“Street Soccer Seattle is soccer for social change. Our mission is to foster the camaraderie, community, and confidence central to the sport of soccer to empower homeless individuals to find greater success and peace in their lives.”

 

As a non-profit organization, we are committed to positive social change in the city of Seattle through the sport of soccer. We wholeheartedly believe, in the spirit of the Homeless World Cup, that "a ball can change the world." At Street Soccer Seattle, we start not with the world, but with the individual and the local community. We are determined to help our players gain the life skills necessary to help them achieve their goals, whether the goal is securing permanent housing, continuing education, or finding a job. Soccer becomes the medium by which important skills are developed: confidence, determination, and belief all flourish on the court. Soccer also helps reverse the negative cycle that often isolates persons of socioeconomic disadvantage. Through playing, we hope that our players feel a part of the unique soccer culture and community that defines Seattle.

 

As a street soccer team, we strive to play the beautiful game, beautifully. Emphasizing teamwork, persistence, and discipline, we hope to both play attractive soccer and represent the city of Seattle well. We are mindful, however, that results on the court are less important than those off of it. We may not win every game or score every goal, but we can ensure that we walk off the court having the respect of our teammates, our opponents, and most importantly, respect for ourselves.

 

 

Street Soccer Seattle hosts a variety of programs, events, and fundraisers that go on throughout the year. Going on right now:

 

 

As a way to fundraise and promote awareness about our efforts, we host monthly street soccer tournaments open to members of the community. Here is how it works: In a single evening we get a group of 16 or more interested people to come down to play with us. We split into teams, each a mix of guests and street soccer team members, and play a series of round robin games leading up to a knock out stage to crown a champion. It is quite possibly the best way to spend an evening. If you represent a local business, community group, or simply have a bunch of friends who love soccer, we invite you to email us at info@streetsoccerseattle.org to arrange a tournament, donations are always appreciated.

  

 

Our most popular and consistent service is a weekly pick-up session, every Thursday from 4-6 pm at the University Presbyterian Church in Seattle's University District. Here team members and volunteers play in small sided street soccer games for as long as time permits.

 

 

Our pick-up games are supplemented by more formal practice sessions for our players. They work with our coach on conditioning, drills, and strategy.

 

 

In the past we have registered our team in local recreational soccer leagues. Due to the cost and availability of our players, for the 2010-2011 year we will not be playing in a league, but hope to return to league play in the future.

 

 

We look forward to the spring when for the second year in a row, our team will participate in the annual Street Soccer USA Cup in Washington D.C. Last year, Street Soccer Seattle took the trip of a life time and traveled to D.C. to play, taking home the D.C. Cup as the best newcomer team. You can read more about the tournament here, and more about Street Soccer Seattle's experience last year here, in a write up in the Seattle Examiner.

 

Street Soccer Seattle is always looking to grow and expand. Our short term goal is to continue our efforts with fundraising and outreach into the community till we can support a rec-league team full time.

 

Once we have more fully established ourselves within the community, we hope to expand our services by (1) finding a local business sponsor, (2) developing job training and educational support and (3) adding a mentoring aspect to the team in which volunteers are paired with players on the team as a system of support outside the game.

 

We also have plans for a women's team in the future.