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Building Bridges with Her Feet

June 20, 2016 / 29:55

This episode features Mike Yusim interviewing Mary McVeigh, co-founder of Soccer Without Borders, discussing the organization's mission to support youth, especially girls and refugees, through soccer.

Mary shares her background as a former collegiate and professional soccer player and how her experiences shaped her commitment to using soccer as a tool for social change. She emphasizes the importance of soccer as a universal language that can bridge cultural and economic divides.

The conversation highlights Soccer Without Borders' initiatives in Nicaragua, particularly focusing on empowering girls through soccer and addressing the challenges they face, such as limited access to sports and education.

Mary recounts personal stories from her work in Nicaragua, including the complexities of helping young female players navigate societal expectations and obstacles. She discusses the organization's approach to providing scholarships and support to ensure girls can continue their education.

The episode concludes with Mary encouraging listeners to leverage their skills to contribute to social causes, emphasizing the need for diverse talents in nonprofit work.

TL;DR

Mary McVeigh discusses Soccer Without Borders' mission to empower youth through soccer, focusing on girls and refugees in Nicaragua.

Episode

29:55
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hi this is Mike you same I'm on the
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faculty here at the Wharton School and I
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have the privilege today of sitting down
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with Mary McVeigh who is the co-founder
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of soccer Without Borders and we're
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going to be talking next few minutes
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about that sport and Mary's building of
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a worldwide network of people who work
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with young people with women in some
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countries those who are refugees to help
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them through soccer keep their feet on
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the ground and get forward in life so
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Mary great to have you here in the
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studio thanks for having me look forward
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to our dialogue let's just start there
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maybe a little bit with you I think you
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went to Dartmouth College played soccer
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there even turn pro for a while so
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you've got a soccer career behind you
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yourself I do I've played soccer since I
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was four I still play very
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recreationally ambassador but I've just
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been very fortunate to have had the
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chance to you know have that be a part
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of my life and opportunities just kept
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kept coming I guess and I've I've built
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a network of friendships and great
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coaches that have really shaped me and
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reshaped the outcome of my life well
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that's great and most people when they
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play a collegiate sport that at that
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time in their lives when college is
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finished they are finished with the
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sport those who turn pro usually by age
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22 or 23 or they're out of the NBA or
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NFL but you've managed to keep your your
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feet in the sport so to speak even as
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you left professional playing yourself
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and in forming this organization it's
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got a great title a great name for its
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soccer without borders this really is a
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cause driven agenda here so give us the
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a little bit about the mission of your
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organization and why you got it going
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you're the co-founder so why did you do
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this
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so soccer is one of the world's few
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universal languages and that that can be
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really powerful I mean you think about a
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world cup and how many people that
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brings together how many people watch
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how many people are passionate about it
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and so the idea is how do you use that
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to influence positive change how do you
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use that to motivate kids to reach their
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potential how do you use that to build
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bridges across racial economic
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cultural religious divides and really
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bring people together and build
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something positive so that was kind of
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the idea when we set out was it was how
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do we use this sport that has has a lot
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of really important interpersonal
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lessons that you can draw on to build
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character to build skills but then also
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to build community and you know we've
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been exploring that now for 10 years and
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and wouldn't say we've got it perfectly
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right but we're doing something good and
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you know the model has been working it's
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been applied in a lot of different
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contexts and we're excited to keep
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innovating and and keep finding a way to
