‘One Team, One Family’

Arya RVA FC is more than a soccer club

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The homepage for Arya RVA FC soccer club features the team’s motto front and center: “Arya, One Team, One Family.”

That’s because founder and head coach Hamed Zakiri wants to make sure that children who love soccer don’t face the same kinds of barriers he did. “I want to open the door for any kids of talent,” he says. “Not just a refugee, but for any kid thirsty to learn something.”

Zakiri remembers that thirst. When his family lived as refugees in Iran after fleeing their native Afghanistan in the 1990s, he wasn’t allowed to join an Iranian team. After returning to Afghanistan, Zakiri defied his parents and found ways to play soccer, once trying to hide an injury from his mother. “She thought [soccer] was too aggressive and was afraid I’d get hurt,” he says, smiling wryly. 

Zakiri’s determination to play paid off. He was a member of the Afghan U14, U16 and U19 national teams. He also found work with the U.S. military in Afghanistan as a translator, starting when he was 16. After six years, in 2014, he moved to Richmond, where his sister had already settled, and was employed in resettlement services, helping those who were refugees as he had once been. 

In his spare time, Zakiri, then 22, tried to join established soccer leagues but was thwarted by challenging policies, procedures and transportation issues. He contented himself by playing pickup games on weekends and coaching one of his nephews. 

One day, early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Zakiri expanded his reach. When he was out playing soccer, “I saw other kids playing and doing nothing,” he says. “I invited them to join in, and their parents saw. They asked, ‘Why are you not coaching?’”

So, he started to coach, on his own, without a formal club structure. After his team played a scrimmage match against a Richmond Latino United team — at their request — Zakiri decided it was time to get serious. “I researched how to do a real club; there are lots of procedures,” he says. “I didn’t know anything about licensing, but when I would send something in, they would correct me. I tell the kids: ‘Trying and doing something, even wrong, is the best way. It will make you work hard to come back with the correct answer.’”

Zakiri takes a similar approach to team practices. He doesn’t arrive with a plan; instead, he watches players as they gather. “When I get to the field, the kids give me the structure, what they need to train for the day,” he says. “At the games, I’m quiet. I’m there to see my kids … to see what I can do to help them get better. When you get emotional [as a coach], you lose what they’re doing.”

That outlook is paying off. The club has grown to approximately 80 players and fields U17, U15, U13, U12 and youth 9/10 teams. It was recently admitted to the Virginia Premier Soccer League. Last year, the Arya RVA U16 team won the Club Champions League title and the U12 team won the River City Cup tournament, which got the attention of several players on opposing teams. “[Arya] beat us in the U12 finals and beat us well,” says Jesse Burkhart, whose son, Noah, played for the Richmond Strikers and had been thinking about adding a travel team to his schedule. Instead, Noah and his dad went to Arya tryouts earlier this year.

“It wasn’t as organized [as other clubs] and was a little bit different,” Burkhart says, “but what we saw when we got there was [the coaches] cared. With other travel clubs, kids turn into numbers. Here, these coaches are volunteering their time. They take these boys aside and talk with them. It’s like a family; they teach like a family, too.”

Parent Duaa Alkhteeb, who is originally from Jordan and has lived in Richmond for seven years, agrees. “Most of [the coaches], they’re like the father of the kids,” she says, noting that coaches will call or text parents to check on a player who’s missed a practice due to illness. There’s also a team text chat to keep parents informed and connected. “They include the families,” Alkhteeb says. She brought her son, Adam, to tryouts after having a conversation with an Arya RVA coach at the convenience store where she works.

Arya RVA’s fee structure is also different. A season enrollment is $500, roughly one-quarter the price of a more established soccer club. But because Arya is committed to ensuring that every player who makes the team can participate, fees are often reduced or even eliminated. There are no salaried employees, and most coaches take no pay. Zakiri himself has left his day job and now drives for a ride service so he can focus more on the club. “Each kid, regardless of their socioeconomic situation, should be given an opportunity to have access to sport and the beautiful game of soccer,” Zakiri says.

“When you see these kids together, as a team playing, I wish the world could be like this,” he adds. “When they grow up, something else [might happen] because of society. But when they’re kids, they’re looking at each other, cheering each other.”

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