Jun. 23, 2010

With the FIFA World Cup underway in South Africa, attorney Shane Singh is getting his soccer fix a bit closer to home. As president of Sacramento’s Greenhaven Soccer Club, Singh oversees nearly 1,400 players, ages 4- to 19-years-old, each season. "Logistically it’s a lot of work," he said. Since it began in the mid-1970s, Greenhaven Soccer has grown tenfold; this season, the nonprofit boasts 110 teams across 20 playing fields. The 35-member Board and all coaches, assistant coaches and referees are volunteers. Singh’s involvement began in 1978, when he signed up for the Under 8 division. "Our games were played at the old Semas Park behind Park Terrace. That park is now the site of a housing subdivision," he comments in his Board President message, posted on the Club’s website. “Many things have changed in both soccer and the world in the last 28 years or so,” he adds. This is Singh’s third year as president, although he was a referee since 2004. Around that time, Singh joined Kring & Chung in Sacramento. As a young lawyer, he remembers several senior attorneys who were also coaches or referees; the coincidence led him to think there is a unique connection between soccer and law. "After all," he mused, "the soccer rules are called the 'Laws of the Game.'"