In issue One of XI David Keyes is writing about the role that AYSO, the American Youth Soccer Organization, played in “Americanizing” soccer. Founded in the 1960s in Los Angeles, AYSO sought to redefine soccer, transforming it from a foreign sport to an American game, and thus grow beyond the ethnic communities where it had …

In issue one of XI, Tom Dunmore is writing about the storied history of Howard University’s soccer team. Dunmore’s piece explores how soccer has been a tool for Howard to do outreach to the black diaspora, bringing in players for its team from various parts of the world. It also examines how the success of …

For issue one of XI, Rachel Anne Jones is contributing a set of illustrations. Here she discusses her interest in soccer, her artwork, and how she will combine the two in her contribution to XI Quarterly. Rachel Jones is an illustrator in San Jose, California. Her work has ranged from murals in a laser tag …

Paul Cuadros is best known for his book A Home on the Field, which uses the lens of soccer to explore the exploding Latino population in North Carolina. For issue one of XI, Cuadros continues to look at immigrant soccer players in North Carolina, but here he focuses not on Latinos, but Latinas. His article, …

Illustrator Steve Welsh, better known to many as miniboro, creates unique artwork around the sport of soccer. For issue One of XI, he is contributing a piece titled “Celtic’s Black Arrow: A Portrait of Father and Son, Gil (Scott) Heron” about the famous poet-musician and his father, famous in his own right as the first …

XI is looking to highlight original photography in its pages. In Issue One, photographer Marty Groark presents a photo essay of the amateur Croatian team known as RWB Adria in Chicago. Here Groark speaks about what he hopes to show about the team with his photos. Marty Groark Marty Groark is an XI staff photographer …

In issue one of XI, Elizabeth Cotignola will be writing about the marketing of the Montreal Impact using the language of Quebec nationalism, as she explains below. Elizabeth was born and raised the child of Italian expatriates in Montréal, Canada – which makes English her third language after Italian and French. She earned a degree …

The history of soccer in Portland dates back to the late nineteenth century, as Michael Orr explores in his XI issue one article titled “The Scotch and English Game: The Founders of Soccer City USA.” Here, Orr discusses some chapters of Pacific Northwest soccer history that few even know exists.   About the contributor Michael Orr …