Leveling the field

Firm donates to help youth, soccer grow

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Juggle The World CEO Leon Abravanel tosses a soccer ball last Sunday during a soccer clinic for children sponsored by Juggle the World at Cal Lutheran.

Photo: David Yamamoto/Special to the Star

When Compton Coach Fabian Ramos takes his 22 soccer players to face other club teams, they often feel those teams, with their expensive warm-up suits and athletic equipment, look down on them.

But thanks to the donation of soccer balls and other gear from Ventura County-based Juggle the World, they can take the field with greater confidence, Ramos said.

Juggle the World is a new company run by Leon Abravanel of Camarillo, a former professional soccer player who is working on his master of business administration degree from California Lutheran University.

Abravanel said the model for his company is based around giving. For each of the soccer balls the company sells, one will be donated to inner city youngsters, such as those on Ramos team — the Cosmos that play with the Compton Pride Club in the Coast Soccer League.

“The interest is very high in Compton for soccer. But it’s hard to come up with the funds to play club soccer because clubs charge so much,” said Ramos, explaining that he doesn’t charge for his coaching, as most club coaches do.

The donation of soccer balls and other equipment is a real boost for the club, Ramos said. “It means a lot to us that people willing to help us. Balls are something that get flat and deteriorate. So it means a lot to us and gets us what we need when we can’t afford stuff,” Ramos said.

Abravanel explained that Juggle the World is just getting off the ground. The company is operated out of a spare bedroom of his Camarillo home and he hired his first employee Chief Marketing Officer Kevin Sell.

Abravanel is trying to get enough money through online crowd-funding to allow the company to manufacture its own soccer balls and other soccer gear. Once the money is raised to start manufacturing its own soccer balls, the Juggle the World business plan calls for having the equipment made at a fair-trade certified company in Pakistan.

Ultimately, Abravanel said he wants to sell his soccer balls and equipment through his website and at various soccer tournaments.

Right now Juggle the World is able to give away soccer balls and gear thanks to a donation of 5,000 pieces of soccer equipment that Abravanel gathered from the soccer community.

He said his girlfriend painted the balls in the globe pattern that is the company’s logo, and Juggle the World gave them away last Sunday during a soccer clinic held at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks.

“We will be the second B Corporation in Ventura County. Patagonia is the first. This is a new tax status for corporations. It’s a social benefit corporation. It’s basically like the organic certification, but for corporations. The social responsibility aspect of what you do is embedded in the business model,” Abravanel said.

Benefit Corporations, which became legal in California on Jan. 1, 2012, face a number of requirements. The companies must have a material positive effect on society and the environment and consider nonfinancial interests when they make decisions, among other things.

Ventura-based Patagonia, a maker of outdoor clothing and equipment, has been a Benefit Corporation since 2012.

Currently Juggle The World is operating as a nonprofit so money donated to the company is tax deductible.

“In the future, meaning once we have enough brand recognition and interest, we will file for our B Corporation status. We will have a nonprofit arm for the giving of equipment and structuring inner city soccer programs and a for-profit arm where we will sell soccer balls and equipment,” he said.

A professional soccer player who grew up near Lake Tahoe, Abravanel was an, All-American in high school. He played soccer at the University of Denver and professionally in the United States, Bolivia and Germany.

The idea for creating a company to give away soccer equipment came during his high school years, when as part of a soccer club, he would visit inner city areas. Later, the first equipment giveaway came during a visit to Brazil.

“The company started before the World Cup in Brazil. I had the idea for a long, long time — ever since college. I took about 100 pounds of soccer gear into Brazil and gave it to kids. This was an important test before making it into a business,” Abravanel said.

Abravanel believes nurturing the talent in inner cities across the country will help soccer thrive in the United States.

“There’s so much potential in the inner cities. I see the kids on corner and they can go on the path of being a potential athlete or drug dealer. In high school, I formulated the idea, wanting to help these kids get somewhere. They are such great kids, such great talent,” Abravanel said.

Ramos agreed that soccer and other sports offer the young people a sense of family and community that they might otherwise seek in gangs.

“Soccer definitely keeps them away from streets and gangs. Without soccer, I don’t know what these kids would be doing. I talk to them about college ball and they’ve never thought of college. For them pursuing college ball — to get to that level is a big deal,” Ramos said.

For information about Juggle the World, call 419-4683 or go online to http://juggletheworld.com.

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