Every Tuesday and Friday around 7 pm youth off all different cultures including African, Saudi Arabian, Native American, Mexican, and Cacuasian meet up under Washington street bridge. There are a few baskebtall courts under the bridge, around 2nd street, but that’s not what they’re there to play. They are there to play futsal or when played on the streets sometimes is commonly referred to as street soccer. It’s played on a smaller field than a normal soccer field. Usually around the size of a basketball field, and the ball and the goals are smaller. The ball is less than half the size of a normal soccer ball and is denser and less inflated. The goals are about 2 feet high and 3 feet wide. Also there are no goalies. Street soccer is less about long runs and hard tackles, and more about quick passing and emphasizes indivual abilities and footskills. There are 4 people on each side. When the youth meet up under Washington street bridge, they get in teams of 4 and play first to 3 goals. When one teams scored 3 goals the losing team steps off and the next team in line steps on.

You can find soccer and futsal courts all around in Central American, South American, and some European Countries. You don’t find many in the U.S. though. The goals are not a normal part of the park. One of the regulars, Grant, made the goals out of metal tubing, wire fencing, and a weave of plastic rope. The goals are kept at his house and he brings them out every Tuesday and Friday. Many like Chris Fischer would like some permanent goals set up at the park so it could be an offical futsal court. They thought about leaving the goals chained up somewhere in the area but they worried about them being stolen, damaged, or removed by the government since they don’t have permission. Chris said, “Yea It’d be great if we could get the city to make this a futsal court for us. It would get tons of use. I don’t really know how to go about it though.”

Washington street bridge is an ideal place for futsal. JB Webber, a regular player says, “This area is great to play because it’s covered from rain, and there are lights so we can play at night, which is good because many of us have to work.” There is also graffiti on all of the bridge support beams surrounding the courts and a number of homeless people which have made the area their residence. It gives the location a real authentic street feel fitting for futsal.

Many are content with things the way they are now, but some like Chris seem pretty enthusiastic about approaching the city for some help. Some feel like it would be a waste of time and the city isn’t going to do anything for them. If they pursue a change it will be interesting to see what happens.

Yep, went up to creating Feedback Form this evening. Wheeww…
I find the instructions in www.thesitewizard.com is as clear as the sky, that I must give credit to the author for helping me learn (in a crashcourse, hehe…) on how to create a website.
But m continuing tomorrow, as my mind is in a jumble now.

Nites … cant wait for tomorow evening tho, as I hav street soccer game with my team =D

Oh..feel free to click at the link below, i find it VERY useful!! Quite a lot of topics covered on website making.

<!– THESITEWIZARD.COM LINK CODE STARTS HERE –>
<a href=”http://www.thesitewizard.com/” target=”_top”>
<img src=”http://www.thesitewizard.com/images/tsw88×31tut.gif” border=”0″ alt=”Free Tutorials on Site Design, Promotion, Revenue and Programming at thesitewizard.com” width=”88″ height=”31″ /></a>
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International Friendly

Local side push National side

Republic squeeze past Portlaoise outfit

Rep. of Ireland Street Football 2 ‘Chelsea’ 0

The reward for Chelsea’s victory in the Laois Street League play-off decider was a chance to pit their wits against the International street football side. Undaunted by this task Chelsea started brightly with a searing Michael Dwane break ending with the Portlaoise Celtic player’s shot being saved. The Republic of Ireland countered immediately and the impressive Mark O’ Neill curled his shot onto a Chelsea post. The local side were able to somehow scramble the ball to safety. Chelsea then broke clear but neat linkup play between Ross Moylan and Brendan LaCumber saw LaCumber’s shot smothered eventually. Having had the lion’s share of possession the national side then broke through for the opening goal. Mickey Myers burst through the heart of the Chelsea defence before slotting his shot low to Rochford’s left for the game’s opener. The Chelsea custodian then saved his side just moments before the break when pulling off a marvellous stop to deny Derek Daly.

Trailing by a single goal Chelsea began the second period in bright fashion. A neat move involving Brian Farrell and James LaCumber had their International opponents scrambling to clear. The Republic’s players were only too glad to concede a corner as Chelsea ranged forward for an equaliser. Having soaked up all that pressure from the Laois side the full Irish side then countered to deadly effect. A measured cross from out on the left flank then saw Colin Price steal a yard in the Chelsea area before planting his firm header past Rochford.