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use this universal language for positive
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outcomes where I know you've got an
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office in Cambridge Massachusetts that's
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where it all kind of comes from these
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days and you got four or five hundred
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volunteers around the world working with
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you on this but let's make it more
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personal
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fly with you down to Nicaragua maybe
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drive an hour outside of the capital
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there to a small town that's called
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Granada
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after the Spanish town by the same name
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different from the island of Grenada
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which has a certain history that we're
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probably mostly familiar with you're you
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arrived you probably got there by bus
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and just let's make it a start okay not
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even if I said you wish it had been a
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bus so you're you pop out of the back of
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a pickup truck and then what you know
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our goal when I first went to Grenada
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was to find a way to to give access to
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this amazing sport to girls and that's
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something that was really not done there
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was there were so many levels of boys
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soccer and boys sports particularly
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baseball and soccer that had been built
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at the time there was boys leagues from
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under ten all the way up to premier
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league professional but on the women's
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side it was it was virtually
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non-existent and there's a lot of
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cultural economic reasons why that was
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so so the first I would say the first
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memory that I have of really seeing what
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this could do is you know we started
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doing soccer clinics and schools around
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Grenada and I was joined by my friend
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and cook who's now the associate head
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coach
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Penn State and we on our way home from
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from work that day we came across a
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pickup game there were six men playing
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three versus three literally under like
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a streetlight and it was nine or ten
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o'clock at night maybe a little later
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and you couldn't resist and we couldn't
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resist so it was - two of us women and
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then our friendship a who was Nicaraguan
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who had been helping us build the
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program and so we had three we had
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enough to play and so he you know he
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asked could we could we play winner and
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they literally just looked at us and and
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laughed and yeah they had no idea that
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an cook was a Hermann Trophy finalist
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played in the WUSA she's she's amazing
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you were all-american yourself I could
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try to hold my own and so we played in
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and it was a typical style you know you
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score you stay and we won nine games in
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a row and you could see at first it was
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you know who are these women and then it
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was you know they're there they're
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joking with each other oh she beat you
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and they were embarrassed and then by
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the end it was just we were just another
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team common ground and that that was
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when I knew that you know this this
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could change people's perspective they
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didn't need to be embarrassed about
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losing to women it was just they're good
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players and they could see us that way
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really interesting point too because in
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this case you're playing against them
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but nonetheless you bridged across a
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divide by playing against them the
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common ground was the game of soccer and
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it's about getting people to see each
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other for their for who they are for
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their talents not by you know some
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stereotype or some perception of what
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their limits are and getting people
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themselves to see that to you know have
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hoping the girls see you can be anything
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you want to be you know it's not just
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what society tells you your limits are
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so merry when you are there maybe the
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next day after this game you are a
