''Just for Kicks'' is an American comedy series that aired on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

television network as a part of the channel's TEENick television lineup. The series is about a group of girls on a soccer team set in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Created by Alana Sanko and developed by

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

, the series was first titled ''Head to Toe'', and then ''The Power Strikers'', but its title was finally changed in 2005 to ''Just for Kicks''. The series premiered in January 2006 on Nickelodeon UK, and in April 2006 on Nickelodeon in the United States. The series is produced by

Brookwell McNamara Entertainment Brookwell McNamara Entertainment, Inc. is a production company formed by David Brookwell and Sean McNamara. It has made television shows for Disney Channel, Disney XD, CBS, Cartoon Network, The N, and Nickelodeon. It is one of the largest out-s ...

. Airing for one season of thirteen episodes, it is also considered to be one of Nickelodeon's most forgotten series, as this show fell to obscurity and was lost for over a decade until May 2, 2016, nearly ten years after its original premiere, when the entire series was uploaded onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

in two parts. Despite this, the show has yet to ever air again on television in over a decade.

Characters

Main characters

* Alexa D'Amico (Francesca Catalano) – She is a typical popular high school girl. She was a former cheerleader and she is fond of boys. She has an older brother, Chris. Towards the end of the series, her father gets laid off of his job, which causes some stress for her. Since Alexa started being a soccer player and she had to stop cheerleading her old, popular friends don't understand why she would rather run around on a muddy field than go shopping. She lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. * Winifred "Freddie" Costello (Mallory Low) – She is a tough girl in high school who is not good friends with Alexa because she and her friends are snobs to Freddie at their private school. Her father is always with the military, and she lives with her grandmother. She is also known for having severe cases of "bacne", or acne on her back. Freddie lives in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the we ...

. * Lauren Zelmer (

Katija Pevec Katija Mira Pevec (born March 1, 1988) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Christina Beardsley in the 2005 film '' Yours, Mine and Ours'', and Lauren Zelmer on the short-lived Nickelodeon television series, '' Just for Kic ...

) – Lauren is a shy, timid serious girl who is a good athlete. She is a typical schoolgirl who plays the violin and is on the soccer team, among other activities. Lauren is very intelligent, and is very busy with extracurricular activities, which causes her much stress. She has a big crush on Alexa's older brother Chris, and at the end of the season they start to date, much to Alexa's disbelief. Her overprotective mother works at a local private school, in which Lauren attends. Lauren lives in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, Manhattan. * Vida Atwood ( Jessica Williams) – Vida is a sporty athletic serious girl, who has a lot in common with her soccer mate Lauren Zelmer. She has been playing soccer the longest, and is sort of the unofficial best at the game. She lives at home with her younger brother, older sister, and parents. Vida is self-conscious of her towering height, and it is known that she once beat up a boy back in first or second grade. She lives in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. * Chris D'Amico (Jerad Anderson) – Chris is Alexa's older brother, he is an aspiring filmmaker and somewhat dimwitted.

Recurring characters

* Marni Nelson (Jessica Sara) – A Power Strikers teammate later turned team manager. * Coach Leslie Moore ( Craig Young) – The Power Strikers coach. * Evan Ribisi (

Johnny Palermo John Joseph "Johnny" Palermo (March 1, 1982 — June 8, 2009) was an American television actor. Early life A native of Rochester, New York, Palermo graduated from Webster High School in 2000. He is the son of John M. Palermo and Patricia A. C ...

) – Chris' best friend who also works at the girls' local hangout the @itude Cafe. * Courtney (Shelley Buckner) – Alexa's shallow best friend who doesn't like Alexa having interest in soccer. * Dr. Charles Atwood (

Kadeem Hardison Kadeem Hardison (born July 24, 1965) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dwayne Wayne on ''A Different World'', a spin-off of the long-running NBC sitcom ''The Cosby Show''. He starred in the Disney Channel series ''K.C. Under ...

) – Vida's dad. * Mrs. Atwood (

JoNell Kennedy JoNell Kennedy has been an American actress, producer and writer since 1992. She is perhaps best known for her recurring role as "Coroner Pat" on ''The Mentalist''. She also appeared on an episode of '' Southland''. Personal life Kennedy was ...

) – Vida's mom. * Ty Atwood (

Leon Thomas III Leon G. Thomas III (born ) is an American actor, record producer, songwriter and singer. After early roles in Broadway and providing the singing voice of Tyrone on the Nick Jr. animated series ''The Backyardigans'' (2006–2008), he played And ...

) – Vida's annoying little brother. * Elise Atwood (Shani Pride) – Vida's older sister who is an aspiring model. * Mrs. Zelmer (Jenica Bergere) – Lauren's overprotective mom. * Lucy Costello (

Amy Hill Amy Marie Hill (born May 9, 1953) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Hill's first major role was as Yung-Hee "Grandma" Kim on '' All-American Girl'' where her character became the breakout character of the short-lived television serie ...

) – Freddie's grandmother who she is living with while her parents are overseas in the military. * Dana Battle (Rinabeth Apostol) – The captain of the Power Strikers who spends every waking minute on the soccer field and is Vida’s foil. When she gets injured, she softens up to the rookies.

Episodes

References

External links

* {{Former Nickelodeon original series 2006 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings 2000s American comedy-drama television series 2000s American high school television series 2000s American teen drama television series 2000s American teen sitcoms 2000s Nickelodeon original programming English-language television shows Fictional association football television series Television series about teenagers Television series by Brookwell McNamara Entertainment Television shows set in New York City Women's association football television series