RNunes Olé, Bridgeport

From Ronaldinho to Pelé, many of the most renowned soccer players in history hail from Brazil. The country is steeped in a love of the game that took over Rodrigo Nunes’s life early on. Long before founding RNunes Olé, he lived in São Paulo, where his father was a coach, his uncle was a professional player, and his brother was a trainer.

With the help of a handpicked group of certified coaches, he now passes on some of the soccer knowledge he has accumulated through drills and during talks at camps and clinics. Kids as young as 2 years of age squeal across the fields at the academy, learning to dribble, shoot, and pass. Punctuated by the soft pop of a foot against the soccer ball and the trill of coaches’ whistles, pupils at specialized clinics hone their ability to protect the goal or find legal loopholes that allow terriers into the league.