Street Soccer Seattle Celebrates 10 years

Amidst a tough year and continued focus to stay connected and supporting our players, Street Soccer Seattle has reached an exciting 10 year milestone that we don’t want to miss celebrating. From the original group of volunteers and players that formed a strong motivating foundation, we’ve continued to grow, with more and more players accomplishing their goals on and off the pitch.

Please join us in celebrating and check out all the details!

Details: English / Spanish

Our Challenge for COVID-19 and GiveBIG 2020

It’s been a rough last couple months for the Street Soccer Seattle family. Beyond missing our outlet and community through soccer practices and games, many players have lost jobs and have reduced access to their usual resources; drop-ins, meals, bathrooms, or places just to be with others. Our coaches and players are used to the street soccer skill “Adapt Your Play”, and we are doing our best during these times. Since early March, in place of our weekly practices, we’re putting out at-home training material and coaches are checking in with players 1:1 over messages and calls. Then on Sunday evenings when we’d usually be playing a game at Arena Sports Magnuson, players and coaches jump on a Zoom call to check in with each other. Where players need, coaches are helping players tap into relief funds and programs to help them through these extra difficult time where many of them were already working to overcome hurdles before COVID-19.

We’re looking forward to the times when we can hold practice and games again, when we can rise to the challenge together as a team, and when we feel the comfort of a teammate beside us. Yet we aren’t exactly looking forward to returning back to “normal”. While “normal” has been nicer to our players then the current COVID-19 days, society has been pretty comfortable with a “normal” that allows for societal injustices and discrepancies that hurt Street Soccer Seattle players and other disadvantaged communities. Because of our players’ legal statuses, lack of housing, skin color, economic status, personal or family history of drug abuse or mental illness, and/or LGBTQ+ identity, the cards are stacked against them in our “normal” times. As we strive to come out of these difficult COVID-19 days, we can’t accept settling back into our broken “normal”, we must take this opportunity to wrestle with the pains of the disadvantaged that have become evermore obvious during COVID-19. As you, your communities, your companies, and our government work to put back together the shattered society, We challenge you to question how it impacts those typically overlooked, make sure they have a seat at the table and your perspectives have an opportunity to be impacted by their voice.

One opprotunity to take a step forward in this challenge is to support a local non-profit during GiveBIG 2020. There are many organizations that have already been doing the work to breakdown barriers and support disadvantaged communities prior to COVID-19. With your help, they will be able to continue to do so. Street Soccer Seattle is a small non-profit among some much heavier hitters when it comes to supporting the disadvantaged, primarily homeless adults. While we lean on our partners to provide direct services, we do believe our program provides important life skills, community, and support that our players aren’t able to get the same way through other organizations. During GiveBIG 2020, we would be honored to receive your receive your support.

Donations through GiveBIG are open now and lead up to the big two-day push on May 5 & 6. You can access our donation portal in the link below.

https://www.givebigwa.org/streetsoccerseattle

Ending homelessness for each of our players takes a team. Thank you for being on their team through supporting Street Soccer Seattle!

#GiveBIG2020 #IPlayForEmpowerment #IPlayForMomentum #SoccerForSocialChange

Girl Boss Sports Partnership

Street Soccer Seattle is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with Girl Boss Sports. Girl Boss Sports has a passion for empowering young women in athletics by providing strong female role models who understand what it takes to be successful on the field and beyond.

Outside of delivering technical soccer coaching and advocacy for women, Girl Boss Sports is dedicated to improving the pipeline of female coaches and disrupting the problematic gender gap in sports as a whole.

We are absolutely thrilled to have them by our side as we launch the new Street Soccer Seattle Women’s team, a venture of our own that provides a safe and positive environment for women affected by homelessness in the Seattle community. With this new partnership, we look forward to furthering our efforts towards female empowerment as we continue to grow and expand on opportunities for our women’s team.

GiveBIG 2019 is Here


 

 

Street Soccer Seattle is participating in GiveBIG 2019 and donors are starting to prepare their donations for the GiveBIG day on May 8th. We want to invite you to join our stretching circle and donate to Street Soccer Seattle, helping us to stretch our program to even more street involved adults and towards our specific growth goal this year; starting a separate women’s team and bring this team to the Street Soccer USA Cup. We will additionally bring a men’s team. While giving only happens on May 8th, you can now schedule your donation through our GiveBIG profile: https://www.givebig2019.org/streetsoccerseattle

Street Soccer Cascadia

Snow is starting to melt in the Cascades and the sun in Seattle is starting to come out, teasing a summer’s worth of soccer just around the corner!