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startup that you've arrived you might
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have a few contacts there but you don't
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have a team you don't have women out
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there girls out there playing yeah so
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take us through the first couple months
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when you had literally nothing and you
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had to build something it's really about
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making contacts and figuring out who who
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are champions on the ground so it wasn't
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about us being able you know me being
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able to go home and do
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from afar it was who are people here
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that believe in the same mission so the
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one of the first things we did was a
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joined men's team since there was no
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women's team and a lot of the men on
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that team are became coaches of ours we
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also managed to find the handful of
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women that had kind of challenged
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tradition and we're playing and roped
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them in to become coaches and then
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literally went door to door or school to
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school to school inviting girls to play
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and you know you do little clinics and
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show them they think they can't play you
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you watch them go through this
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transformation of I can't do that that's
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not for me and then oh I can you know I
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can get to juggles or I can make that
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pass um and and they get hooked because
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it's something exciting it's new there's
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an adult that's interested in me and and
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my skills and I feel positive and and we
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were able to to bring girls into the
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fold that way and get something started
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that could sustain all people doing
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startups say they have some great days
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and they have some really tough ones
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so what we're one or two your setbacks
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along the way there there have been many
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I think one that stands out since we're
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talking about Nicaragua finding finding
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your own limits of what you can and
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can't do you know these the challenges
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of of poverty and of equality that
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they're very complex and you can only
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provide so many services and so many
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resources so we had this one girl yelled
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uh who lived right next to the one
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soccer field in town so she was one of
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those women she had grown up playing
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with boys and she came out to our
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practice and she was talented and you
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know we are lies lit up and saying you
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know we're not here to be professional
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players but you know this girl clearly
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has a passion for it I'm so through the
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program she ended up playing for the
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under-21 national team which was very
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disorganized at the time but you know
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existed a huge breakthrough resource but
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just the complexity of the need she had
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you know her parents were really upset
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that she made the national team it was a
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Managua meant she she couldn't do as
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many chores around the house you know
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who's gonna pick up that slack
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the the national team was paying for her
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bus fare which they would oftentimes
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steal you know if you're gonna have this
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resource why should it be used for sport
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that's crazy it was just very
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complicated health issues you know
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somebody who's coming from a background
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that that she had her nutritional needs
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hadn't been met so playing at a higher
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level could her body handle that so it
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just sort of took us down a road of you
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know can we be a school and a hospital
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and a counselor and all of these things
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you know what's the limits of what we
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can do and the answer was yes and the
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answer was was actually no you know she
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ended up not being able to to bridge
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that for her at times it took up you
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know all of our focus was on this one
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girl we realized when there were so many
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others that were in the program you
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can't you how many resources can you
