About Briarwood Soccer Club

We are the Ambassadors.  Our name follows the spirit of II Corinthians 5:20, which states, "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God." We embrace the privilege we have to be ambassadors for Christ. The game of soccer is a world-wide passion. We strive to develop the best players and teams we can, while learning what it means
to be an ambassador for Christ.

Our History

Briarwood Soccer Club was founded in 1981 by a group of committed parents to provide a place for their kids to play soccer. The club came under the banner of Recreation Ministry of Briarwood in 1995 and existed with no pointed direction. With an enrollment of 400 children using three fields, the vision was caught by Neil Clement, a parent of two Briarwood players and church member. Under his direction as volunteer leader, the club grew and instituted a summer soccer camp using the spiritual curriculum, "More than Gold", to share the Gospel. We have since used numerous Bible curriculum to disciple  teams and share the Gospel at camps and clinics, and will continue to do so. In 2002, a major step was taken by the club as God provided for a full time Director of Coaching.  Ryan Leib, after 8 seasons of professional soccer, was hired to run the club and direct it into the future. With experience in soccer missions and playing at the professional level with the Charlotte Eagles SC and the Atlanta Silverbacks SC, Ryan has taken the Ambassadors to a new level of impact in the soccer community in Birmingham and around the world. We now have around 20 traveling teams, 15 highly-qualified coaches and over 500 players participating in that mission. We embarked on the international missions side of BSC with a trip to Belo Horizonte, Brasil in July 2004, and we have since gone back 11 times working with Communidade Horizonte. We partner with Campus Outreach Brasil, Casa Luzeiro and Communidade Horizonte to work with their organizations by taking Ambassador teams to minister through the sport of soccer.

Our Purpose

Briarwood Soccer Club is committed to being ambassadors of Jesus Christ through the sport of soccer to Birmingham and to the world. The club will provide excellent training in the sport of soccer to its coaches and players to equip them to reach out to the world so God will be glorified.

Our Vision

Briarwood Soccer Club desires to use our God-given talents to provide a quality environment for kids to play soccer, to develop strong leaders and quality teams in the soccer community to be ambassadors throughout Alabama and the world.

Our Goal

We offer a quality, fun, and challenging soccer experience. We have teams for kids ages 5 to 18 with a fall season, spring season, soccer camps and clinics throughout the year, indoor soccer, and international missions and playing opportunities. We are members of, and compete in, the Alabama Soccer Association, the Central Alabama Soccer League and the Legion FC D-League. We have U6, U8, and U10 player development leagues that compete within our club. Our older teams compete in Birmingham, across Alabama, and the entire southeast region with teams from U11-U19 for boys and girls. We hope you enjoy finding out more of what Briarwood Soccer Club has to offer and join us in playing "the beautiful game."
 
"We serve a great God, we play a great game, we are ambassadors" is at the heart of everything we do. This tag line reflects an attitude of reaching out to our community and introducing them to the Gospel of Grace through fun-filled participation in the most popular game in the world. Briarwood Soccer Club has been built on the verse 2 Corinthians 5:20, which states, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.  We implore  you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."  As we strive to be as good as we can be on the field, we are excited to see what new heights God will take us to this year.