On March 31st, we got to share some of the good weather with our Cascadia friends from Comox, British Columbia and Portland. One of the unique parts of the Street Soccer experience is building connections and relationships with players in other cities. Normally that only gets to happen at the national tournaments, so we were excited to Comox and Portland to Seattle for a weekend of soccer, exploration and fun.

We kicked things off at Seattle’s Gas Works Park. A huge circle of Street Soccer players were buzzing as players paired off and got to know a new friend. Everyone had to introduce their new friend to the larger group, sharing where they were from, a place they’d like to visit, and a few interesting facts about their life. With introductions out of the way, the real fun began with a round of team charades. Three teams with a mixture of players from each city, skillfully acted out things like bobsledding, a pirate ship, and a used car dealership, while the other teams raced to guess correctly. Even though everyone was still getting to know one another, each team showed off great teamwork and creativity. We eventually broke for a lunch of Banh Mi sandwiches with a gorgeous view of the city from across Lake Union.

The team for Comox, British Columbia, Maple Pool United, was determined to have a blast and see one of the greatest cities in the United States. Always true to their motto, “If you’re playing, you’re winning” it was a special treat to have them travel the long distance to visit Street Soccer Seattle for the first time. Their adventurous and happy attitudes were fun to watch on the field, during activities, and while getting to know other players during the day. Plus, with Comox being a smaller, rural town, it was great for the city folk from Seattle and Portland to learn some new perspectives.

After a detour past the Fremont Troll, the teams headed to Street Soccer Seattle’s favorite indoor pitch in the city: Arena Sports SODO. We started with a joint practice run by Street Soccer Seattle alumni Emanuel. Emanuel led drills to work on “Build Your Triangle” with our new friends. He finished of the soccer with some friendly matches, having each team play the others.

Next was a chance for the Seattle team to show off our beautiful city. Making their way from Century Link Field (Go Sounders!), the teams walked to Pike Place Market, stopping along the way at Chinatown, Occidental Park, Pioneer Square, the waterfront, and the Gum Wall. On the waterfront players explored The Curiosity Shop, listened and danced along with street performers, and enjoyed the view of the city, water, and Seattle’s Wheel.

This wasn’t the first time Street Soccer Portland had come to visit Seattle. Over the past five years, we’ve coordinated a number of opportunities to build ties between our two city programs.  From joint practices, to lunch at Rancho Bravo, to Cap Hill Soccer Jam, to team building under the Space Needle, it’s been great for our teams to get to know each other and have some familiar friends at the SSUSA Cup. We finished off the day relaxing at Coach Chris’s house, hanging out, BBQing and eating hamburgers in the rare Seattle sun.

Street Soccer North of the Border

In July, two players, Elena and Carlos and two coaches, Conner and Chris from Street Soccer Seattle traveled to Comox, BC, Canada to participate in the Maple Pool Street Soccer Challenge. Street soccer skill, “Adjust Your Play” became a quick theme prior to the trip and making our way to Comox. Last minute, unavoidable work and enhanced ID’s not showing up dropped our roster from a full six, to two players. Additionally, full ferries, border crossing difficulties, late arrival at the hostel, and no cell service in Canada had SSS adjusting their plans on the fly.

As with life, obstacles arose, however it was amazing to see the team adjust for smooth travels and an awesome weekend. From Elena DJ’ing the whole car ride, to beautiful ferry rides, to trying to pronounce french, everyone had a blast. Furthermore, having such a small team, there was a great atmosphere to get to know each other better and share stories about what the past and goals moving forward.

The fun and the team building didn’t stop once the team hit the fields. SSS players and coaches continued to meet players, coaches, and residence from Comox, as well as the street soccer team from Kelowna. SSS played eight games, only losing one—a great tribute to all the hard work players and coaches have been committing to practices and games! Additionally, SSS brought the FUTCHI net to introduce to our new Canadian friends. Finishing the day with a big soccer game, a post tournament swim in the river, dinner, all with the other participants, we’d become one big family!

As always, it’s tough to say goodbye, but SSS is excited about the relationships we’ve made and continued with Canadian Street Soccer programs and are looking forward to having them join us here in Seattle sometime soon!

