Blue and White Army Posted February 8, 2008 Share Posted February 8, 2008 Vancouver homeless find solace in footie Vancouver Courier Wed 06 Feb 2008 by Sandra Thomas photo: Dan Toulgoet Today Oppenheimer Park, tomorrow the world. That's the goal new soccer fan and player Garvin Snider has in sight. Snider will play for Vancouver at a national street-soccer tournament in Calgary this August. The winner will represent Canada at this year's international Homeless World Cup of Soccer event, which takes place in Melbourne, Australia, Dec. 1 to 7. "To be honest I haven't been a true blue soccer fan, I've always been more of a hockey and baseball fan," said the 45-year-old. "But now I know I truly could be a soccer fan." The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international street-soccer tournament organized to give teams of homeless people the opportunity to represent their countries. Soccer is touted as a way to socially engage homeless people, who often live in isolation. While the international organization is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, more than 50 organizing committees have sprung up around the world. The Edinburgh headquarters partners with associations from around the world dedicated to helping the homeless. Each partner is responsible for organizing regular training sessions and an annual tournament or trials to select the team representing its nation. This is the first year players from Vancouver will try out for the national team. The organization's supporters include Nike, Manchester United soccer team and the United Nations. Male and female players are 16 years or older and have at one time been homeless. They must be participating in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program and cannot have taken part in a previous Homeless World Cup. Snider never thought he'd end up homeless. He arrived in Vancouver five years ago from Ottawa with hopes of landing work during the lead up to the Olympics. He stayed at the YMCA and became homeless when he was unable to find full-time work. Snider eventually started selling Street Corner newspapers and now works as a sales trainer for the publication. Street Corner is a street paper created as a way for homeless people to make money without panhandling. Snider now has a permanent home in a single-room accommodation hotel. "The inclusivity of the Homeless World Cup is a wonderful concept," said Snider. "And I want to play. If I was lucky enough to go to Australia I think it would be wonderful to represent my country." The first Homeless World Cup tournament brought together 17 teams in Graz, Austria, in 2003. The 5th annual event, held last summer in Copenhagen, involved 500 players from 48 nations. Prior to the world cup event, 25,000 players from around the world took part in pre-tournament training and trials. Rhonda Alvarez Licona, a program coordinator with the Helping Spirit Lodge Society, is part of the team organizing Vancouver's first street-soccer squad. The society, located on Dumfries Street, helps aboriginal families caught up in domestic violence. Players are being recruited through Helping Spirit, social service agencies, the Carnegie Community Centre, with the help of posters placed around the Downtown Eastside and by word of mouth. "Once we have the teams it'll be time to start practising and playing," said Alvarez Licona, who is also helping fundraise for the Vancouver team. "You don't have to be the best, but you can still come out and play." Alvarez Licona said the Homeless World Cup tournament, and the months of training leading up to the international event, has a track record of helping people get their lives back. Follow-up statistics provided by the organization show on average 73 per cent of players gave up drugs and alcohol, found work, went back to school or began training for a trade, found a home and reunited with their families. Some went on to become players and coaches for professional and semi-professional teams. "The impact is amazing," said Alvarez Licona. "I believe that can happen here." ----- Soccer league hits the streets Metro Vancouver By KRISTEN THOMPSON Thursday 7 February 2008 It might be a few months yet before games of catch and Frisbee are played on Vancouver’s frost-covered parks, but the cold weather isn’t keeping a new league of recreational athletes indoors — homeless soccer players. This week around 15 homeless men and women will start practising for Vancouver’s first ever Street Soccer Canada team, a league that already has teams in Montreal, Toronto and Calgary. Players, who compete in a national tournament in August, vie for a spot on team Canada, which competes at the annual Homeless World Cup, this year in Australia. Rhonda Alvarez Licona, executive director with Helping Spirit Lodge, which is recruiting the players, said the experience gives the marginalized participants a feeling of belonging. “It (offers) peer support and social inclusion,” she said. “(They) know there’s a place they can come together and belong to a community. It’s really exciting to have something to look forward to on a daily basis.” The team is being endorsed by the Vancouver Whitecaps. It raises money through fundraising and collects equipment through donations. for the homeless >> Players must be 16 or older, must have been homeless in the past two years and must be in rehab if they have drug or alcohol issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest speedmonk42 Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 How exactly do homeless people get to Australia? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue and White Army Posted February 9, 2008 Author Share Posted February 9, 2008 The team has fundraisers, collecting $20,000 to $25,000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CoachRich Posted February 9, 2008 Share Posted February 9, 2008 In Free Kick Magazine you can read about the Homeless World Cup at www.freekickmag.com as they have a PDF of their mag. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redhat Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 quote:Originally posted by Blue and White Army The team has fundraisers, collecting $20,000 to $25,000. Forgive my ignorance, but I'm sure more people like myself would be asking the same question: Wouldn't the $50,000 be put to better use by directly HELPING the homeless rather than for staging a publicity/awareness campaign aided by corporate sponsors making billions? Just wondering, before I make another contribution to another cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piltdownman Posted February 10, 2008 Share Posted February 10, 2008 Lets hope they all get capped by the Dutch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue and White Army Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 quote:Originally posted by redhat Forgive my ignorance, but I'm sure more people like myself would be asking the same question: Wouldn't the $50,000 be put to better use by directly HELPING the homeless rather than for staging a publicity/awareness campaign aided by corporate sponsors making billions? Just wondering, before I make another contribution to another cause. Good question. And yes, I suppose that's one way to look at it. The $20,000 could be put into social housing, but divided by (let's say) 10 players, that's $2,000 a head. Even if a single-occupancy residence in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver cost (let's say) as low as $200 a month, that's less than one year's rent subsidized. And with the City of Vancouver and the provincial BC government already announcing lots of funds to build new social housing, that angle already seems covered. I think the important thing is that the Homeless World Cup is an empowering event for the majority of those who participate. You've heard of the expression, "give a man a fish, and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, and he eats for a lifetime"? This isn't about financial handouts, it's about giving homeless people the emotional support, encouragement, social commradery, daily routine, and self-discipline to get meaningful employment after they participate in the Homeless World Cup. Being homeless is incredibly isolating. Human beings are by nature social animals - they need a social circle to support them when they're low. Without it, it can be nearly impossible for people to escape the cyclical trap of poverty, homeless, substance abuse, and often accompanying mental illness. The follow-up stats based upon the last five Homeless World Cups speak for themselves. 73% of players significantly change their lives by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into homes, training, jobs, repairing relationships, becoming football players and coaches. To me, that is exponentially more valuable than a welfare cheque that doesn't even cover the basic costs of living here in Vancouver. The Homeless World Cup isn't encouraging a social welfare dependency, it's about giving people low on their luck another chance to re-launch their lives, if they so choose to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue and White Army Posted February 10, 2008 Author Share Posted February 10, 2008 quote:Originally posted by CoachRich In Free Kick Magazine you can read about the Homeless World Cup at www.freekickmag.com as they have a PDF of their mag. Yes, that cover shot was set up and photographed here in Vancouver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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