The start of it all

About nine years ago, the Abrams brothers were playing in an adult soccer game at the Wolstein-owned Force-Northfield site.

"After one of the games, we said there has gotta be a better way to do this," Greg Abrams said.

The Abrams, who had spent several years in the real estate business, wound up buying the Warrensville Heights facility.

"That's basically when Force Sports was created," Greg said.

The six locations (in addition to the flagship facility, there are buildings in Bedford Heights, Eastlake, Fairlawn, Rocky River and Westlake) now have 50 full-time employees and about 300 to 400 part-time coaches, Abrams said. Force Sports has club teams in baseball, softball, volleyball, boys and girls lacrosse, and boys and girls soccer.

The company also offers strength and speed training, hosts summer camps and other events, offers field and court rentals, and has three private schools that have hired Force Sports to run their athletic departments.

Soccer, not surprisingly, is the company's largest sport.

In 2017, Force Sports acquired Cleveland United, a prominent Northeast Ohio soccer club that was founded by former Cleveland Force player and Cleveland Crunch assistant coach Joe Raduka. A year later, Force Sports added Internationals Soccer Club, which has a plethora of boys teams throughout the region.

Thousands of kids play in leagues that are run by Force Sports. That, Abrams believes, is a crucial part of a potential "pyramid" that would extend to U.S. Soccer Federation Development Academy programs and, ideally, the return of the Force.

"We want to offer players the ability to come all the way through our system," Abrams said.

The company has plenty of Cleveland professional soccer ties.

In addition to Joe Raduka, Ali Kazemaini, a former Cleveland Force and Crunch player, is the club chairman and a staff coach for CSA Impact United, which is part of Force Sports' extensive soccer umbrella. Also, former Force players George and Louis Nanchoff are the founder and director of coaching, respectively, of Internationals Soccer Club.

Greg Abrams worked for the Wolsteins and George Nanchoff at the Force facility in Warrensville Heights when he was in high school.

"It's all come very full circle," Abrams said.

Next up, he hopes, is a comeback for the Cleveland Force, who had a following in the 1980s that was so strong that the club outdrew the Cavs for five consecutive seasons — including an average gate of 13,692 in 1983-84.

"I feel like we've already brought back some of that excitement, and to potentially cap that off with a pro soccer team here in Cleveland — as a born and raised Clevelander, it would be great for the city to have that opportunity," Abrams said.

Editor's note: The boys and girls programs of Internationals Soccer Club are separate entities. The girls program has no affiliation with Force Sports.