“Soccer has been always important to me because it clears my head and keeps me active. It helps with stress, mental health, and gives me something positive to work toward. Playing with others builds confidence, teamwork, and a sense of community, which really matters when you’re trying to improve your life. Soccer has helped me stay focused, motivated, and connected, instead of isolated.”
– Quote from youth at CHV who plays soccer
The Beautiful Game
Sports have a way of bringing people together. And when people come together, great things can happen.
With the FIFA World Cup having just kicked off, we wanted to share a story about the ways that youth, at Covenant House Vancouver, who play soccer are benefiting from the beautiful game. Later this month, two youth will also attend a game at BC Place with their youth worker, thanks to a generous donation of tickets.
The following is a composite story based on interviews with the youth worker at Covenant House Vancouver (CHV) who brought the beautiful game to the youth we serve, a year ago.
Today, there are eight of us heading to the field, in the CHV van, to play soccer. We’re chatting and sharing stories about the highlights and mistakes from last week’s game. There’s laughter and ribbing, all in good fun, about my accidental assist to the other team, as the ball deflected off my head. I’m not sure if my face was redder from the impact or the embarrassment.
Justin, Youth Worker at CHV, is driving the van. We arrive at the field and meet up with Patrick, former Vancouver Street Soccer League (VSSL) player. He’s there every Thursday and leads the warmup, stretching, and skill-building portion of our time, and both he and Justin ref the scrimmage.
But first, we kick the ball around with the other players who are from the community. It’s a great time to build connections with the people around us. There are some older guys that often show up. They are from the VSSL and have booked time after ours, but they like to come early as part of their warmup. I’ve learned quite a bit from them as they help with skill building, as well as showing us strategies and techniques of the game.
Some of the guys get in the nets and we take shots on them. As Patrick leads us through our warmup, I look around the circle and can’t believe how far we’ve come. Our first time to the field consisted of just two of us with Justin and another youth worker.
I’m scanning our group as we warm up. I’m looking for a specific person. I used to see him at CHV and he loved soccer. He joined last year, as well. He told me that he used to play a lot and that coming out to these Thursday sessions had reignited his love for the game. So much so that he joined an urban rec team. His passion was contagious and his life seemed to really click after that. He got a job and moved out of CHV, but he still comes out nearly every Thursday to play with us. We shared Instagram handles so that we could keep in touch when we weren’t at the field.
Someone passes me the ball. The game has started. I deke around an opposing player. I see someone in the open, so I pass. He’s new to soccer; first time out. He saw us after our last game and asked if he could join us. I told him that everyone was welcome to join. He shoots on net, but a player from the other team intercepts the ball and scores on our goal. Seeing the look in his eyes, I discretely walk over and tell him that it was a good try and he shouldn’t feel bad. I then tell him about my deflection from last week and he laughs.
Despite the mistakes, I can see that many of us are better players now. Last August, we were invited to a memorial tournament. We had only been playing together for a few months at that point, but we all thought that it could be a good time.
We needed a team name and jerseys. Justin felt that it was important to incorporate the dove from the CHV logo to represent who we were. We were provided a list of possible names for the team, and we all decided on Feathered Fury. Awesome.
Justin enlisted the help of Keyvan, Peer Support Worker (and incredible artist) at CHV, to create the team’s logo which they put on our fresh, new jerseys.
There were 12 of us who committed to playing in the tournament. The van was filled with excitement and nerves, on our way to the field. Ten teams had signed up to participate. The other teams looked physically bigger, and the players were generally older.
We left everything on the field that day. We lost two games and tied one. The other teams clearly had more experience and had spent more time together, but we played hard.
Even though we didn’t win that day, the Feathered Fury won the trophy for the most spirited team.
As I reflect on this, during the van ride back after today’s scrimmage, I stare out of the window and smile. I can’t wait to play again next Thursday!