Joy of the People Foundation- JOTP Reviews

Im a kid here and this is always so fun the coaches don't scream at you the coaches are the best!!

My daughter joined this league for the first time this spring. Coach was late most of the time. Very unorganized outfit!

Good time for MEA. Not very organized to come and go but my child had a good time!

The best soccer experiences my boys (ages 5 and 11) have ever had! So much fun and joy and play time!

Great way for soccer-loving kids to burn off some energy. Wonderful "play" focused concept.

Great place to have fun and has good open fields and multiple soccer goals.

Joy of the People exceeds all my expectations about kids "learning" soccer. Promotes family, teamwork, free play, and respect for all! Most remarkable organization I have EVER been privileged enough to be a part of.

Great place to have fun and has good open fields and multiple soccer goals.

JOTP is a great organization in Saint Anthony Park. Great members of the community with wonderful programming for kids. The park and rec center are always buzzing with activity. My favorite park in Saint Paul.

St. Paul location:

Please be aware that the supervision here is very lacking and has inherent risks.

Two 9 year old girls (one being my daughter in their day summer camp) were able to go outside through an unlocked door to the public park next to Joy of the People without supervision. A stranger sat next to both girls on a bench and said some disturbing things to them about religion, bible, and demons, and he touched them (luckily just knee pokes/taps, but he touched them nonetheless). Fifteen minutes pass while this stranger is talking to the children before they are pulled away by another kid sent to get them - not an adult, but another child was sent to get them from the stranger.

We understand some wrong decisions were made by the girls. Stranger danger has in the past and will again be talked about in our household. At the end of the day, Joy of the People absolutely failed these children. This could have been a lot worse and I am thankful it wasn't. I will not be sending my child back.

In an attempt to bring this to their attention, we sat down with Ted (Coaching Director) the next day to question their policies and rules as well as to point out the risk. Why wasn't the door locked? Why wasn't there a volunteer outside watching the children? He informed us that the kids have a free range at their facility. He stated the children are told to ask if they can go outside so they can have a volunteer with them and that at 9, kids can follow directions and that they did not do this. However, upon asking our daughter, she does not recall being told this. Having been there multiple times, she should have heard this multiple times and she would know by now. We do not believe this was truly enforced and drilled into the kids. Even if they had been told, kids at any age are not known to always follow instructions, so we found "they didn't ask" to be a unacceptable response.

I asked Ted if that response (they didn't ask) would have been the same had she been abducted; he looked me straight and the eye and without hesitation said yes. Furthermore, he stated that he was actually outside and that he saw the girls walking toward the park. He did not stop them to ask if they had asked to go outside or where their escort was. It was in the afternoon free play where kids come and go, so he didn't know if they were just going home or going to the park - he seemed to have assumed they were walking home.

Additionally, he already knew about this incident. We were not called when it happened nor was it brought to our attention when we picked our daughter up that day. They did not speak to the girls about it at all, so they did not know what he said to them or that he touched them. They did not take this as an opportunity to "remind" them of the rules.

It wasn't my intention to do a yelp review initially, but since JOTP does not want to own up to any responsibility or possibly look at their policies, I feel like it is my duty to put this review out there. I now understand that children have "free range" at their location, but are you sure that you want that for your children?

Great venue for getting kids involved in soccer at an early age!