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devote to one person so it was really a
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gut check of what can we do what can we
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do well what are the limits and when
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when do you need to let someone go if
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you can't meet the needs that that they
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have I think that lesson always replays
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for me it's recognizing what you can and
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can't do and making sure the things you
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do you do choose to do that you can
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sustain them and do them well you know
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it's like a lot of people getting
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anything going they've got a vision or
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where they want to go but the actual
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model of how to do it you gotta kind of
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event by doing and learning and two
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steps forward and one step back so that
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was you you ready to reference the title
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of your organization no soccer Without
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Borders so help us understand what you
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mean by Without Borders I'm you know I
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think it speaks to the universality of
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the game and it also speaks to breaking
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down barriers it's it's about how do we
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erase some barriers that that exist in
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in the world for based on different
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circumstances so one of our major focus
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areas right now is on the newcomer
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population refugees asylees immigrants
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and you know literally borders comes to
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mind when you think about that and you
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think about people who have our
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stateless have lost their home have been
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you know forced to flee war persecution
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violence and you know how can you help
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them rebuild home
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in a new place and soccer can soccer is
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a pretty powerful tool in that in that
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effort make make the connections so we
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let's take refugees and maybe Turkey
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these days or Greece or or Nicaragua
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there are a couple million people
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traveling by foot today as we speak as
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we well know and as they come into a
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team they build at least a relationship
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with the coaches and parents and so on
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but then how does this bridge into
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something bigger than soccer itself so I
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mean you you hit the nail on the head
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there the family and support of team is
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incredibly powerful and the the mentor
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mentee relationship that's formed with
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the coach but then there's there's other
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concrete skills and resources that kids
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need in order to access opportunities
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and pathways particularly in the u.s.
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you know how do you fill out a FAFSA
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form how do you do you know to take the
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SAT are you prepared for the SAT what
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sort of interview skills do you have are
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you comfortable talking you know talking
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with somebody in presenting presenting
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yourself in a way that could help get
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you a job you know these are all very
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hard skills that kids need to practice
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and coming from a number of different
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cultural backgrounds interrupted
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schooling you know they may not have had
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sort of a pathway that's very consistent
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that builds up to a job or school higher
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education so we're you know trying to
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fill in those gaps I bet one of our one
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of my peers in this work
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I just thought had a great analogy the
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other day said it's like Swiss cheese
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there's a lot of holes and they're not
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all in the same place and so you're
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trying to plug them it's not about a a
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consistent model that's going to work
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for everybody it's about the model
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that's flexible enough to identify the
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holes and provide the resources to fill
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them you know I think historically the
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US Peace Corps often sent people who
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would become coaches and developing
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areas as well and the model that you're
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doing or offering up now is not unlike I
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think what the Peace Corps has done
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historically which is to help people
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through an initial engagement in a
