Missionary Athletes International founder, Tim Conrad was joined by former MAI staff member Dave Irby who thought of the idea of a soccer team with the nickname of “Seahorses”.  Around 1975 he was playing small-sided soccer with some friends and for fun, one team called itself the Lizards and the other team the Seahorses. This name stuck in his mind, and over the years the Seahorses would gather again to play.

In 1985, after joining MAI, Dave had a vision to start a local team ministry under MAI's direction. Because of the problems at that time of going to communist and Muslim countries under the name of Missionary Athletes International, the nickname of Seahorses was adopted to give us the "harmless as doves, wise as serpents" feel.

Since this was the first team MAI sponsored in its first location (we now have offices and teams in three locations: Charlotte, Los Angeles, and Chicago), the Seahorse name became synonymous with MAI in the Los Angeles area.  There have been numerous Seahorse teams of various ages over the years. All the teams have had a goal of reaching people with the good news of Jesus Christ.

The club has built an impeccable reputation in regards to its soccer abilities, sportsmanship and ministry efforts.  In 1988 under the coaching of Brian Davidson, the Seahorse Senior team went the entire year of league play without a yellow or red card (20+ games) in the Pacific Soccer League.  This was accomplished while finishing second in league competition.  This had never been done in the 27 years of this league’s existence, and has not been repeated again.

Since that time the Seahorses and the other offices of Missionary Athletes International have traveled to many, many countries sharing of the love God has for them.