80+ players, 8 towns, one game.
That's what community looks like.

In today's busy world, it is a rare gift when families and communities come together from so many different places. As a DWS alum, I was honored to be a part of the Upper Valley community on Sunday, and to have had Dartmouth's support in bringing people together under the banner of Soccer Without Borders.

For those who didn't get to visit the tent, Soccer Without Borders is a non-profit that was founded to leverage the unifying power of soccer to provide under-served youth with a toolkit for growth, inclusion, and personal success. Currently, our USA programs serve refugee, asylee, and immigrant youth ages 7-20 from 49 countries of origin. Of these, 70% are refugees.

The current refugee crisis in Europe is heartbreaking. While we are not able to welcome Syrians to our communities just yet, there are hundreds of thousands of refugees already living in the United States who have fled similarly tragic circumstances in hopes of a better future. With 1 in 122 people in the world displaced, the future health of our communities will depend upon our ability to build bridges across divides, creating pathways for newcomers to contribute. An opportunity is hiding in plain sight: the world already has a universal language, and it is soccer.  

Our model helps newcomer youth advance academically, develop personally, make healthy lifestyle choices, build social capital, and develop English language skills. To date, it has been applied in 8 U.S. cities with remarkable results, including a 95% high school graduation rate and 90% college enrollment rate for veteran programs. 

Many of the coaching strategies that were used at the start of Sunday's hour-long clinic are those that we use in our programs to build community across cultural divides. At SWB USA, an hour of programming with a trained and caring coach, tutor, English language instructor, or mentor costs between $1.50 and $3.00 per youth. Please consider "Playing it Forward" by supporting our work at the links below, either through a donation and/or by following us on social media.

Thank you again for a wonderful day and Up, Up Big Green!

Sincerely,
Mary McVeigh
Dartmouth Women's Soccer '03
Support our mission through a tax-deductible donation
Donate!
Follow us on social media
Like us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView on Instagram