S6E54 - Genesis Gives opens Mini-Soccer Pitch in South Fulton, Georgia

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Welcome to the Total Car Score podcast, bringing you the world of cars from inside the car.

And now your hosts, Carl Brower, Lauren Fix and Javier Mota.

Well, today we're sitting in a beautiful Genesis G80 with Brandon Ramirez from Genesis Sunsack

from the US Soccer Federation.

What did you say when you opened the door to this car?

Beautiful.

Beautiful ride.

You never seen this?

You never seen a car like this?

No.

Not with the red interior like this.

Quite nice.

And that's the thing about all the Genesis new cars.

I mean, the design, the technology.

And the performance too.

Oh, wow.

That too.

Yeah.

We're parked for now.

But they're amazing cars.

But we are here for another reason, other than cars that we love.

But so tell us, Brandon, what are we doing here?

Why do we drove here outside Atlanta?

Yes.

So we have the grand opening of a mini-pitch.

And we partner with US Soccer Foundation so that way kids can play on this

mini-pitch for free.

Oh, wow.

That's amazing.

Because I used to play soccer a lot.

I was never good.

I played every position.

But you know why?

Because whenever there was a chance to play, they put me there.

But I wasn't good.

I loved it.

I was fast and fearless.

So that's why I had like nine broken bones and three surgeries and everything.

But I get, every team needs someone like that, right?

Of course.

So tell me how this helps the US Foundation, Soccer Foundation?

Yeah.

It's all about getting more access to soccer for kids in this country.

When you think of soccer, the game thrives in suburbs, in areas where families have

resources to transport their kids to a full-size, beautiful soccer field.

Where the opportunity lacks is in areas where there's not space readily available.

And so mini-pitches are just this wonderful solution to that problem.

There are kind of small-sided soccer spaces that can easily be installed in more urban areas

that can allow for kids to walk to them.

And just by proxy of that, it makes the game so much more accessible and it gets kids playing

this game for the first time.

And we hope that with spaces like this and exposure to the game, as we know, sports

are such a life-changing opportunity for kids.

And so the more opportunities we can create for kids to participate is, that's our mission.

So this is a permanent installation, this is going to be here forever.

And tell me a little bit about this area, I saw it's kind of industrial, I didn't see

many houses, but I guess a lot of people who work in those industries live nearby, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Definitely.

We do our best to locate these mini-pitches in areas of need and where there's kind

of lower resources provided.

And so this part of the Greater Atlanta area is a really good fit for that and we

think that this mini-pitch is going to bring a lot of exposure to soccer to this community.

Yeah.

Brandon, tell us how you, Hyundai Foundation, what's the official name of it?

Oh, so this is Genesis Gives?

Oh, the Genesis Gives, I'm sorry, but it's part of the Hyundai Foundation.

Tell us how the Genesis Foundation finds these opportunities or how do you locate them

or these opportunities?

Yeah.

In 2022, we developed a CSR initiative called Genesis Gives to align with the performance

and the athletic elegance and design.

So our pillars for CSR initiative is youth sports and STEAM education.

And that's where we have partnered with US Soccer Foundation.

Now Zach was talking about locations where there may not be a room enough to have

soccer fields and so forth.

A late last year, we worked together to have one in Staten Island, New York.

Oh, wow.

So in New York, there's not a lot of space.

But we're giving them that opportunity and US Soccer Foundation has been a great partner

with Genesis.

Yeah.

And how many of these have you, have the US Soccer Foundation established or where?

Yeah, I think we've installed over 800.

Oh, 800?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're all over the country and I think with Genesis, I think this is our fourth

one.

Yes.

Fourth one.

So yeah.

Yeah.

And I mean, soccer, it's always been popular.

I mean, are you from New York area or where are you from?

I'm originally from Michigan, but I'm lucky enough to call the Atlanta area home.

Oh, you live here.

So this is kind of a hometown mini pitch for me, yeah.

No, because when you talk about Staten Island and all that, I still have a New York

Cosmos sticker on my computer.

Yeah, there you go.

Now I'm from the city where Pelé came to play here with Beckham Bauer, Giorgio

Caniglia and all those guys.

Yes.

It didn't make it.

National Association Soccer League.

Yeah, I can't remember.

And ESL, I think it was something like that.

Yeah.

But I mean, there's been a long history of soccer in the US, but finally, we're

getting up and then next year, of course, we have the World Cup here.

