him play at one of their camps. Now that was a great feeling and they knew and have heard of Coach Roberto and the BSC club from Okinawa before, all they could say was he produces great players.)

    Does Coach Roberto have a different approach to the sport? Yes! Does he raise his voice and screams? Yes! Do you see the quality of player he produces and puts on the field to compete, once again Yes! Just take a look at his Club FB page and see for yourself the amount of talent who came from his club and now most of those kids play on competitive clubs around the world and a lot of them have earned themselves sports scholarships to colleges back home. Proof is there. All you can do is go out and see one of his practices or tournaments and see for yourself what type of coach he is before you write him off based off of hear say.
    See the quality of players he has with your own eyes and judge him then. This club may not be for you but at least you went out to make a judgement call yourself before you heard someone bad mouth it or you read a bad comment posted somewhere. Coach Roberto and Vicky love the sport and children more than you can imagine an even as time passes and we have left the island they still maintain communication with our son and follow his soccer career very closely. Coach Roberto never hesitates even as my son is in another country to watch his soccer game videos and make corrections or tell him what he’s doing wrong and right. What you get from him and Vicky are people who treat you like family, genuine individuals who will always want what’s best for your athletes.
    God bless you all, the kids and the club, wishing you all nothing but success.

    Duran family

  2. Love Brazilian club

    My son who just turned seven has been in this club since march. As I researched the options I was advised not to join this club because coach Roberto is hard on the kids. I decided to give it a try and I love it. Coach Roberto is hard on the kids and has high expectations on them. He will tell the kids off during the game and there wont be a lot of cuddling while playing. Kids are expected to be responsible and bring their gear and be on time and perform on the best of their abilities. My son is learning to be responsible and ensures that he has all of his gear. Out of the field coach Roberto is very kind to the kids and keeps telling them how great they are. My son loves him and really respects him even though he has been told off a few times when he was not doing what was expected and was goofing around. My son’s soccer abilities have improved A LOT and he feels very proud of himself. This is a professional club and a lot of is expected of the kids and parents. Back in England my son was training with a British league program and I can tell you that the training he receives now is a lot better even when I was very pleased back in England.
    Vicky is the sweetest lady. She gives so much love to the little kids. I just signed my little daughter and I am so thrilled that she will be her coach.

    In regards to the language barrier it is true that coach Roberto does not speak great English but he has improved a lot and he has great translators. Once the kids get to know him they understand what is being asked of them. To be honest that is one of the reasons we chose this club because we wanted our son to be exposed to languages and different cultures.

    There are a few things that could improve and they are trying to have a more open communication with parents so the club can improve and they can make the changes that the club needs.

    I love the club and I would recommend it. Give it a try and see what you think. I love it and plan to keep both of my kids as long as we are in Island.

  3. Please, Please do your research. There are better options out there. Don’t think you have to settle for this club. If you want your children to continue to love the sport don’t introduce them to this club. The coach does them a huge disservice by his obsession to win. He will take your money and put your child on the bench. Due to the language barrier the kids are really confused. The translators do an awful job. I just can’t say anything positive about this club. Don’t let them sweet talk you and listen to your gut feeling. If you do decide to join just know that things will not get better they only get worse and after your out a couple of thousands of dollars you’ll be running too.

  4. Ask them why they truly are not a private organization anymore. I can tell you why…They changed board members. When that happens you get audited through MCCS. Well, folks they were missing a lot of money and they could not account for it. So, they decided to pull themselves out of MCCS to avoid getting black listed. Not realizing when they pulled themselves off that they would loose base privileges. Now they are trying to spin it in a way that benefits them with these so called “sponsorships”. Some of it may be true but in reality the coach is worthless. Who knows if he actually has licenses to coach. If he does he needs to be retrained because he doesn’t know how to coach children.

    The most disspointing thing about this whole ordeal is the poor children that are subjected to this male chovenist pig. The military members that vouge for him and allow for The coach and his family to continue lining his pockets are disgusting. Shame on you for preying on innocent people.

    • You seem to know alot about the club that only someone who was possibly a board member would know! If that is the case then you obviously just ran away and didn’t bother trying to fix it. Doesnt it make sense to close a club if you JUST took over and its looking bad? To me it seems like the rational thing to do rather than deal with the past members mistakes. There are many great stories about children who have played and been coached at BSC and are now thriving in soccer at high levels. They all accredit their time at BSC for being a huge factor in that success. For you to come on here and speak about the club in such a shameful way is very childish and im sure you were no longer wanted at the club with this attitude.
      PS- If you were actually a part of their club you would know what happened. They kept everyone who was or is a part of the club in on exactly what was going on. People will always leave when there is change but individuals like you who spread rumors like herpes just make the transition harder. 😉

  5. This club is the worst. The ones that give support on this post are Roberto and Vicky (coach and wife) or the fools that have sponsored them. They burn bridges every where they go. Their Facebook page is a perfect example of how they spin. They lost their PO and were kicked out of Camp Foster.

    The amount of negative posts should give anyone with a sound mind pause. The active duty personnel that Sponsor them should be ashamed.

    • If you read their post correctly they didn’t get “Kicked out” of camp foster. That would imply that they were no longer allowed back, which is not the case. The PO page says they were closed which means they can come back anytime in the future. You should do your research before posting misinformation!

  6. If you are looking for professional club that is in an actual league with Japanese teams, licensed coaches, a published schedule, and is in good terms with the Japanese community…Then don’t bother with Brazil Soccer Club. But hey, if you like watching your kids get verbally abused, and taken through the ringer for hundreds of dollars, then by all means this is the Club for you.

