This is a great article from today's New York Times. It focuses on the ups and downs of New York's Street Soccer team, one of 19 US soccer teams for the homeless. Street Soccer NY is made up of players from a homeless shelter on Ward's Island, who now play in a men's soccer league at Chelsea Piers (one of the city's premier sports-entertainment complexes). The team started shakily, as the players didn't know each other's names, let alone trust each other - and some turned up drunk... But with regular practice, donated shoes and other equipment, and a burgeoning team spirit, the team has improved. They won for the first time this week. But it's not just the winning that's important. As some of the players have testified, it's a way to feel normal, interact with others and get fit again - all of which heightens the players' ability to cope with their tough circumstances. One thing's for sure - they'll have lots of people rooting for them now! (PS - there's a nice little video on the NYT website if you go to the article there.)
Saturday, May 2, 2009
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2 comments:
What a wonderful tale! (And I'll avoid the all-to-easy puns about 'home goals') This is just great!
Is self-respect borne of affirmation by a community usually the key to helping people escape poverty and homelessness? It makes you think how, for all the aid money which is spent on charity, something very cheap (but not obvious) is one of the most effective remedies.
I'd hope projects like this could become part of a systematic approach to the problem, but this football team probably succeeded precisely because it wasn't part of a systematic approach...
Anyway, keep the good news coming!
Thanks, Diana - I'm sure that self-respect and community support are an important part of the solution to so many challenges.
And sport can be a great way to secure both those things. Personally, I think investing in community sports and recreation facilities / organizations (even at their most basic) is a pretty vital way to strengthen the fabric of any society, and is likely to be highly cost-effective. Sadly, it's seen as 'trivial' by many of those working in fields such as development/aid, education and even urban planning.
Plus, at the other end of the spectrum, you have sports entertainment - highly commericalized, with expensive ticket prices to watch games and increasingly out of reach for fans. (Anyway, that's the subject of my other occasional blog, so I won't labour the point here.) The 'somewhat formalised' nature of the homeless men's soccer teams - and related cups etc - would seem to strike a good balance.
E
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