Undaunted the Portlaoise players kept striving to pull a goal back. A scintillating Chelsea counter-attack saw Farrell square the ball to the onrushing Moylan whose blistering shot just cleared the crossbar. The International broke swiftly at the other end but Rochford pulled off a stunning save to keep his side in the contest. Late on a flurry of Chelsea attacks saw first James LaCumber go close then saw a Moylan pile-driver tipped onto the bar and safety. A relieved International side held onto their two-goal advantage but only just at the final whistle. Michael Dwane, Brian Farrell and Mark O’ Sullivan shone brightest against their International opponents.

Rep. of Ireland: Trevor Owens; Matthew Cullen, Colin Price, Derek Daly, Mickey Myers, Mark O’ Neill, Dean Dunne,Jimmy Bell

Chelsea: Colin Rochford; Mark O’ Sullivan, Eugene LaCumber, James LaCumber, Brendan LaCumber, James Ryan, Ross Moylan, Michael Dwane, Ciaran Daly, Brian Farrell.

After last Thursday’s front page story about the Rebels, the Richmond Times Dispatch followed up with a report in their Metro section yesterday, highlighting the team’s success in Washington D.C.

There was also a follow up story published online, celebrating Paul Bigstaff’s selection for the national team pool.

We want to thank the RTD for taking the time to research and report the story in some depth, and for recognizing the players’ achievements.

The Richmond Rebels played in the Street Soccer USA Cup in Washington D.C. this past weekend, from Friday 31st July to Sunday August 2nd. The players did themselves and the city of Richmond proud, and finished the tournament with a victory.

The first two games on Friday morning were tough. The pace of the game and the skill level of the opposition took everyone by surprise and the Rebels endured two demoralizing defeats to Charlottesville and Los Angeles.

But something clicked in the break after the second game. A realization that when you’re facing more talented opponents (most teams had players who’d played soccer their whole lives, while the majority of our team only began playing two months before the tournament) then teamwork, effort and organization is the answer.

And so Friday’s third and final game was excellent. We lost 3-0 to Fort Worth but the Rebels played hard, and played like a team. Will Williams was outstanding in goal and the crowd really got behind us.

First game on Saturday we were half-asleep and paid the price with a defeat to Austin, but next two games were outstanding. A 2-2 tie with Atlanta, followed by a (very) narrow 3-2 defeat to Chicago, a game we could have won had a couple of controversial refereeing decisions not gone against us.

By this point our effort and attitude had made us crowd favourites, drawing cheers, chants and singing for Richmond. Goalkeeper Will Williams earned a fan club with his aggressive distribution, which the commentators dubbed the “world famous Richmond roll-out”, Sheron Teal was a tackling machine in defence, Paul Bigstaff, Jarrell Jones and Rodney Knight all got on the scoresheet, Jamaal Yancey wouldn’t let anyone go past him, Roaul Thomas looked composed on the ball and John McDermott’s enthusiasm and organizational skills kept us all going.

Sunday we played well again but lost 3-1 to Ann Arbor, leaving us with just one final game in which to achieve our target of leaving the tournament with at least one victory. And we did it. A 3-1 win vs St Louis with two goals from Paul Bigstaff and one from Rodney Knight means we return to Richmond with a victory.

Last but not least, Paul Bigstaff was selected for the USA national team pool for the Homeless World Cup in Italy this year. He’s not definitely going yet as the pool will be narrowed down at some point, but he has an excellent chance. Paul developed game sense and confidence, and had (I think) five goals in the tournament. The whole team (players, coaches, volunteers, fans) are immensely proud of him.

Many more photos to follow.

Held in D.C. over the last week, Street Soccer U.S.A Cup, with a mission of soccer for social change.

With their 16-city league they aim to get homeless men, women, and youth off the streets, “scoring goals on the field, and achieving their goals in life.”

