By Nicholas Gordon

When the founders of New York’s Two Bridges Football Club first began organizing soccer games for local teenagers in October of 2020, they had one guiding principle in mind: open access for players from any socioeconomic background. Unlike most top tier soccer clubs in the U.S., Two Bridges would not cost anything to join. Players would be selected by the merit of their soccer playing ability and their commitment to hard work, ensuring opportunities for New York’s student-athletes from all demographics. 

In its first four years, Two Bridges has grown to include 80 players, ages 15-19 years old, from over 30 different countries. And with the club’s recent partnership with the Brooklyn Football Club—the local professional team which will launch its inaugural season in the USL Championship League in March of 2025—it’s clear that the founders’ vision is having a profound impact on the lives of the club’s players, the local communities, and U.S. soccer at large.

“The ‘no pay to play’ model gives equal opportunities to players from different backgrounds and contributes to raising the quality of American soccer,” said Michael Mansfield, the club’s co-founder and marketing strategist. “We would never have the chance to compete at the top level and fully develop American soccer talent with the pay to play model,” Mansfield said, estimating that most quality soccer clubs cost players between $4-9 thousand per year for membership. 

The idea for Two Bridges was sparked by co-founder Brian Kuritsky, a former club soccer teammate of Maximilian “Mack “Mansfield, son of Michael Mansfield, who suggested that with the combination of Mack’s European coaching style and Michael’s photographic stories of local teams, there was potential for a great soccer program. The Mansfields then collaborated with co-founder Arik Rosenstein, Head of Strategy, to form Two Bridges as a club dedicated to providing the under-resourced and historically marginalized youth of New York with a high-caliber soccer environment, rigorous academic preparation, and leadership development. 

For star midfielder Thomas Silva, the decision to transfer from his high school team to Two Bridges has been a literal game-changer that has opened up a path to professional soccer.

“Playing with Two Bridges has been amazing,” Silva said. “I’ve learned a lot about new ways of playing soccer, trying different strategies, and getting to play a variety of positions. It feels like every country is represented on our team, with different religions, geography, and style of play.”

A first generation Brazilian-American born and raised in New York City, Silva was recently invited, along with four other players from Two Bridges, to play in the elite Tiro soccer tournament, where Silva was awarded player of the tournament.

“Two Bridges feels more like a family than anything, being with all of the players and getting the support from the coaches,” Silva said, noting his strong connection to Mack Mansfield. 

As a former player for Cornell University, Columbia University, and Germany’s Under 19 Bundesliga team, Mack Mansfield was on route to a professional soccer career of his own before being sidelined by a groin injury. Rather than languish in discouragement at this painful setback, Mack took his abiding love for the game of soccer and his commitment to serving the community to form Two Bridges.

“Mack is a fantastic coach, mentor, and big brother figure for the boys,” said Frank Di Blasi, Two Bridges coaching manager and administrator, whose son Francesco Di Blasi has played as a defender for Two Bridges for the past three years and is now headed to Germany where he will train with various clubs in the country’s elite Under-19 soccer program that Mack played in.

“My son has improved immensely playing for Two Bridges,” Frank Di Blasi said. “It’s helped him emotionally and mentally too, and expanded his group of friends with different nationalities and religions.”

Through donor funding, Two Bridges has gained considerable resources, including increased access to spaces for training and means of academic support. Most recently, Two Bridges has partnered with Cornell Tech, which will provide tutors for the players.

With four intensive two-hour training sessions per week including individualized performance feedback from coaches, Two Bridges aims to accelerate their players’ development and maximize their potential, creating pathways to play college and professional soccer.

Each student-athlete in the club is also matched with a mentor who helps guide them through their teenage years and the college admissions process, and offers career counseling to help prepare them for workplace success. The club also provides its student-athletes with a prominent guest speaker series. 

The club’s name Two Bridges is derived from its humble pandemic-era origins, when the only unlocked park available to play soccer in free of charge was the Tanahey Playground, located in the heart of the Two Bridges neighborhood in lower Manhattan.

What started out as an idea for providing equal opportunity for New York’s young soccer players has blossomed into a community powerhouse of promise for talented young men willing to work hard as part of the Two Bridges team.

“Two Bridges is about using football to get leverage to other life opportunities,” Michael Mansfield said. “Our opportunities as a club are growing too and it keeps getting better.”