    HOWEVER, Okinawa Diplomats Youth Futbol Club has several competitive teams. They actually select players on ability and do not take whatever kids they can get, just to make money. They have an established league and compete with teams in the Japanese Soccer Community from all over the island. The coaches are polite, educated, and well trained in working with and fostering development in children. Some of the coaches have been US National licensed Directors of Coaches and Coaching Education, Youth Academy Directors and Youth Academy coaches in Collegiate and Competitive Youth Academies.

    Point being…Okinawa Diplomats is the best choice you can make.

    • If you want to have you kid play in a regular league and not grow and learn the actual game of soccer then go ahead and join the Okinawa Diplomats. Your kid will never learn or grow past being able to run and kick a ball and look like a herd of cats. Their coaches are just local service members who claim to know the game and want to coach. Sure, they can make your kid happy by letting them chase a ball around but what do they learn? My kids never learned a thing with this so called “club” and if i were you I wouldn’t waste my time going with them.
      A competitive club is meant to grow their players up through the ages and turn out great players. If your lucky you have a kid or two who actually know how to play and want to get better. The rest are just kids that are there because mom and dad thinks they will magically get better. My advice would be not to waste your time with these people and look for something that will help your kids grow and become better players. Brazil Soccer Club actually plays in local tournaments and COMPETES!!!! They dont just show up to show up. Their coach can be an asshole but guess what, if you want you kid to get better someone has to be hard on them!!! He is a certified top level coach and it shows in how much the kids skill grows in a short amount of time. It is disorganized at times but that isnt a show stopper for me. My kids get great coaching and have improved WAY more than they ever did at crappy Diplomats. You pay for what you get at the end of the day. You pay little at the dips but your results show. If you want a club that cares about making your kid not only better skill wise at soccer but also understand the game then I would recommend BSC. *PS – Their tryouts are this weekend, Aug 26th as well as the diplomats. I would say go to both, you will see the difference in what quality looks like with BSC.

  7. Beware all that think this is Brazilian soccer. The fool coach has no credibility. He is a liar that is blaclisted from local leagues due to his attitude. The fact he has base acces is unbelievable. No background check.

  9. Being a former soccer player and coming from a great club in the states this club is a joke. They pride themselves in Coach Roberto being a professional soccer player but they don’t provide any of that information. Everything is a big secret. They are super unoiganized and they are not upfront about their fees. They will quote you at one price then all of a sudden you owe them money. They don’t play in a league. He accepts players of all playing abilities but only focuses on the kids that can already play and pushes the other kids that really can’t to another field after he’s done berating them. He is the worst coach I have ever encountered. Zero professionalism. It’s pretty sad they are portraying themselves as a “club.” He speaks little English and the kids have a hard time understanding what he wants from them. The little English he does know he uses to berate them and call them names. Save yourselves some money because this club is not worth your kids confidence and the love of the game.

  11. Really great club for players who like challenging experiences. The players get to play many games on-base, off-base and off-island as well. For the year of 2015, the U9 team won the U9 tournament in Okinawa. Coach Roberto was nominated the best at the same tournament. U10 team got to travel to Tokyo and participate in tournament. U12 team went to Ishigaki Island and won 2nd place on their annual tournament. U15 girls team won 2nd place at the Kin Beach Soccer Tournament. U15 team won their tournament held on Camp Foster. Some U15 players were chosen to be part of a Japanese team and play Japanese league Association games. BSC also held the first Ladies Beach Soccer Tournament on Okinawa. 2015 was a great year, we hope 2016 will be even better. It takes a lot of hard work from the players and support from the parents, but it can be done. Go BSC!

  12. We had a terrible time with this club. The coach is cruel to the kids and always has certain kids he berates in front of the others. There are hardly any games because the coach fights with other team coaches. You can get good training, but only if you are willing to have your child come home in tears half of the practice days. We tried to stay but just could not deal with the constant belittlement and drama.

    • The truth is… Coach Roberto is a professional coach so he is there to push the players to do better. The job of a coach is to make the athlete succeed. He is fun with the little ones, but when the kids get close to high school age, he tries pushes them to do the best in order for them to get to Varsity teams or college scholarships. The ones that understand that stays on the club and succeed. Many of former players who have succeeded, got soccer scholarships stateside and others are on pre-olympic teams. However, there are some who he trains and when they get really good, they start talking down to their teammates, not showing up for practice and demanding play time. But this is the wrong club to do that cause the head coach is not a pushover. So they start coming up with excuses like the one above. Coach Roberto & Vicky do a great job and are always trying their best to get games for the kids. They are the best on the island! When the drama happens is cause of parents who thinks is okay for their kids to disrespect the team and get away with it. Those that think their kids are starts and better than everyone else. They all try to use the coach to get preferential treatment. But they tend to leave when they don’t get what they want so it’s all good to go. Before paying attention to other people’s opinion, do yourself a favor, go see it for check it out. If you don’t like the club is okay. But see it for yourself. Why would some parents allow their kids play for BSC from Elementary School all the way to High School if it was that bad? Hummm… Not sure. Maybe the person above was one of those who did not get what they wanted.

    • Something about drama… Those who talk about it and play victim are usually the ones who start the drama. Perhaps someone who thinks their kid is better than everyone else and did not get what they wanted wrote the negative comment above.
      There are so many games on and off the island. We get to escort the Japanese teams on-base and go to out in town take part on the Japanese tournaments. We travel to mainland Japan and other islands such as Myiakojima and IshigakiJima. The parents and kids have a good time.

      • This is a typical response from this club – tear the player down and then when the player and family cannot take the abuse, blame them all for not listening to the Narcissistic coach demands. We had heard rumors about the club but decided to try it out anyways. The club is a revolving door for players – very few stick around because of the nature of the coach and the lack of organization.