Since 2009, SSUSA is incubated under the HELP USA umbrellas of social services. In just a few years, SSUSA has grown from one program to a 16 city league of programs across the country from Los Angeles to New York. SSUSA reaches more than 20% of the chronically homeless in a given service area, and realizes a 75% success rate in effecting a positive life change such as addressing a substance abuse problem or mental health issue, securing full-time employment or moving off the street. The sense of belonging, mentorship, and structure that SSUSA programs provide can be the difference between people languishing on the street and successfully re-integrating into society. Each year SSUSA hosts the Street Soccer USA Cup, a major sports for social change event. The first took place in Charlotte 2006. This summer the event will be hosted in Washington, DC by the Ted Leonsis Foundation and the Washington Kastles.

Additionally, Street Soccer USA is the official partner of the Homeless World Cup and organizes the United States participation in the annual 48-nation Homeless World Cup.

SSUSA brought a team of homeless soccer players to the Homeless World Cup in Scotland (2005), South Africa (2006), Denmark (2007) and Melbourne (2008). SSUSA will bring a team to the Homeless World Cup in Milan, Italy in September 2009. SSUSA involved 1,000 people nationally in its programming. Of national team members, 28 of the 32 to date have moved off and stayed off the street since representing the country.

SSUSA continues to innovate and lead in the development of new solutions to poverty and homelessness through sports.

The U.S. World Cup brings 16 teams of homeless men and women from all over the country(Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Charlottesville, Chicago, Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Montgomery County, New York, Richmond, Sacramento, San Francisco, St Louis, and Washington DC, together at Washington’s Kastles Stadium, in the center of downtown D.C., for three days of celebration, encouragement, and, of course, soccer.

The finals are occurring as I write this. Check their site later today to see how the tourney went down, or to donate to the organization.

Our National Team will be named today too. The Homeless World Cup to be held in September, in Milan, Italy.

Homeless World Cup

Thursday

When we awoke, we all knew we had a hard day of us because we were in a street football tournament and had a climbing course.

The climbing course came first, with everyone taking part in it. Teams of 3 would take it in turns to climb both top as a team. I myself was part of a team of  3 people who had to do it blind folded. This took a lot of nerve and team work as we had to relay on each other more.

The street soccer was next and the group split in to 3 teams. Everyone played well and had a good time and the team showed good team work after we had a great barbecue. The Irish night followed with the Northern Irish group giving the German group wealth of information about our country. This was followed by games and dancing. After we had a group meeting and sorted out a lot of problems within the group and shared a lot of thoughts and feelings. This helped the group to grow closer.

The Richmond Rebels will travel to Washington D.C. for the Street Soccer USA tournament later this week. The team, coaches and volunteers will leave from the Daily Planet on Thursday morning, and we’ll be traveling in style on the Richmond Kickers sleeper bus (pictured).

It’s a custom made vehicle which the Kickers use to travel to away games, and the team has very kindly donated use of it for the ride to and from D.C.

The team also got to practice at the soon to be opened (and very expensive and professional looking) Ukrop Park complex in Chesterfield today, which the Kickers Pro and youth teams will soon be using. Big thanks to Rob Ukrop, Jesse Myers and everyone at the Kickers for letting us use the fields.

In this video, April Smith films J-Hock and Peter Davies of AHA MEDIA speaking about Sun Eagles, Vancouver Downtown Eastside Street Soccer team in need of support, a new coach, team managment, new members to join, food and clothing donations to the team.

This was filmed by April Smith of AHA MEDIA on a Nokia N95 mobile cameraphone. April is passionate and skilled in making Nokia films by exploring mobile media production through the camera lens of a cellphone. For a better quality version of this video, please DM April Smith @AprilFilms on Twitter.

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Sun Eagles, last year called ( Dream Catchers)  just came back from Toronto’s Homeless Street Soccer World Cup and are rebuilding again after  unsuccessfully defending their National Championship where they won Gold last year.

The team known as the Dream Catchers renamed the Sun Eagles  will now build on this defeat with an eye for recapturing the championship.

Their dream is to make the Sun Eagles soar again and bring Homeless Street Soccer World Cup to Vancouver to host!

The Richmond Rebels will be presented to the crowd at halftime of the Richmond Kickers vs Bermuda Hogges game this weekend.

The game is at U of R stadium, this Saturday, July 11th. Kick off is 7pm. Tickets are $12 adults, $7 youth (ages 3-17, free for under threes).

