Bay Area
Tenderloin Street Soccer Fest 
Well done to all the youth that participated in the Tenderloin Street Soccer Fest on Saturday, April 8th in San Francisco! SSUSA-Bay Area Coaches, Volunteers, and other community leaders were truly inspired by the youths’ determination and passion and spirit for soccer, as well as respect for fair-play and sportsmanship! The festival was a tremendous demonstration of how soccer can empower communities and unite people under a common goal!
50/50 raffle with San Jose Earthquakes – raised $3,000 record
SSUSA-Bay Area was honored to be the charitable beneficiary of the San Jose Earthquakes 50/50 Raffle at Avaya Stadium. Our staff/coaches/volunteers did a great job selling tickets, and fundraised a record amount of $3,000! Thanks to all the fans for participating and supporting our programs!
San Jose Earthquakes game tickets for after school program participants
SSUSA-Bay Area was happy to provide San Jose partner, Kipp Prize Preparatory Academy after-school program participants tickets to the San Jose Earthquakes against the Seattle Sounders game last weekend. It was a dramatic finish, as SSUSA National Ambassador, Chris Wondolowski equalized with a stoppage time goal. He must’ve known we were in the crowd!
YMCA Healthy Kids Day
SSUSA-Bay Area is helping families charge into summer with the Buchanan YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day. With a day of free food, activities, educational workshops, wellness classes, music and entertainment, Street Soccer brought creative games and a mini-tournament to the Rosa Parks Elementary playground. San Francisco is working to become the healthiest city in America, and physical activity offered to all youth is a critical element of that.
Street Soccer USA Bay Area Participated in Professional Development Day at UC Berkeley
Last month, we introduced you to SSUSA-Bay Area Program Partner, UC Berkeley. This month, UC Berkely hosted a Professional Development Day that featured Street Soccer USA leading team-building activities and informing other community partners about using sports as a tool for soft skill transfer and youth development. Check out the video here!
Chicago
The Chicago SSUSA spring season is in full swing! Street Soccer Chicago has started our weekly practices and games for our adult and High School aged programs.
Our girls have had a tough season so far (2-8-1), riddled with injuries. On a positive note, our Overall average GPA is 3.1 out of 4 scales! Two of our girls (Brianna Concepion and Lesly Alvarez) also have made all-conference! With 3 games left, our ladies are finishing strong!
Click here to read about an interview the featured Players of the Month from Chicago.
Sacramento
Evan Newton, the goalie for the Sacramento Republic FC, has been helping coach our Street Soccer USA Sacramento after school soccer program at PS7 Elementary school in Oak Park for the last four weeks. We asked him some questions about his experience with the kids and SSUSA program so far. Check out the full interview here!
New York
Street Soccer Attends NY Cosmos Game
25 SSUSA New York players, parents, and coaches had the pleasure of attending a New York Cosmos game on Saturday, April 22nd. The match ended in an entertaining 1-1 draw, with both teams fighting hard to the end. Both teams showed great examples of “Playing With Heart.” It was a wonderful experience for all involved and we are happy that the Cosmos are back this season and supporting our programs at Street Soccer USA!
Street Soccer USA’s Expansion in Queens, NY Starts Out with a Bang!
75 middle school students and 15 teams from the Walter Crowley School (Intermediate School #5) in Elmhurst, Queens became the newest members of the Street Soccer Family in New York last month after participating in the inaugural “District 24 Cup” on April 1st. Thanks to support from principals and teachers at the Walter Crowley School, SSUSA successfully hosted the 5 a-side tournament which attracted over 200 people to attend on a Saturday afternoon. After 2 hours of group play, teams advanced to the knockout stage. The final winners were a group of 6th graders, who dubbed themselves the “NY Kickers”. Most of all, fun soccer, great times and loads of sportsmanship (as evidenced by many Unity Cards given out during games!) combined with free food and drinks afterward for all participants made the day a special introduction to SSUSA for a new community.
Philadelphia
Two Kensington Soccer Club players receive distinguished City of Philadelphia Youth Image Awards.
Street Soccer USA’s club affiliate partner continues to produce and develop excellent young people. We are excited to announce that Danielle Chattin,18, and Yan Carlos Corredor, 14, are recipients of the Youth Image Awards which are given annually by the City of Philadelphia’s Human Services Department to young leaders in their community. Both players also won the Parks & Rec League Championship last season with their respective teams.
Danielle plays goalie as a freshman in college at Penn State Brandywine. She also plays basketball for her college team. She has been a member of KSC teams since middle school, plays on the current U19 team, and has helped coach younger teams in the club as well. Danielle is given the award for her being an outstanding role model and supporter in her community. She helped resolve conflicts and has been 
available for her club 365 days a year.
Yan Carlos has played for Kensington Soccer Club for over three years and is currently on the club’s U14 team. He receives the award for his incredible dedication to the club. He has volunteered many hours to help coach younger players. He always gives his best effort on the field, but his dedication to the club off the field during clean-ups, projects, and other club-wide events makes this young man so worthy of receiving this award.
SSUSA Expands our network of Club Affiliates
Street Soccer USA began outreach to clubs in the City of Philadelphia with the goal of aligning our support and methodology with their need for the development of soccer clubs for children. To date, SSUSA has provided clinics, festivals, tournaments, and coaching training to benefit 600 youth across the city and several affiliations are already official. Engagement efforts included organizations such as Kensington SC, Camden Youth Soccer Club, Boys & Girls Club of Mercer County, Anderson Monarchs, Tuzos Philadelphia, West Philly Soccer Academy, AC Fairhill, RR Soccer Academy, Chester City United, to name the most involved clubs.
Mini Pitch in Kensington gets busy
Warm Up Tournaments: In preparation for the citywide Youth Cup, on June 10-11, at the Museum Steps, SSUSA will host a series of “warm-up” youth tournaments at its Kensington Mini Pitch. On two Sundays, May 21 and June 4, area youth teams will prepare their strategies and gamesmanship on the mini pitch at 3775 Jasper Street in Philadelphia in a friendly tune up for the Cup. Here are the age groups competing on each day: May 21: U10 & U12 teams | June 4: U14 & U16 teams
Street Soccer’s newest Mini Pitch in Kensington is seeing a lot of action lately. Pictured above are the Wolves, a U9 Girls team from Port Richmond. Meanwhile, Kensington Soccer Club has scheduled weekend youth leagues and mid-week training at the 4 v 4 training pitch for the next few weeks. With better weather and the quality of this new mini field, Philadelphia youth will be playing many hours thanks to Street Soccer this spring and summer.