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sporting activity could be badminton
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could be soccer could be baseball in
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some areas
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but it's baseball plus or it's soccer
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plus let's think about the plus and how
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do you after you've got a team maybe
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even a winning team yeah how do you help
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say the girls and Nicaragua then take
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the next step and putting their future
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together
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so one thing we do is is try to identify
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what are what are the obstacles are the
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pitfalls that exist what are the
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challenges that they're gonna face you
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know in Nicaragua some of the research
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would tell you that you're twenty eight
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percent of girls are pregnant by the
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time they're 18 that's a challenge
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fifty-two percent of kids don't make it
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on to secondary school that's a
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challenge so you can identify what are
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sort of the common pitfalls and how can
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we shape our program to address this so
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one thing in Nicaragua we offer is in
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sixth grade we want to bridge that
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transition into secondary school so
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starting in sixth grade we offer we call
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half scholarships public school in
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Nicaragua is not free there's there's
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uniforms
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there's a small matriculation fee so can
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we provide that the girls come when they
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come to an activity they are at a point
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they can use those points to purchase
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school uniforms and school supplies and
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then in secondary school we offer full
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scholarships which they can actually if
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they earn it through the program
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positive participation there's an
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application that we help with they can
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actually choose any secondary school
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they want and and we pay for it
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so we're identifying that this is this
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is a period of life where they can go
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one of two directions how can we
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intervene and make sure it's a positive
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path so it's I think that's how you know
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the Peace Corps has some very concrete
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areas that they focus on and people are
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trained for and I think what we try to
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do is similarly understand the culture
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and context that we're working in and
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make sure that we shape the program to
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meet those specific needs as I think
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about the girls say who are hopefully
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heading towards high school or beyond
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and Nicaragua I'm thinking they're
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residential that are there their
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families live there when it comes to
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people on the immigrant trail they're
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often not there that long families have
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been broken up so a much more difficult
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population to work with how do you go
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about even creating a team
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that's sustainable and and able to
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repeatedly play if people are on the
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move as they often are as immigrants I
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mean that is that is a significant
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challenge so one is you want to catch
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them early and be a resource early so we
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work directly with resettlement agencies
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with schools with community partners
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that would know when people arrive you
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know that they're here and immediately
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try to get them into something positive
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so we don't have a closed door policy
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with with our teams sometimes our teams
00:16:02
can swell 245 kids over the course of a
00:16:05
season or more you know it's not what
00:16:08
people traditionally think of as a team
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but then we do you know kids want to
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play games and and in the United States
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playing games means pass cards and
00:16:18
paperwork and so bridging that you know
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how do you get a kid ready to be able to
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play on the team that's that's something
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that there's a lot of problem-solving
00:16:28
that our coaches do and it's also
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motivation for the kids they arrive they
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play in they'd get to know the community
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they immediately have access to all the
00:16:37
academic support language support but to
00:16:39
play on that team they got to stick with
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it and you know they can vote with their
