The Best of San Diego 2026: Sports

Best Original Gods of SD Soccer

San Diego Sockers

As soccer mania hit full tilt the last few years, the OG team continued their habit of winning excessively. In April, the San Diego Sockers won their 17th Major Arena Soccer League championship trophy in front of a home crowd at Frontwave Arena—defeating the Milwaukee Wave 10–3 in the Ron Newman Cup series. Twelve-year veteran Leonardo de Oliveira was crowned Finals MVP with two goals and an assist. The Sockers finished the 2026 season with a league-best 11 road wins. More importantly, attendance was up six percent on the year. Long live the legend of Juli Veee.

Best Place to Raise the Next Patti McGee

Exposure Skate

The world’s largest and longest-running women’s skateboarding event? In San Diego, run by Vista’s Exposure Skate. Founded by Olympian skater Amelia Brodka and Lesli Cohen, the nonprofit puts on year-round skateboarding classes, camps, and retreats at parks and pools across the county, even funding college scholarships for women, girls, and nonbinary individuals. It’s wellness and community through grip tape and trucks. This year marks its 15th annual event—world-class athletes, young talent, a skate extravaganza.

Best Reason to Sustain That Fútbol Fever

Snapdragon Stadium

San Diego may have only gotten secondhand smoke from the World Cup, but the city will get its fútbol fix soon enough. In March, the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games announced San Diego was chosen as one of seven cities to host Olympic soccer matches. Eleven men’s and women’s matches—including the bronze medal games on both sides—will be held at Snapdragon Stadium in July 2028. That might feel far off, but ticket sales have already begun, so remember where you stored the face paint.

Best Place to Own a Wildly Large Racket Bag

Barnes Tennis Center

Not sure if the news is that Barnes Tennis Center has now fully emerged as the city’s racket-sports mothership or that it’s operated by a nonprofit (Youth Tennis San Diego) whose mission is to bring tennis to underserved communities. Regardless, since hosting its first ATP pro tournament five years ago, Barnes has expanded—25 tennis courts, 19 pickleball courts, seven padel courts—and is now home to the USTA Billie Jean King Girls’ National Championships (girls junior tennis), the USA Pickleball National Championships, the San Diego Open (pro tennis), and the Stingrays, our resident Professional Padel League squad. They built it, and everyone’s coming.

Best Place to Fall Off a Cliff

Vital Climbing

Thought you had grip strength? Vital Climbing Gym in Oceanside and Carlsbad will put that to the test—and activate every micro-muscle in your forearms—with hangboards and 16-foot-tall bouldering walls. For days you’re not willing to go full-send but still want to test gravity’s limits, go P!nk mode and try the aerial silks classes. Caution: There will be youth competition climbers who flash your project on their warm-up.

Best E-Bike Replacement Therapy

San Diego BMX

Remember when construction sites were the unofficial BMX tracks of San Diego youth? Hard-hat workers would show up on Mondays and find Mongoose or Diamondback grooves crisscrossing all over their giant piles of work dirt. But kids in the know have been at the San Diego BMX track in Kearny Mesa since 1980. One of the oldest BMX tracks in the country, it’s got a starter gate launching into a downhill, banks, turns, rollers, rhythm sections, tabletops, jumps—the works. The track operator is Tyler Brown, a three-time US pro champion and two-time world champion. From tykes on glider bikes to Olympic hopefuls, this dirt palace is a self-powered kind of rad.

Best Way to Pretend You Enjoy Running

Pacific Beach Run Club

If you’ve ever watched a flood of runners take over Pacific Beach like the I-5 at rush hour—sometimes carrying a flag bearing their crest—chances are you’ve witnessed the Pacific Beach Run Club. With almost 25,000 followers on Instagram (plus their own app), the self-proclaimed “social club that likes to run” has evolved into a wildly popular way for locals to make friends while shedding the effects of Taco Tuesdays. Meeting every Wednesday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 8:30 a.m., the group makes its way along a 5K route through PB with pump-up music blasting and four organized stops throughout to catch your breath and socialize along the way.

Best Boxing Legend Welcome Party

San Diego TJs

Filipino roots run deep in San Diego (the fifth-largest Filipino American community in the US), and now we’re adding the most legendary boxer in Filipino history to the fold. This year, Hall of Famer Manny Pacquiao announced he’s coming in as owner, ambassador, and competitor of the San Diego TJs (a Team Boxing League expansion franchise). The Philippines-born fighter is set to begin his time with the TJs in 2027 as a captain before stepping into the ring in future seasons.

Best Place to Channel Your Inner Marty Supreme

San Diego Table Tennis Association

Table tennis is an art form, and we won’t hear otherwise. Tucked inside the Balboa Park Activity Center, the San Diego Table Tennis Association boasts a whopping 25 Butterfly tables and over 400 members who play regularly. Weekly Thursday night Round Robin tournaments keep the competition lively, and as home to the Senior Table Tennis Olympics, SDTTA welcomes players of all ages and levels to compete in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.

Best Return to the Dance

SDSU Women’s Basketball

SDSU women’s basketball got back on the dance floor and was invited to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 13 years. The team also tied the program’s highest win total (27, the same as the last time it made March Madness) and won its seventh Mountain West championship. The now-graduated Nala Williams won Conference Player of the Year, sophomore Kaelyn Hamilton was named Sixth Player of the Year, and Stacie Terry-Hutson took home Coach of the Year (a first for SDSU women’s basketball). The point is, as women’s sports continues its rapid rise—and basketball specifically, especially with Caitlin Clark tearing up the WNBA—SDSU women’s hoops is getting its own wings.

Best Place to Make Annoying Yet Satisfying Sounds

Gaslamp Urban Pickleball

It’s like a pickleball flash mob. Gaslamp Urban Pickleball is taking “the kitchen” to the next level this month by turning Fifth Avenue into an open-air, urban pickleball arena. Every Thursday from July 30 to September 3 (so, right now), it’ll be lined with eight open-air courts for all of your dinking desires. Live DJs will bring the hype. Nearby restaurants and bars will run Paddle Hour specials. A Zero-Proof Garden will do NA/wellness beverages, hydration stations, and a laid-back lounge. If this means potholes will be fixed, we’re all in.

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