Showing up in Philadelphia

With all of last year’s players in stable housing and off the street, this year for Street Soccer Seattle has been focusing on bringing in new players as we continue to empower our current player to bigger goals. We developed and implemented a recruiting campaign to engage more homeless and continue spreading the word about our program to new and existing social service organizations in Seattle. Bringing in new players requires “Showing Up”, one of our eight street soccer skills. In “Showing Up”, time is important to building trust and being able to show up in so many places. We’ve expended a great foundation of social service relationships and recruited some amazing new players. Yet, it’s still a daily effort and focus.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to bring in enough players in enough time to send a team to Philadelphia for the annual Street Soccer USA Cup, where we’ve brought a team since 2010. However, our Program Director, Chris, decided to go on his own.

“I believe the SSUSA Cup is an important time to foster relationships with coaches, directors, and players from around the country, get to know players and other city programs’ strengths, and share and learn ways for us all to improve”

–Chris, SSS Program Director

Beyond engaging with players and hearing their stories, Chris also talked with program coaches and leads, targeting improvements methods he could bring back to Seattle to amp up our player recruitment and volunteer engagement. Themes such as Showing Up, creating extremely low-barrier engagement points, and staying present even when success isn’t immediate, affirmed and expanded on SSS’s current strategies.

Additionally, Chris heard and saw the impact SS cities have been able to have by expanding the demographics beyond what we typically serve in Seattle. This includes engaging more players from refugee and low-income communities, and youth, as well as maintaining strong ties with the homeless population.

From sharing a room with the Philadelphia team, going on an Amazing Race activity with the Sacramento Women and Twin Cities Men, to watching players shine on and off the pitch at the base of the famous Philadelphia Art Museum Steps, the weekend was inspiring as usual. We are excited to implement Chris’s insight and see even more impact on SSS players and our community!

Look Up – Reflecting On Our Success and Carrying the Momentum Forward

SSS Philly 2016

After three days of street soccer at the bottom Philadelphia’s Art Museum’s “Rocky” Steps in intense heat and humidity, the Street Soccer USA Cup is over, but will continue to be a lasting impression on the Empowerment FC team.

As the final SSUSA Cup of the two cup eligibility for each of our players, we took a chance before boarding our flight to reflect on what the players will take away from their experiences and how they will carry the momentum towards their goals, give back to future players, and grow Street Soccer Seattle.

Each player shared about his or her biggest growth through the Cup and Street Soccer Seattle’s program as well as experiences that have empowered him or her throughout the program. The stories and growth each shared was extremely motivating and prompted a lot of discussion on how each player can use these experiences and stories to help empower the next generation and break the barriers of homelessness.

Players expressed finding confidence through street soccer Seattle and now being able to use that to meet new people, feel comfortable about themselves, and obtain their goals. Having something to look forward on a weekly basis that makes them happy and encourages through phases of homelessness, loneliness, and depression was also shared as the result of Street Soccer Seattle. Furthermore, Street Soccer Seattle has given our players a place for community and opportunity to get to know players in the same situation as them.

The conversations were very motivating to the players themselves and to our organization and the ability to impact their lives through soccer. 

At the beginning of the tournament, the team set goals to keep each other motivated, be positive, meet and get to know each other and use this opportunity to keep momentum for SSS building. As with any goal in life, these were not easy to accomplish throughout the weekend, but our players consciously worked hard day in and day out to meet these goals and we are very proud of each of them.

Robert Take the Space

Excitingly, Robert received the SSUSA Take the Space award. This award is given to a player who took control of his or her goals and jumped on every opportunity to progress forward, with a committed and driven mentality. Robert stood out amongst all the players around the country due to his determination and productive actions to over come obstacles in the past months and earn his spot on the Street Soccer Seattle team and in a housing program. Stay tuned for a post-tournament interview with Robert to hear more about his journey!

SSUSA National Team 2016

Additionally, Ryan was selected as an alternate for the SSUSA National Cup team that will compete at the Homeless World Cup in Glasgow, Scotland. Ryan’s un wavering commitment to his job at PCC, his progress to live independently, and hid drive to increase his responsibilities at PCC and further his education make him an extremely deserving player. We are excited to watch him represent Seattle and The United States during International Duty.

Check out all the photos of our activities and feel free to drop words of encouragement to our players on our Facebook page!