An Introduction | The People are the Community | The Purpose is the Mission |
Growth is Diversity | The Rules are the Culture | Putting it all Together
Every community has their origin story. Like Mike creating Viking as a soccer camp community in 1993. In the beginning the community was small. Mike created a set of rules for the group to follow and executed on a mission to provide soccer instruction to kids. As the community grew, people wanted more than soccer so Mike changed the mission again to include all sports. As more people started participating in Viking’s classes, Mike needed to hire more coaches who needed to work within established rules.
In 2007, when Zach and I started running Viking for the new Owner, Dennis, the Viking community was starting to become stale. In 2011 Zach and I bought Viking and we worked to grow the already established community. We engaged our diverse community for ideas which energized everyone. That engagement lead to us building the Viking Activity Center.
Once the Viking Activity Center was built many things changed for us. We were able to invent new programs, explore new event ideas, and we were being invited to do huge events. Our mission needed to reflect how we were evolving, so Zach, myself and the leadership team created a new mission around fun.
As our community continued to grow we began partnering with other communities like the YMCA, the Harlem Globetrotters, and the New England Revolution to leverage each other’s strengths as a way to mutually benefit the other.
The only reason why the Viking community is as special as it is, is because of the diversity of people who are a part of it. We laugh, we fight, we disagree, we create, but at the end of the day we come together to deliver our promise of fun.
When you are out there living life, try and notice all the communities out there and appreciate all the hard work that has gone into making what it is.
LeRoy J. Watkins III 