The Rebels will be recognized at halftime, and may also have the opportunity to play a small-sided game for the crowd. So come out to U of R stadium this Saturday and show your support for the Rebels.

Sean แช็มป์โลก street soccer ปัจจุบัน

ใครอยากสมัครสมาชิกชมรมไทยแลนด์สตรีทซอคเกอร์ไปดูได้ที่นี่นะ

เปิดรับสมาชิกชมรมสตรีทซอคเกอร์

We had our first scrimmage against an opposition team when we played Richmond City at the SCOR complex this Saturday.

Due to the impressive turnout, we split into three 7-a-side teams: Richmond Rebels (our new team name by the way!) and two separate Richmond City teams.

We played a series of five minute games between the Rebels and each Richmond City team. It was hard work since many of the Richmond City players have played together for a long time and we learned a few lesson about organization, the need for quicker passing and using substitutions effectively. But we can honestly say that we improved as the afternoon progressed, and were banging in a few goals towards the end.

Great effort from all our players, as every single player was a credit to the team. Here are a selection of photos from the event:

More pictures available via our Facebook page.

We’ve now had four practices, all of them conducted by Rob Ukrop and all of them well attended.

After each practice, lunch is provided for the players at the Daily Planet. But these lunches don’t just appear out of thin air, they’re donated by local business and individuals. So we’d like to take a moment to thank…

Islamic Center of Richmond for providing lunch at the first two practices.

Diane at Cucina (2901 Park Avenue) for providing one of the lunches last week.

Labib at Quiznos for providing the second lunch last week.

We’re extremely grateful to these three organizations and individuals as without their generosity we couldn’t provide food for our players.

futbol en las calles

As a kid , You are always answering this question to those around you.

“What are you gonna be when u grow up??”.

My instant thought and answer to this question was to be a soccer player and at that time i was only 5 years old.

It was 1982 and I was 3 years old, growing up in Mexico where it lives, breeds and eats futbol.

That year the World Cup was held in Spain and I remember watching my first ‘partido de futbol’ Argentina vs Brasil.

I was literally standing inches away from the TV, totally captivated by one player on the field wearing the number 10 jersey while my family members including my dad and uncles were begging me to move so they could also watch the game. One thing i didnt really pay attention to.

Suddenly the ref pulls out a red card and my hero was sent off from the game and i wondered .

As he walked off the field i heard the name “Maradona” , That was his name.

From that moment I found an unexplainable passion towards the ball and started kicking and playing by myself inside the house . In the backyard . On the streets and wherever I went, there I was glued to my soccer ball.

Kindergarden and preschool to me was about identifying with somebody who wanted to play as bad as I wanted to and it wasn’t a success so I ended up playing alone by myself in the yard, which categorized me as the lonely kid with no friends…

Kids at that age when i was growing up were usually into other things like coloring , drawing , playing marbles , cars  and cartoons or other things but the game of Soccer. Most of the kids who were as close as passionate as me about the game were all years older than me and it was not easy to earn your way in their circle.

To be continued…

We had great weather and an even better turnout at the Kick-Off event on Saturday.

Big thanks to all the organizations that helped out:

YMCA for the tables and t-shirts
Fan Free Clinic for providing free blood pressure check-ups
The Roc for their support
Run Richmond for the generous shoe donation
Islamic Center of Richmond for providing water and food.

Our thanks also to Deborah Harris of Virginia Department of Health (Family Health Services) and Ravi from the Hindu Congregation for providing snacks and water, and Rebecca Bynam of Virginia Department of Health (Human Resources) for providing coolers and tents.

And of course our thanks go out to all the volunteers and members of the public who came along to get involved and get more information.

Eighteen potential players (including returning 2008 players Jimmy and Jamal) signed up and committed to attending our first practice, which is a very encouraging start. First practice is today, 12:30 pm at Bryan Park, with Richmond Kickers assistant coach Jesse Myers.

Above is a copy of the flyer we’ve been distributing to various organizations and individuals as part of our efforts to recruit potential players and spread the word about our Kick-Off Event .

Obviously our project is about individuals and not just statistics. But for people like myself who have a limited understanding of homelessness in Richmond, statistics can be very informative.

