Building our Triangles on and Off the Soccer Pitch – San Francisco celebrates our Community with our Adult, Community Club and Company Kick Arounds!
At the beginning of July, SSUSA Bay Area’s, Team Change began hosting weekly kick-arounds. By inviting groups of individuals from different companies in San Francisco, the SSUSA Team is able to share in the beautiful game with supporters from all backgrounds. This was a new experiment to see if we could increase the opportunities of competitive play as we lead into our 2018 Summer of tournaments. It is doing something else as well.
These games days are bringing people together who would otherwise have no reason to share in community. Once a week we get to learn each other’s names, where we are from, play a game together, sweat, exercise and share in some shoutouts, high fives, and hugs after the games. We cannot help but feel there are some unintended benefits of having people come through and get a chance to see what Street Soccer is up to in a direct and personal way.
On Monday, May 23rd two of New York’s most dedicated Adult Players, Juan Carlos Bossio and Akeem Loney visited an Elementary School group that has been working with America SCORES at PS 161 in Harlem. Alongside Coach Reed, the two answered questions from a group of fifteen students about Street Soccer USA, homelessness and their lives in general. A bond was quickly formed between the young students and our Adult Players through their common love of soccer. Spirited debates broke out over which team will win the World Cup and the age-old debate of “Ronaldo or Messi?” It was an educational and inspirational afternoon for everyone involved and we look forward to visiting the class again in the near future!
NYC Board member and SSUSA Coach switches things up for the youth participants in NY!
NYC Board member and Volunteer Coach, Venanzio Ciampa, offered the players he works with in the Bronx a chance to switch it up on Saturday May 26th. Instead of the usual session which Venanzio shows up armed with energy, enthusiasm, bottled waters and sometimes cookies and pineapples for everyone, Coach V gave them the opportunity to watch the Champions league final and enjoy a delicious Italian lunch. Chaperoned by the Bronx site manager Daniel Oduro, the players hopped on the train from from the Bronx to the East Village in Manhattan at met with Coach V at Via Della Pace, the home of Lazio Club NYC. They all tried multiple dishes and shared which each other while taking in the exciting final between Real Madrid and Liverpool. Everyone enjoyed their time at the restaurant and the players all had a great new experience. On there way back to the bronx Daniel made sure to stop by some local sites like The Cube on Astor place where everyone enjoyed taking pictures and slow motion videos of them spinning the large club. It was a totally awesome experience thanks to Venanzio for treating the Bronx players to a wonderful day outside of their neighborhood and going beyond soccer.