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feet they can kind of control their own
00:16:45
fate in that regard I will say we had we
00:16:49
had one family that was in our program
00:16:50
in Oakland that then moved to Greeley
00:16:52
Colorado where we have another program
00:16:54
and ended up captaining our middle
00:16:57
school team and Greeley I think it would
00:17:00
be so amazing if that could happen more
00:17:02
often because families do they do move
00:17:05
and migrate in order to pursue
00:17:08
opportunities where there's jobs we are
00:17:10
seeing a huge migration to the Midwest
00:17:13
central plains
00:17:14
a Colorado program tends to be a second
00:17:17
resettlement type of city and so you do
00:17:19
start to see the differences and where
00:17:21
people move and where opportunities are
00:17:23
so married to put my words on it you've
00:17:25
got a a moment where people can be drawn
00:17:29
in for the love of the sport but with
00:17:32
that you open up opportunities and
00:17:35
channels to help them take the next step
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in life whether it's school or maybe a
00:17:38
securing unemployment or who knows maybe
00:17:41
even playing professionally for a year
00:17:42
or two thinking of it
00:17:46
way it reminds me again of organizations
00:17:49
to start out with a particular focus and
00:17:51
it works but then those who are the
00:17:54
creators are one of the two co-founders
00:17:57
you begin to think well what about
00:17:59
taking that that basic model soccer now
00:18:04
initially but why just soccer why not
00:18:07
basketball why not badminton so to use
00:18:10
the language what about the adjacencies
00:18:12
you only thought about that so far
00:18:14
you're not into that maybe you would be
00:18:16
well I was bathroom a player in high
00:18:18
school so I have a good start on that
00:18:20
too but we are part of a network of
00:18:23
several networks but one that comes to
00:18:25
mind that kind of speaks to what you're
00:18:27
talking about is called up to us sports
00:18:29
and they are a coalition of what we call
00:18:32
sport-based youth development
00:18:33
organization so organizations that are
00:18:35
that Sport Plus or that are doing more
00:18:38
than sport and it's all different kinds
00:18:41
of sports it's I can't remember the
00:18:43
number off the top of my head but it's
00:18:44
more sports than I knew existed you know
00:18:47
basketball lacrosse football golf
00:18:50
there's so many great lessons that you
00:18:52
can pull out of different sports it's
00:18:54
ray Youth Olympics just about everything
00:18:56
yeah it's just you know and each sport
00:18:58
has has different lessons that are
00:19:01
inherent yeah I really appreciate those
00:19:03
of soccer and think in terms of building
00:19:06
bridges across culture and and across
00:19:08
divides soccer is uniquely suited for
00:19:10
that I think but I can also see so much
00:19:14
value in in each and every sport and the
00:19:16
skills that it can teach thinking about
00:19:19
outcome when you look at the end of the
00:19:22
day of what you've done what would be a
00:19:24
a metric of when you've succeeded with
00:19:27
let's make that make it the team down in
00:19:29
Nicaragua how do you know when that
00:19:31
particular setting and that particular
00:19:33
investment of your time was paying off
00:19:35
you know I think measuring impact with
00:19:38
kids is is incredibly challenging for
00:19:41
the same reason that you know when
00:19:42
you're a parent you you know you're
00:19:44
planting seeds and you don't know
00:19:46
exactly what's what's gonna grow but we
00:19:48
have boiled down what we try to measure
00:19:50
into five things one is academic
00:19:52
advancement and you know are they are
00:19:55
they able to gain access to those
00:19:57
credentials that are meaningful that are
00:19:59
going to open
00:20:00
one is language development particularly
00:20:02
with newcomers can you acquire the
00:20:04
language skills you need to participate
00:20:07
in the economy and access opportunities
00:20:09
one is social capital so how well are we
00:20:11
connecting the kids to networks and and
00:20:14
safety nets I'm one is healthy
00:20:16
lifestyles which is you know being a
00:20:19
happy healthy active person who is able
00:20:23
to avoid risky behaviors and you know
00:20:27
value their body and the last one is
00:20:30
personal development which is I think a
00:20:32
little bit more abstract but we want to
00:20:34
develop happy confident competent
00:20:37
compassionate people people who are good
00:20:39
people I think too often kids have a lot
00:20:43
of external expectations that are put on
00:20:45
them you know other people define
00:20:46
success for them you know it looks like
00:20:49
pen or her it looks like that job and we
00:20:54
want to equip the kids with the skills
00:20:56
they need to reach their full potential
00:20:59
whatever that is for them and I think
00:21:02
that's for me if they're happy healthy
00:21:05
individuals who are reaching their goals
00:21:08
and and aspiring towards that that's
00:21:10
good that's good enough for me
00:21:11
scale here is your opportunity but also
00:21:14
your challenge you're active and I think
00:21:18
it's some 50 countries you've got
00:21:20
programs and Central America Africa and
00:21:22
Beyond if we think of it that way there
00:21:25
are probably a billion people out there
00:21:27
that are in need of this kind of
00:21:29
transitional moment as they leave early
00:21:31
childhood and get into later childhood
00:21:34
and then on so in terms of the number of
00:21:37
people you're reaching right now and the
00:21:39
number of young people you'd like to
00:21:41
reach ten or fifteen years out what kind
00:21:44
of skill are we looking at
00:21:46
so just to I don't want to overstate our
00:21:49
our reach right now but we we've worked
00:21:52
with kids from more than 50 countries of
00:21:54
origin but we haven't actually
00:21:56
programmed in 50 countries do I think
00:21:58
the model could be relevant to really
00:22:00
any country absolutely do we have a goal
00:22:04
of being a behemoths nonprofit not no we
00:22:11
want to make sure that
00:22:12
the model is effective that we're being
00:22:15
true to the communities where we are and
00:22:18
that we're doing the best we can to meet
00:22:20
the overwhelming need I've we get
00:22:23
approached every single week to open a
00:22:25
new program in some city I know the need
00:22:27
is there the demand is there so right
00:22:30
now we're really focused on the places
00:22:32
where we are how do we maximize that
00:22:34
infrastructure what are the next few
00:22:36
places that that really have a need that
00:22:38
we could replicate but also how do we
00:22:40
package this tool so that other people
00:22:42
like us could take it and run with it
00:22:45
and adapt it to their community we don't
00:22:48
need to be experts in every culture and
00:22:50
language across the world but I think if
00:22:53
we have a tool that works then yeah we
00:22:55
need to find a way to share it and
00:22:57
you're probably eminently eminently
00:22:59
scalable because you do depend on
00:23:01
volunteers you don't have to raise a lot
00:23:03
of money to put a field staff out there
00:23:04
and in that sense as a as volunteers are
00:23:09
your fundamental building blocks here in
00:23:11
principle 10 years out you could be
00:23:13
reaching any number of communities any
00:23:15
number of groups around the world the
00:23:20
volunteers are actually not our building
00:23:22
block anymore we do have staff
00:23:24
everywhere yes we leverage volunteers
00:23:27
for a number of different roles but it's
00:23:30
led by trained staff I mean when you're
00:23:32
working with kids I think there's a
00:23:33
really strong and necessary vetting
00:23:38
process and training process
00:23:39
particularly kids of experienced trauma