So this is a perfect opportunity that I guess when these big events happen, more

kids get excited and want to get in, right?

I think so.

I mean, I think from our standpoint, the World Cup puts the spotlight on soccer

on like any other opportunity.

And so it's a big time for the US Soccer Foundation.

And that's why we're so excited to partner with companies like Genesis right now to

bring, you know, more attention to the game and lead up to the World Cup.

Yeah.

And I know Brandon, the Hyundai group is a worldwide FIFA World Cup FIFA sponsor,

right?

Yeah.

That's why you get involved also in the sport.

Yes.

Yes, definitely.

And it's in the world.

Football is among the most popular, if not that the most

popular.

So you say this is for free for the kids that just come here.

What other things the foundation, the Soccer Foundation does for kids to

Yeah.

Because the pitch is one thing.

Exactly.

Yeah.

I think building a space is one aspect of it.

But making sure that there's, you know, healthy, positive programming is another

big piece.

And the driver of that for us are the coaches.

Okay.

And a big piece of what we do is that we want to, you know, bring curriculum,

bring resources, and train coaches to be not only good soccer coaches, but mentors

for kids.

You know, when I think about my experience playing youth sports, you know,

some of the, you know, people I looked up to the most were the coaches that

I had.

Yeah.

And so we want that same opportunity for all the kids here.

And so we do a lot of, a lot of coach training to kind of, you know,

make that impact.

We have coaches for the coaches because sometimes the parents, the parents are

like really aggressive too, right?

They want to be the coach of the coach and then like, it can be, it can create

a little bit of conflict on the outside of the soccer pitch.

Definitely.

That's like, that's part of our, that's part of our training.

And yeah, no, we have like a whole team of experts that we, you know,

that are kind of expert trainers and they go out and then they train all

of, all of these, these coaches.

So yeah.

Yeah.

And that's what happens when Hyundai or Genesis gives an operation.

There's also a lot of coaching and you want to recruit people.

And I guess these initiatives also are a good way of exposing kids that

maybe like SAC can never sell a Genesis.

Other people get interested in the brand in different ways other than

the cars, right?

Yeah.

So we have the two vehicles always displayed at our, at the mini

pitch grand openings.

And it's kind of exciting the CEO of US soccer foundation, Ed, he, he

bought a Genesis.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

He got a GV80 coupe.

So it's also, just for kids to check out, this is the Genesis that

partner with the US soccer foundation on these mini pitches.

And so it works for, with everybody.

You mentioned also that you support STEM initiatives and obviously

sports is great, but it's not so good if you don't go get a good

education because at some point you're not going to be able to play.

Yeah.

Not everybody makes it to the pros.

So why is that important too for Genesis?

Yeah.

So on this trip right after this, we're going to be in the low

country in South Carolina where we're going to do a Genesis

theme program where they're going to hear about the product

development process and then kids get the sketch and build

their future mobility vehicle using upcycle materials.

Oh, yeah.

That's great.

So it's harnessing that creativity and each one of these future

mobility vehicles are going to look different because they're using

their creativity and imagination.

And I guess the soccer foundation also like supports

education and like emphasized importance of that because again

like you can play soccer for maybe if you're lucky 15, 20

years, but then after that.

Yeah.

Our mission isn't necessarily to develop the next like great

world soccer players obviously be wonderful.

You know, if that comes out of our programming, but largely we're

trying to leverage the game for more social good.

Yeah.

You know, promoting positive things like education and you

know, peer-to-peer relationships and all the life lessons

that you can learn through sports.

Yeah.

And you said that the foundation also provides, I mean, maybe

equipment or how do you deal with that because now things

are expensive now.

Yeah.

But I was playing soccer back 20, 30 years ago.

I mean, you know, all you need only the ball, but now people

want like the kids want like the messy, expensive 150

pair of cleats and the soccer ball might be $200.

So how do you, how do the Federation gets funding that?

Yeah.

So the foundation.

Foundation, I'm sorry.

Yeah.

So, you know, we have a growing network of program partners

and that's who we're really working with and then those

program partners, you know, are kind of the conduits to

get our resources, equipment, etc. to the kids and families

and we're lucky enough to be great partners with Adidas and

Adidas gives us unbelievable support on the equipment side

and it really unlocks our ability to be able to provide

kids that, you know, soccer balls and jerseys and those

things.

So a lot of the kids that are going to be coming to this

one and the, you said 800 already of these that you

have around the country?

Yeah.

