Even as much of the world grinds to a halt to adjust to life during a pandemic, Street Soccer USA (SSUSA) continues to connect communities and build for the future. This week, we caught up with Lisa Wrightsman, Managing Director of our Sacramento league, while onsite at the construction ground for the first ever SSUSA park.
After participating in a pitch competition with Sacramento Venture Partners, Lisa and team were awarded a grant for the park last July. “We said to ourselves – let’s go big. Let’s just get the idea out there,” said Lisa, acknowledging that this park is an exciting culmination of challenging work.
“Last September we had the national cup in Sacramento, so there was kinda just a lot of momentum and visibility in introducing people to what SSUSA can do for communities and what this field or park will look like and how it can bring together the homeless adults we’re working with, the youth we’re working with, and also just the soccer community,” Lisa noted.
The park will serve as a cornerstone for both SSUSA, and the general Sacramento community by not only hosting league games, but also employing adolescents from the neighborhood and creating financial opportunity. It’s common for SSUSA members to transition into paid positions within the nonprofit, and Lisa herself started out as a participant years ago.
While SSUSA is about valuing the game, Lisa wants to highlight that “the park is really a culmination of our work in Sacramento,” because it’s about building trust in the community that will then allow them to provide the resources to guide folks.
When asked about why SSUSA is different from other nonprofits, Lisa explained that “what soccer allows us to do is deeply build relationships with very hard to reach communities or individuals…there’s really an endless amount of participation on their end, there’s no timing out of soccer.” For as long as they want to be involved, SSUSA is open to them.
The new SSUSA park in Sacramento should be up and running within the month, and serving about 200 people a day. Between the park construction, and the continuation of virtual practices and check-ins, the SS Sacramento community is remaining strong during this time.
Lisa said it best, in that: “Soccer is our way of connection but not how we sustain the relationships…we’ve found other ways to show up…while we all love soccer, it’s really about connecting and having positive people on your team and in your corner so you’re not feeling alone.”
Congrats to SS Sacramento on their exciting work, and stay tuned for an official park launch date!