00:23:41
to make sure that the people we put in
00:23:43
the field are trained so volunteers
00:23:45
serve a very crucial supporting role but
00:23:48
tend to not be in a leading role and
00:23:50
that is a limiting factor in terms of
00:23:53
scale so what we are looking at is who
00:23:56
are the community organizations that we
00:23:59
could partner with and that are already
00:24:02
there that already have that
00:24:03
infrastructure have that leadership
00:24:05
see what they're missing like one thing
00:24:07
that a lot of organizations are missing
00:24:09
is women in in sport it's we have an
00:24:13
unbelievable supply of women athletes
00:24:16
that is incredibly uncommon around the
00:24:19
world everywhere I go it's it's men who
00:24:22
are coaching and so it's not surprising
00:24:24
that women make up less than 10
00:24:26
and of soccer players in the world's
00:24:28
global sport when they have nobody to
00:24:31
see and look to so I think there's a
00:24:33
there's some opportunity areas for
00:24:36
things that that we as an American
00:24:38
organization could export but there's
00:24:40
also a lot of work to be done here in
00:24:42
our communities here with newcomers
00:24:44
arriving and girls here who aren't
00:24:46
accessing sport in the way that they
00:24:48
could
00:24:48
thank goodness for many things including
00:24:50
title nine
00:24:52
that's probably had certain many factors
00:24:55
that contributed to women in sports but
00:24:57
title nine going way back in our history
00:24:59
part of the u.s. Civil Rights Act has
00:25:01
probably been vital for helping you now
00:25:04
have the flow of women who want to work
00:25:06
with you it was a game-changing moment
00:25:09
in into to mandate equity and is is an
00:25:12
incredible statement and you know right
00:25:15
now I'm following what's going on in
00:25:17
FIFA very closely in terms of mandating
00:25:20
not quite equity but participation by
00:25:23
women at every level you know that's
00:25:25
gonna trickle down it's gonna open doors
00:25:26
for girls in sport we're already seeing
00:25:29
it in Nicaragua but I think those who've
00:25:31
had the opportunity and that privilege
00:25:35
from my perspective have an obligation
00:25:37
to pay it forward and I think that is
00:25:40
something that really resonates with
00:25:41
women in the u.s. that you know can we
00:25:44
create an avenue that they can step up
00:25:46
and try to find a way to pay it forward
00:25:47
got a couple more personal closing
00:25:50
questions here number one what really
00:25:53
drew you into this what was the I don't
00:25:56
know triggering moment or the epiphany
00:25:58
that led you to do what you're doing um
00:26:02
I think one moment that stands out is
00:26:04
when I was coaching at Lehigh it was a
00:26:06
grad student there which is how I met
00:26:08
the founder Ben Gucci Rd he he launched
00:26:12
this out of Lehigh entrepreneurship
00:26:14
program I had the chance to travel to
00:26:16
South America to see the World Cup
00:26:18
qualifiers for South America and I had
00:26:22
never been really exposed to the
00:26:25
inequality that that can exist for women
00:26:27
elsewhere and I saw it it was empty
00:26:30
stadiums it was there was no program
00:26:32
there was coaches who were sitting in
00:26:36
the corner in the shade you know not you
00:26:38
know they were they were being punished
00:26:39
to be the women's coach and that just
00:26:42
really didn't I don't know it's just
00:26:45
stuck with me it didn't it didn't sit
00:26:47
well and you know what can I do about
00:26:49
this and then I met Ben and he had this
00:26:52
phenomenal idea to to try to address
00:26:56
some of these inequities to try to
00:26:58
really build a a microcosm of a better
00:27:01
world through soccer and you know it
00:27:04
just went from there and maybe last
00:27:08
query here as you reflect on who you are
00:27:12
now and how you became what you're doing
00:27:14
and think about the the moments that did
00:27:19
make a difference in your own life
00:27:20
course here for those who might be
00:27:24
watching this particular dialogue who
00:27:27
are thinking gee I might want to do
00:27:29
something like that yeah what advice
00:27:31
would you have for somebody who's maybe
00:27:34
involved in athletics or something
00:27:36
equivalent who would like to think about
00:27:39
working with the youth of the world to
00:27:40
help them get from point A to point B
00:27:42
the way you've been doing yeah I think
00:27:45
there's a there's a lot of ways that
00:27:47
people can get involved I think the
00:27:48
first thing they should do is is really
00:27:50
think about the skills they have and
00:27:52
what they can bring and I think one sort
00:27:55
of misconception is that passion is
00:27:57
enough that you know I like soccer or I
00:27:59
like working with kids you know there's
00:28:02
got to be a way I can help you know
00:28:03
ultimately running an organization is
00:28:05
business and and businesses need skills
00:28:08
you know we need you need marketing you
00:28:11
need an IT person you need legal help
00:28:14
you need you need skills and I think
00:28:17
that that moment when somebody says you
00:28:20
know I can connect something that I do
00:28:22
well to to a greater good
00:28:25
you know that's magical and we are very
00:28:27
fortunate to have found people who are
00:28:30
willing to help and lend their talents
00:28:32
and skills and resources to what we're
00:28:34
doing at different moments you know one
00:28:36
of my former players at Lehigh helped us
00:28:38
build a website that was prepared for
00:28:41
you know the new mobile world that the
00:28:45
fact that she would apply her talent and
00:28:47
skill for that to to this work is
00:28:49
amazing it's opened all kinds of doors
00:28:51
for us
00:28:52
I think really reckon you know dialing
00:28:54
in on what what talent you have to offer
00:28:56
and if it is coaching or teaching oh my
00:28:59
gosh you are a Saints because then
00:29:01
people who work with kids they they are
00:29:04
so undervalued and it is it is a skill
00:29:07
so if that's your skill please apply it
00:29:10
to something to an organization that's
00:29:13
doing this work but if you have other
00:29:14
skills you can that can be really useful
00:29:17
too it's great Mary thank you for your
00:29:19
great guidance on that and thank you for
00:29:21
joining a program today thank you so
00:29:23
much for having me is what an amazing
00:29:25
community and we are so excited to be a
00:29:27
part of it and it'll have you as part of
00:29:29
our community thank you very much thank
00:29:30
you
00:29:47
you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 70
    Most inspiring
  • 70
    Best concept / idea
  • 70
    Biggest cultural impact
  • 60
    Most heartwarming

Episode Highlights

  • Measuring Impact
    Measuring impact with kids is incredibly challenging; we focus on five key areas.
    “Measuring impact with kids is incredibly challenging.”
    @ 19m 35s
    June 20, 2016
  • Equipping Kids for Success
    We aim to develop happy, confident, and compassionate individuals who can reach their goals.
    “We want to equip the kids with the skills they need to reach their full potential.”
    @ 20m 54s
    June 20, 2016
  • The Importance of Title IX
    Title IX has been vital for increasing women's participation in sports and promoting equity.
    “Title IX has probably been vital for helping you now have the flow of women who want to work with you.”
    @ 24m 50s
    June 20, 2016

Episode Quotes

  • You’re planting seeds and you don’t know what’s gonna grow.
    Building Bridges with Her Feet
  • Those who’ve had the opportunity have an obligation to pay it forward.
    Building Bridges with Her Feet

Key Moments

  • Measuring Impact19:35
  • Equipping Kids20:54
  • Title IX Impact24:50
  • Paying It Forward25:35

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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