You're going to be asking you like, can I go to the

World Cup next year?

Yeah.

Can you do anything about that?

No.

That's what I've told all my family members and

everybody, my friends as well.

Right?

Yeah.

I don't even have tickets yet.

So we'll see.

Yeah.

And Atlanta is one of the venues, right?

For next year.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

It is.

It's one of the main venues.

Brandon, don't listen, but Mercedes-Benz stadium is

going to be right.

Yes.

Yeah.

So Brandon, tell us what's happening with the Genesis

Gift Organization.

What else are you doing in these days?

How it's 2025, the rest of 25 shaping up and next

year maybe?

You already have plans I bet.

Yeah.

So another thing that we're doing in addition to that

Genesis Steam program, we're also going to be in two

days, we're going to be at Frank Callan Boys and

Girls Club, where not only Genesis Giz will give a

donation for STEM, but we have a foundation called

Genesis Inspiration Foundation.

And they're for the arts.

And so they are going to provide with the funds

that they're going to be given, the Boys and

Girls Club is going to provide art programming.

So whenever we go out on a business trip, the Genesis

Inspiration Foundation provides a grant to local

schools or Boys and Girls Clubs or art schools for

funding for youth art.

I remember a couple of years ago in New York for the

auto show, you brought one of the kids who were in

the program.

I'm not going to remember his name, I'm sorry for

that, but his boys was amazing.

And he was like 15, I think, 16.

And if you were one of those things that you don't

look and you just listen, you would think he was a

soprano from that.

He ran over or something, and he was only 16 and

you're supporting that kind of talent.

And that's amazing that it's over two years ago

and you remember that.

No, exactly, because the talent is there.

And that's the thing with also sports.

There's so much talent that sometimes kids don't

get the opportunities, right?

They get lost.

That is the name of the game.

That is what we're about.

I mean, every kid deserves the opportunity to grow

and shine, and if we can do that through soccer

and if we can do that through installing a mini

pitch, then we're meeting our mission.

OK, so can we go out and play a little bit with

the kids, or is it going to be as a sport?

Maybe they're going to beat us really bad.

Yes, that's true.

Well, and then you get to drive the Genesis.

Maybe you have a new client here, Brandon.

Yeah, we can hook you up.

You know, I mean, congratulations to the cars.

They're fantastic.

And these initiatives, because I love cars.

I love the industry.

But when you see what other stuff happens besides,

I mean, companies are out there to make money

because it's a business.

But part of the business is this kind of things, right?

Yeah, exactly.

It's important to get back.

And the children are our future.

Yeah.

Well, thank you, Saq.

Congratulations on these new initiatives.

What's the next one?

Do you know already?

Is there another one coming up?

I don't know.

We've got a lot.

We've got a lot coming up.

Definitely a lead up to the World Cup.

I don't know specifically which is the exact location

of our next install, but we'll be popping these up all over.

The communities can apply for this,

or you select the communities.

How does the process work?

I mean, how did you pick this location, for example?

Yeah.

Well, in order to make these happen,

we have to find sponsors like Genesis who are generous

enough to partner with us to do it.

And then we work with those sponsors

to identify communities where we want to put these in.

And then we have a team of people that will go out

into the community and find the right spaces.

So there's a lot of work involved in these, right?

They're not like, oh, let's do this.

And like, one day.

No, it's very intentional.

Right, yeah.

Well, thank you again, and let's go and play soccer.

Thank you.

Thank you, Javier.

It's good, but I'll try again.

Ha, ha, ha.

That's a wrap for this episode of the Total Car Score

podcast.

Want more expert takes on the hottest cars, industry

trends, and insider insights?

Join Javier Mota, Lauren Fix, and Carl Brower every week

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Hit subscribe, like, and share with your friends

to stay informed and stay ahead.

See you next time.

[?].

Dear winter, Toyota can't get enough of you,

because Toyota's got 25 vehicles

with available all-wheel drive and four-wheel drive.

And that's more than any other auto brand.

From the versatile RAV4 to the svelte crown,

the sleek Camry all-wheel drive, the Corolla Hybrid all-wheel

drive, the rugged Tacoma, the tenacious Tundra,

and the spacious Grand Highlander with all-wheel drive

to keep you and yours safe.

Hey, you bring the action, we'll bring the traction.

Toyota, let's go places.

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S6E54 - Genesis Gives opens Mini-Soccer Pitch in South Fulton, Georgia

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