Remembering The Corner Kick in Gaithersburg

One of the biggest attractions for The Corner Kick was the restaurant/pub that overlooked the fields. You could grab a domestic draft beer for $.75 during lunch or $1.00 during happy hour. A 2002 Gazette article quotes co-owner Derek Oldham as saying the pub accounted for almost 50% of the facility’s business. The article also mentions an adult volleyball league known as “Bump, Set, Drink” that consisted of over 200 players that often stayed at the facility until 2am playing and drinking…sometimes simultaneously.

We remember playing in many indoor soccer leagues at The Corner Kick. We don’t think there was A/C or heat on the fields. In the summers, the heat would be almost unbearable, but that wouldn’t stop any of us from playing. In the winters you’d run out of breath after a minute or two of running around in freezing temperatures. We all noticed the temperatures, but none of us ever really minded them.

Due to the opening of the SoccerPlex and SportsPlex, business declined. Fitzgerald Auto Malls purchased the warehouse in October of 2001 and rented the property to The Corner Kick for a few months until they closed permanently on January 15th, 2002. The opening of the new facilities had caused them to lose almost all of their youth leagues and many of their adult leagues as they struggled to remain in business for the next two years. Prior to The Corner Kick’s arrival, and for a couple years during, the warehouse was also home to Great Skate. Great Skate was a skating rink that remained open until 1987. We’re a little too young to remember Great Skate, but we definitely miss The Corner Kick!
Followers of our Facebook page also shared their fond memories of the Corner Kick: 

• “My father was the first person to commit a team to play there. I was literally raised there… was probably still in diapers the first time I went. I would blow through quarters in the arcade lol. The Oldhams were, and are, family friends, and I miss the kick tremendously.”
• “My nephew Daniel Hess performed there with his ska band mates the Canker Sores and The Ratchet Boys.”
• “I was a soccer mom to our 2 sons who played there often. I really enjoyed the super delish onion rings while I watched from the above viewing windows and chatted with the other soccer kid parents. Good times!”
• “Played a couple of winters there as a kid in the mid 90s…so cold… … what even is a “Soccerplex”…kids these days…uphill both ways! ”
  
• “When you didn’t have to leave the building to enjoy playing and food and drinks field freezing in winter and hot hot hot in summer….. good times”
  
• “Fond memories watching my boys play soccer there. They loved the toasted sandwich”
  
• “Legendary. Played womens and co-Ed leagues throughout the 90s. I take my car to Fitzgerald now and can’t help but imagine where everything was. I hope the walls never tell the stories…”
• “Loved this place. Played in men’s and co-rec leagues here. Loved being a “free agent” goalie. Play my team game, chill and have a post-game beer, and getting tapped to play again because someone’s goalie didn’t show. Could easily play 2-3 games a night. Remember watching World Cup games there, too!”