Seattle Soccer Examiner has been following the progress of Street Soccer Seattle for about a year now. We were pleased to see that they fielded a team in this year's national finals in DC.
Street Soccer USA is a national movement to give homeless soccer players a chance to compete and begin to turn their lives around.
We are excited to have the Seattle coach, Dave Nibley, share about their trip below.
by Dave Nibley, Street Soccer Seattle Head Coach
The trip started with a lot of excitement. I arrived a half hour early to pick up one of our players and he was on the sidewalk pacing because he was so excited. The team met at one of the transitional housing programs a few of our players live at to jump in one van and head to the airport together. We planned on being at the airport a few hours early so we could get through security. We have immigrants and refugees on our team so we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to deal with any issues we might have at security with these players. One of our supporters, Sherry Bernclau, brought the team four leaf clovers to wear in their shin guards for luck.
We made it through security smoothly with no problems. We did get into a little trouble though for playing a little pick-up game of soccer near our terminal. The flights went smoothly as well. We had a layover in Milwaukee where one of our players was from. He was able to see his mom and sister whom he said he hadn’t seen in about three years. That was great for him, he said it was amazing to get to see them again for a few hours.
Three Street Soccer Seattle players practice during a DC thunderstorm. (SSS photo)
In DC, we registered the team and got their gear. Nike actually donated full uniforms for every team in the tournament, 22 in all. They got shoes, socks, shorts, jerseys and polos. Most of the guys were happy with the new gear. However, one player who is loyal to Adidas was a little disappointed he had to wear Nike for the tournament, (he got over it quickly though). As we were registering the team and checking out the stadium we would be playing in, we met the team from San Francisco. They walked up to us with big smiles on their faces, shook our hands and we chatted with them for a while. San Francisco was the defending champion team from last year, and truly embodied the spirit of the tournament. The players on their team became some of our biggest supporters at the tournament. We learned a lot from them.
The next day we had our first game. Now, this was our first year as an organization, so as a coach I didn’t know how to prepare my team for this type of soccer. We played an experienced team from Sacramento who took us to school in the first game. We picked up two or three plays from that game just by watching them use the plays on us. Again though, the Sacramento players showed amazing sportsmanship to our team. We were down from the defeat, but they gave us hugs and encouraged us after the game. We were being shown early on what this tournament was all about.
Street Soccer Seattle team hangs out with the goalkeeper from the St. Louis team, in orange. (SSS photo)
After that game, we went on a roll winning five of the next six games. Our team grew closer together with each game and with each experience we had. We quickly picked up the nuances of street soccer and used them to get better each time we played. It turned out that we had been placed in the toughest group of the tournament and ended up third at the end of group play.
(Side note: That night at the opening ceremonies for the tournament, some DC United supporters started to give our team a hard time because some of our guys were wearing Sounder’s gear. I just pointed to my head and said “Roger Levesque,” and that was the end of it. Thanks Roger!)
The unique thing about Street Soccer is that there are multiple cups to play for. All skill levels have a chance to compete for a prize. Because we finished third in our group, we got the chance to play for the DC Cup. On the last day of the tournament we were to play up to three games for the cup. Our guys were excited and by this time confident because they proved they could play street soccer. After a scare by the tenacious team from Denver requiring an amazing penalty kick save by our goalie as time expired to preserve our win, we cruised in the second game against a wonderful group of guys from Chicago.
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Street Soccer Seattle in action against New York. (SSS photo)
There was a lot of anticipation for the DC Cup final. We were to play the home team, the DC Knights. This team had defeated our friends from San Francisco on opening night of the tournament. At this point San Francisco had secured their spot in the US Cup, the finals of the top tier bracket. So, we knew they could play. In the huddle before the game I told the guys, we had talked enough. They were the soccer players and it was their skills that had got them to this game. No more coaching, just playing. And play they did. With their four leaf clovers secured in their shin guards, It was their finest game. The passing was great, the goal tending was sharp. They played as a team.
Street Soccer USA is a unique organization. It attempts to create social change using the power of team sports, specifically soccer. In this tournament, the wins and losses were not as important as the support a team provides. The greatest aspects of the tournament were how much closer our team grew together and the friends we made. Each team we played became our greatest supporters through the rest of the tournament and vice versa. There was an undeniable sense of community among these men and women from street soccer programs from across the country. They knew each other’s struggles and they knew each other’s pain. And soccer, provided them the platform to come together and build a support system to help each other believe in themselves.
When our team was awarded the DC Cup at the end of our tournament, the San Francisco team ran down to the court to have their picture taken with us. Everyone in the stands cheered, and our guys were champions, together they became champions.
Visit StreetSoccerUSA.org
Comments
Great story. I didn't even know this organization existed locally or nationally until seeing this. Kudos to all involved!
Wonderful stuff, and just one reason why your column is such a treasure, David. And all my best to the other David (their coach) too!
I first heard about this program from a previous story you wrote and fell in love with the concept. I contacted David from Street Soccer Seattle to see what I could do to help out and after talking with him became very excited about getting involved. This is a great developing organization that is already making a big difference not only in the lives of it's players but in the lives of all who are involved with it. Since reading your article my family has gone out and practiced with the team, watched them play in their co-rec league and yes rushed to the airport, straight from the great win over Metapan at Qwest,to deliver 4 leaf clovers to the players for the tournament. (A big thank you to Mr. Souza in security) These are great guys and the organization is a great example of how coming together on the field can begin to change lives. I thank you for bringing Street Soccer Seattle to my attention and I encourage anyone wwho is at all touched by this story to get involved as well.
On Hulu there is a documentary about the Street Soccer World Cup, check it out: "Kicking It"
I hope this helps get the word out about this new organization. We don't think as much about the homeless as we should, especially when we are distracting ourselves through following soccer.
This is Sarah from the DC Knights. Congrats again on a great DC Cup victory! Well played, and we'll see you next year!
Thank you for the link Bonnell.
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