New York
NYC Coaches Workshop
SSUSA New York staff hosted a workshop for our current coaches, new hires and volunteers on March 11 at our partner school, Cristo Rey Brooklyn High School. The four-hour training was split into two parts: one in the classroom, one in the gym. Classroom time was spent reviewing the Street Soccer curriculum and methodology, which was aided by enthusiastic participation from everyone involved. The enthusiasm carried into the gym, where coaches and volunteers were split into groups and tasked with creating practice plans for adverse situations such as “How would you structure a practice with only half of a field, for six kids, aged 14-17?” These propositions simulated realistic scenarios and allowed our coaches to be creative and think on-the-fly. SSUSA NYC received positive feedback for this first-of-its-kind workshop and is excited to host more soon.
NYC Program Open Houses
On March 16th, SSUSA NYC hosted an Open House at St. Michael’s Parish in Sunset Park, Brooklyn to kick off our spring season! SSUSA hosted over one hundred children and parents throughout the two-hour event which consisted of food from a local vendor, fun activities and enrolling youth into our Sunset Park Community Club. SSUSA was grateful and excited to have Tara Martins from Park Social Soccer on hand to distribute 50 new soccer balls to kids who enrolled in our Sunset Park program! PARK Social Soccer provides free soccer balls to those in need through the “Pass-A-Ball Project.” For more information on the project, please check out https://www.parkssc.com/
Philadelphia
Adult Program started playing in competitive Indoor League
This winter, the Street Soccer PHL Adult Team began playing in a competitive indoor adult league this winter. This was exciting for all players as the indoor team is made up of PHL Adult team players and local Volunteers. This integration of our homeless adults playing alongside regular folks produced benefits for both sides. Winning games did not come easy, but Veronica Stickelmann, the Adult team manager, said: “Overall, the experience has been fantastic. The guys all tried their very best in each game. That’s what mattered most”. Veronica and her team did manage to come out on top in one category: She found a donor who paid the league registration thus making it affordable for all members.
Chicago
The Spring Season has Begun with a STRONG Mantra
SSUSA Chicago kicked off its spring season with two weeks of training, and one week of league play resulting in the SSUSA Chicago participants all earning winning records! SSUSA Chicago’s mantra for the spring season is: START STRONG, FINISH STRONG and that lesson is being enforced both the field and classrooms.
Chicago’s high school girls season started with a 1-1 record. To adhere to their new mantra, Chicago’s top achieving girls have devoted extra effort to help others on the team to boost their GPAs. The team goal this year is to have an average GPA of 3.0 (out of 4.0 scale) while also working on the pitch to become the regional and conference champions.
SSUSA Chicago’s after-school program A.S.A.P (ages 7-14) is also starting STRONG with all participants achieving perfect attendance at school! With only one quarter left, everyone is excited and pushing to attend till the end and hopefully, earn a pizza party!
Sacramento
Sacramento Republic FC Goalie Evan Newton joins SSUSA Sacramento After School Program
Evan Newton, goalie for the Sacramento Republic FC since 2016, (previously with Oklahoma City Energy FC and the San Jose Earthquakes) has become the newest volunteer, advocate and celebrity ambassador for Street Soccer USA Sacramento. After reaching out to our organization over the winter to learn more, SSUSA matched Evan with our Sacramento After School Program. SSUSA is currently offering PS7 elementary in Oak Park, Sacramento their very first after-school soccer program so along with talented SSUSA coaches, the kids get to learn from one of city’s best!
Evan also gives of his time to the UC Davis Children’s Hospital and regularly visits children there who may be in need of some cheering up. SSUSA couldn’t be happier to have Evan volunteering with us and sharing his passion for life and game with our youth program participants!
Check out this video of Evan teaching dribbling, as well as the TV segment of Evan mentioning his volunteer work with us.
Bay Area:
Charity partner of new NASL Team, SF Deltas, invite SSUSA-Bay Area to inaugural match
SSUSA-Bay Area Tenderloin Community Club, and Adult Program-Team Change, showed up to support the SF Deltas as they kicked off their season. The game ended in a 0-0 draw, but was a thrilling start to the new pro-soccer franchise and some great exposure for SSUSA-Bay Area Program Participants.
Coaches Workshops
SSUSA-Bay Area hosted its first round of coaches workshops at its mini-pitch facilities in Margaret Hayward Playground and SSUSA Park. The purpose of the workshops was to offer our coaches an in-depth on-pitch and classroom training on how to effectively implement the SSUSA Methodology to both After-School Program and Community Club Participants.