The organization Homeward conducted a demographic survey of 692 homeless individuals in January 2009. Here are the results:

• 73.8% of adults are males, 25.9% are females, and .3% are transgendered. Most homeless persons are single, never married adults (56.4%). 6.3% are married, and 43.6% of people experiencing homelessness are or have been in families, including those who are married, as well as those who are separated, widowed, or divorced.
• 10.9% of homeless persons have children living with them.
• A majority of persons report that they are African-American (67.7%), followed by White (26.3%). 4.4% indicated that they are Hispanic.
• The average age for adults is 44.4 years.
• 52.7% have a high school education or GED. 22.3% attended some college, and 8.7% have a college degree or higher.
• 17.8% are veterans.
• The majority (73.0%) served some time in jail and/or prison. Out of all individuals surveyed (including those who have not served time in jail and/or prison), 43.2% reported serving time in jail, 7.5% reported serving time in prison, and 22.3% indicated that they had served time in both jail and prison.
• 26.4% have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime. Of those experiencing domestic violence, 5.8% had experienced it in the past month, and 35.5% had experienced it in the past year.
• 45.7% report having a problem with alcohol sometime in their lifetime. Of those reporting a problem with alcohol, 78.1% are currently in recovery.
• 51.5% report having a problem with substance abuse sometime in their lifetime. Of those reporting a problem, 76.9% are currently in recovery.
• 30.7% report having a mental health problem sometime in their lifetime. Of these, 69.7% are currently being treated and 64.1% are taking medication for mental health problems.
• 26.7% report having a long-term disability.
• 25.2% are employed. Of those who are employed, 41.2% work full-time, 32.4% work part-time, and 26.4% do day labor or temp work.
• 50.0% of respondents have lived in Greater Richmond for 5 years or more; 35.4% have lived in the area for 17 years or more.
• Most (52.6%) reported having their last housing in Richmond. Others indicated previous housing in Henrico (9.1%), Chesterfield (7.4%), and Hanover (3.1%). 17.6% of respondents last lived elsewhere in Virginia, and 9.6% lived in other states.
• In the past three years, most homeless persons have been homeless once (62.9%) or twice (20.9%); 16.2% have been homeless three or more times during this time period.
• A little more than half (51.4%) of homeless persons have been homeless for 5 months or less.

The original document can be found in PDF format here.

Para los que nos sorprendíamos con las portagayolas de Jair Benitez y los taquitos de Arboleda, he aquí la prueba de que el fútbol es mucho mas…

Amen..

So, why are we forming a street soccer team in Richmond?

Liana Kleeman of ConnectNetwork is coordinating the project. She explained its goals to me.

“The team doesn’t exist just so homeless individuals can play soccer,” she said. “It’s more about raising community awareness of the worth of Richmond’s homeless population. They can achieve great things, whether that’s financial independence, employment, staying substance-free and so on.

“The uniting factor of soccer and how it reaches all people, bridges sociocultural gaps, provides an outlet to attain personal empowerment and development, and a confidence that, with outreach, will hopefully spill into other areas of their lives.”

That outreach will come primarily from The Daily Planet, a non-proift that provides a wide scope of health and human welfare services to the urban poor and homeless population in the Greater Richmond area. Heather Dail is the case worker assigned to the project. She gave me an overview of exactly what the Daily Planet does:

“The Daily Planet’s involvement is mainly as a supportive service provider for the Richmond homeless community. Besides providing a space for the team to eat lunch after practices, it will also provide a space for community leaders and agency representatives to speak to the team about various services and programs that could be relevant to the homeless players.

“In general, the Daily Planet offers medical, mental health, and substance abuse services to the homeless and to the uninsured, in addition to providing the STRIVE Program (a job-readiness program) and case management services. Concrete services such as shower, laundry, and clothing closets are also available.

“In addition, the Daily Planet runs Medical Respite (a 30-day transitional shelter for homeless clients coming out of the hospital or experiencing medical issues) and Safe Haven (a transitional shelter for homeless clients experiencing mental health issues).”

ใครอยากสมัครสมาชิกชมรมไทยแลนด์สตรีทซอคเกอร์ไปดูได้ที่นี่นะ

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