As we gear up for another soccer season at DME Academy, Sarasota — one filled with growth, development, opportunity, and international experiences — I keep coming back to why I got into this space in the first place. 

Why I Do This

It would be easy to get lost in the day-to-day: the sessions, the schedules, the logistics, the competition. But every season I make myself stop and remember the reason I started DME in Sarasota in the first place. I didn’t get into youth soccer and academic offerings to build the biggest thing in the area or run the loudest program. I got into it because I believed families in our area deserved more than “good enough” soccer. That belief still drives every decision we make today. We are anything and everything from traditional, and we LOVE that.

Raising the Standard in Sarasota & Lakewood Ranch

Over the past four years, the level of youth soccer in Sarasota and Lakewood Ranch has risen considerably. I’d like to think we’ve played a meaningful role in helping raise that standard, and not just through what happens on the field with us but across the whole ecosystem.

We’ve done it through hard work. We do it through a full suite of program offering, through year-round play, and through school options that let athletes train and learn under one roof. What we did with Step Up,  a model everyone else eventually followed,  that has been great for families across every club, not only ours. When the whole area levels up, every player benefits. That’s was the point of starting it all.

Collaboration Over Turf

One of our most recent accomplishments has been building a genuine, collaborative relationship with FC Sarasota on the girls’ side. Not just a media play.

Rather than protecting turf, we chose to create more opportunities for players and go big. The goal is clear: GA next season through Aspire domination. With additional partnerships currently in discussion, our mission stays the same,  challenge the traditional youth soccer model and push the boundaries for families who demand more. Collaboration isn’t a weakness. When it serves players, it’s exactly the right move and I’ve got some more coming.

Competing the Right Way

Competition is healthy. I love a good, fair fight. No one is more competitive than me, ask some of my players.

But competition has to be built on integrity and a level playing field. I learned early that youth soccer isn’t a fair playing field, for a lot of reasons. I see it every day.

That’s why we compete the way we do,  the right way, even when others don’t. Even when it costs us families who show up to early tryouts up the street. It’s not the families fault, shiny objects are nice to look at, but substance is more important. We’ll keep pushing when it’s time to push. What won’t change is how we go about it. The right way.

What We Keep Investing In

We’ll continue investing in the things that actually move a player forward:

• Coaches who care, who develop, who love the game and who win.
• Facilities that support real, consistent progression across the region, Tampa to Venice.
• Player pathways built for the long term, no fluff, just life-changing experiences .
• Education alongside athletics, complete offering with complete facilities and consistent, caring coaches.
• International opportunities that broaden what our athletes think is possible.

Most of all, we invest in an environment where athletes genuinely get better, and fall in love with the game. That love is the thing that lasts long after the final whistle of any given season.

Passion Before Profit

Of course I want DME to be profitable. Any healthy organization needs to be.

But from day one, profitability was never the immediate goal, it was always a three-to-five-year vision. The priority has always been to create so much value, offer so many opportunities, and care so deeply about our athletes and families that everyone walks away feeling they got more than they expected. I think we deliver that.

DME has always been driven by passion over a profit center, and I believe that matters. I compete with clubs and schools where everyone gets a paycheck. I don’t. At least not yet. Players and families can feel the difference between a program that’s built to serve them and one that’s built to serve someone else’s agenda. Although shinny objects are still hard to pass up.

To Everyone Else in the Landscape

There is no resting. We’re not slowing down, and neither should you. The standard is rising, and it’s rising fast.

Our focus has never been on what everyone else is doing, it never has been. We’ll keep out-working, keep out-innovating, and keep building something stronger, more honest, and impossible to ignore. To those who cut corners, ignore the rules, or put themselves ahead of the game: we’re going to keep exposing better ways to do things and earning market share the right way. Notice served.

Thank You

To all of our staff, club members, student-athletes, friends, and fans who support this vision — thank you. Without you, none of this is possible.

And to the real reason I do all of this: my awesome, amazing wife, and my dedicated kids — the future business leaders of tomorrow. Everything starts and ends with you.

— Jared Antista, GM, Co-Founder – DME Academy, Sarasota

Ignite The Dream