TOCA Football brings its technology-based soccer training platform to the suburbs
Toca means “touch” in Spanish, and soccer is all about touches on the ball.
TOCA Football has that covered.
Also known as TOCA Soccer at training centers such as the 95,000-square-foot space in Naperville, 1740 Quincy Ave., TOCA Football was founded in 2016 in Costa Mesa, California.
Listed among Forbes’ top 500 startup employers in 2020, the rapidly growing company has 39 locations domestically, 15 in the Midwest.
TOCA recently acquired a 65,000-square-foot space in Evanston, currently operating as Quad Indoor Sports, to join the Naperville location in Illinois.
“We believe Chicago is a huge market. It could probably hold 10, 20 locations in the metropolitan area fairly easily, so we’ll continue to expand in an opportunistic way,” said Hammond Moore, president of TOCA Soccer at TOCA Football. “We want to continue to grow our community and influence in the Chicago area.”
In October 2022, TOCA announced a partnership with Major League Soccer as a training and entertainment facility partner.
TOCA is the brainchild of Eddie Lewis, a Californian who starred both in MSL and the English Premier League. Lewis had 82 Team USA caps and saw World Cup action.
To enhance his foot skills and shooting while in college at University of California Los Angeles, he used a tennis ball delivery system, similar to the Jugs machine long used in baseball batting practice. If he could accurately send a tennis ball, he figured, it would exponentially increase his ability with the larger soccer ball.
“His claim to fame when he was playing was how to get a leg up” on the competition, Moore said.
After his career, Lewis developed the TOCA system. It, and its accompanying technology under the guidance of in-house staff, is the thrust of TOCA Football.
In one hour, the TOCA Touch Trainer can deliver up to 300 proprietary TOCA soccer balls, smaller and lighter to decrease player fatigue, at a range of speeds and elevations.
The system includes four Smart Targets linked to display monitors that relay player feedback. Linked to a data-collecting computer application and tablet, the system benefits both the player interested in tracking their progress and the trainer designing appropriate workout sessions.
Moore said the reception to TOCA has been “incredible.” He added, one session with the Touch Trainer can provide 10 times the number of touches on a ball that a player would get in a game.
“If you can get 10 times the number of reps in an hour, think of what that does for your club or team. Imagine the improvement your team will see,” he said.
TOCA Naperville has three fields each 100 feet by 200 feet with an additional “mini-pitch.” The space can be divided into 16 studios for training individuals, duos and teams, said TOCA Naperville General Manager Brian Spiller.
The facility offers 20 Touch Trainers and has two dozen training managers who, after a 45-minute skill assessment, design curriculum for players on a subscription basis for two-, four- or eight-week sessions.
TOCA Naperville has soccer classes for children up to 13, a kids multi-sport program, and rents space out for birthday parties. It is in line with Moore’s goal of an all-ages clientele, in addition to hosting adult leagues, youth clubs such as Evolution and Windy City Rampage, and individual players.
Following Christmas TOCA Naperville hosted the 50-team Candy Cane Classic youth tournament.
It offers food and beverages, and plans to add liquor sales, Spiller said.
Down the road the company may expand on its TOCA Social enterprise of soccer-themed entertainment and dining venues. One is in London with another coming to Birmingham, England.
“From our perspective, we want to be an experiential company,” Spiller said. “We’re a hospitality company, we’re training, but the guest experience is important. We want our clients from their first touch all the way through their adult life.”