Socceroof - Sunset Park — Attraction in New York

Been here a couple of times. First time was kind of a garbage crowd and not a good DJ, chalked it up to promoter. Went again to see Victor Calderone last time he played there, whom I adore, thinking it would be different. Marginally better in that the lighting wasn’t as terrible and the crowd was somewhat better, but that doesn’t change the way Socceroof operates.

Drinks are way overpriced and the selection is poor. Watch for the automatic 20% tip they bill in on the transaction. Ridiculous rule whereby VIP includes not just the wooden benches where they serve bottles (which, ok, if you want to do that), but you are also shooed off the astroturf some distance away from said benches, because that is also VIP. It isn’t roped off, and you have to walk over it to get from Point A to Point B when it’s crowded.

Speaking of boundaries, in terms of ones that actually matter, security does not have a handle on them. The one guy really found it necessary to put his hands on me to guide me in a particular direction I was already walking in. No confusion on where I was going, wasn’t holding up any traffic or giving him grief….completely unnecessary, it was just a control thing for him. Need help? You’ll know their floor manager is the blonde woman with the intense “I’m managing” energy, but she can’t help you….too busy with delivering bottles for VIP while waving around these ridiculous LED sticks that I guess are the substitute for sparklers and are supposed to look festive and “rave” and like you’re really getting something special, which is to say, an overpriced bottle of liquor delivered in a janky fishing bucket.

The spot has a decent view, a wall that’s right there and ripe for projecting visuals, it is spacious, it has potential. And it is totally wasted on whoever is running it and clearly has a total lack of vision in terms of production and guest experience. Takes 10 minutes to get here but it’s so bad, I’d rather travel the hour to Bushwick. See Victor...

The following happened in one week of summer camp: My 5-year-old son was repeatedly hurt by the same 7-year-old child throughout the week.

Tuesday: The older child twisted my son’s hand and wrist, leaving two marks. My son told me he cried when this happened, and I don’t understand how the coaches could have missed that.

Thursday: I picked my son up and saw a large lump on his eyebrow/eye/temple area. He also told me he cried then too. When I spoke to the coaches, they said they hadn’t seen or heard anything, but then mentioned the 7-year-old by name. I confirmed it was him. They told me they would talk to his parents. When I asked how they hadn’t noticed such an injury, I didn’t get a clear response. They reassured me on Thursday and again Friday morning that they would “keep an eye on him.”

Friday (today): A few hours ago, I picked my son up and noticed his hair was sticky. He told me the same 7-year-old had poured Gatorade on his head and twisted his arm again.

This made me realize the children often aren’t properly supervised. I usually stay with my son for about 15 minutes, and today from about 9:00–9:15 a.m. there were 5–7 kids under the age of 7 in the field with no coaches present. I was the only adult there, playing with my son and the other children. During that time, kids were already climbing and pushing each other off a couch that seemed to be left from a prior event. The same lack of supervision happened the day before in another small field at the start of the day. Since cameras are present, this can at least be verified.

The coaches themselves are welcoming and kind, but there is clearly a serious lapse in monitoring. That lapse has directly led to my child being hurt and bullied by the same child three separate times in one week.

Attached are photos showing:

Bruising and scratches from his hand being twisted

Bruising on his face

His hair before (dry and fluffy, with no products) and after (sticky and shiny...

Really disappointed by the consistent lack of customer service and attention to children’s safety here. It’s one thing that their wifi only works on a limited number of devices, so most of us have to go downstairs to call taxis, since they use the cheapest/lowest bandwidth networks that cannot accommodate the number of clients in the space. And never upgrade no matter how often it’s dysfunctional. But today, when it’s a polar vortex, the entire road in front of the building was covered in ice and extremely dangerous for children. If it’s the building’s job to salt the road, socceroof should have checked to ensure the job was done to completion since they have hundreds of children commuting to their business and it’s the coldest day of the year following a snowstorm - an obvious ice safety hazard. Worse yet, at 5pm when dozens of parents are trying to get there to pickup, and dozens more are trying to call cars to get home with children, they didn’t do anything to ensure there was even access to the building. The entire parking lot was at standstill traffic in both directions, everyone honking, no cars able to get to the entrance to pickup kids. They showed zero concern and did nothing to ensure access at peak hours on an icy day. Ultimately we had to wait 30 mins for an Uber to make it to us to avoid walking half a mile over a completely frozen icy road. Should the building staff have aggressively salted and ordered traffic? Yes. Did they? No, there was no staff of any kind present. So it’s the responsibility of the only business in the building people are going to and from to make sure children and cars can get to and from the space safely without having to walk on ice or be stuck in standstill traffic due to certain cars not getting out of the way. No one did anything to expedite insane traffic at their entrance or salt the road for safe walking. It was complete chaos today...