Ebony Wright of Street Soccer 945 makes USA National Team for Homeless World Cup

Link the video of Ebony here:
http://www.wsoctv.com/family-spotlight/20402517/detail.html

Program Uses Sports To Turn Lives Around

Posted: 5:02 pm EDT August 14, 2009
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- To an outsider it might look like just a few friends playing around, but to 21-year-old Ebony Wright it's become like family, and a link to her future.

“I ended up on the streets because of one of my exes. I had no job, no money, and didn't have a place to go. Didn't know charlotte that well, so I got stuck out here,” she said.
Wright now lives in an abandoned apartment, but through the Urban Ministry Center she joined Street Soccer USA, a program that uses sports to end homelessness.
“Since I've joined, I have a job. I'm getting ready to get my own place. Soccer has been awesome to me. It's cool. I love it!” she exclaimed.
Wright just competed with the Charlotte team in Washington, D.C., and was the only woman selected to join the U.S. national team headed to compete in the Homeless World Cup next month in Italy.

Program director Rob Cann said for the players he's coach and counselor.

“With Ebony, she was lost and she didn't know what she was going to do. We took her love and passion for sports and we harnessed that,” he said.

“He is a big mentor for me with soccer because I'm glad, because if I didn't know him, I don't know where I would be right now,” Wright said.

Using teamwork, they build relationships and trust and then help players set goals, such as complete their education and find jobs and housing.
Wright said it's helping her win not only in soccer but in life.
“It's game time. I got to get ready for it. I got to get ready -- I am ready for it!” she said.

Wright competes in the Homeless World Cup in Milan, Italy, next month.
Street Soccer USA was founded in Charlotte and now has 15 other sites across the country.

For more, visit http://www.streetsoccerusa.org/

www.urbanministrycenter.org and www.streetsoccer945.org

Skirt Magazine!

SKIRT MAGAZINE- AUGUST 2009
http://charlotte.skirt.com/node/56312

He's So Original
Rob Cann gets his kicks.
By Aleigh, Wednesday, July, 29, 2009 1 comments

Photo by Deborah Triplett

Rob works with Charlotte’s homeless community as the director of Street Soccer 945, Charlotte’s co-ed homeless soccer team, which was the first of its kind in the United States. Created in 2005 through the Urban Ministry Center, the program offers our local homeless population a way to build self-confidence and camaraderie, and each player has to work with Rob to develop three-, six-, and twelve-month goals.

In its first year, the team traveled abroad to compete in the Homeless World Cup, and although they lost every match, they snagged the fair play trophy—a very proud moment. Now, there are 16 programs in 16 U.S. cities, and the US Cup is held every July in Washington, D.C., with the top players going on to represent the U.S. at the Homeless World Cup.

“This is meaningful to me,” says Rob. “I know we’re on to something here. Other cities have followed Charlotte’s lead. It’s something to be proud of.”

What are your favorite things about reading skirt!? “It seems like it’s unabashedly girly, but highlights women doing great, creative, positive things in the community. And girly doesn’t mean superficial.”

And wearing a skirt? “Liberating. It felt nice.”

Street Soccer USA Cup 2009: SS945 Tournament in Pictures

THE TEAM
NORI
NORI CHASING DOWN A LOOSE BALL
FORMER NATIONAL TEAM MEMBER, RAY, WITH THE CANN BROS.
OSMAN AND MAMADI LISTENING TO RAY'S PREGAME TALK
PABLO WORKING HARD IN THE DC HEAT
MISTER FIGHTING OFF A DEFENDER AND ATTACKING THE GOAL
CASPER WITH ANOTHER HUGE SAVE
PABLO BEING PABLO
MAMADI PUTTING THE MOVES ON AN AUSTIN PLAYER
MAMADI AND PABLO
INTENSE EBONY
EBONY, PICKED TO PLAY ON THE US NATIONAL TEAM
EBONY AND NORI, WINNERS OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING FEMALE PLAYER AWARD
EBONY LOOKING TO SHOOT

TEAM 945!

MAMADI WORKING HARD ON THE FIELD

CASPER, SELECTED TO THE US NATIONAL TEAM PLAYER POOL, WITH A BIG SAVE

PUMPED UP AFTER A BIG WIN

Street Soccer 945: Raod to the Street Soccer USA Cup 2009: FC Watershed

FC Watershed is a soccer team formed out of Watershed Church. Heidi Snyderburn contacted me this winter to get herself and her team involved with our progam. So on a Tuesday afternoon in February we met at Freedom Park and started playing soccer together. That soccer match then turned into a monthly meeting where sometimes we played against each other and other times we mixed together and played and sometimes we just talked and kicked the ball around together. The relationships that have formed between players has been a stablizing force for our team members and Watershed has truly reached out to us to get to know us. They have treated us as friends and as people and have gone the extra mile to invest in the lives of our team and community. The team has been super in their support recently helping field teams to scrimmage us in the 4 on 4 street soccer style that we will be playing in DC. They have prepared us well.

Pasted here are a few words from Heidi about their soccer team and their experience playing with us:

Watershed is a church where urban lives intersect the Divine, where compassion, conversation, and creativity coalesce, where relationships go beyond surface level and where ALL walks of life converge.

An expression of Watershed’s pursuit in these areas is by way of its developing relationship within the homeless community of Charlotte through the vehicle of soccer. For the past 6 months, Watershed’s soccer team, FC Watershed, has teamed up with Urban Ministry’s homeless soccer team, Street Soccer 945.

The two soccer teams have been scrimmaging and practicing together to prepare the 945team for the Street Soccer USA Cup in Washington, DC. The relationships built in these environments have, over time, morphed into mentoring opportunities and friendships. The partnership of FC Watershed and Urban Ministry’s 945 Team are setting an example to the greater Charlotte area that hope and transformation for it’s homeless community are possible and within reach.

Watershed is a part of our soccer family. Thier support makes our journey to Washington so much more special because we know that they are counting on us to make them proud. We will be thinking about you guys. Thanks for your support.

Street Soccer 945: Road to the Street Soccer USA Cup 2009- SS945 in the News!

Michelle Bailey of WBTV Charlotte covered Street Soccer 945 at our practice at the Sports Connection. Have a look!

http://tiny.cc/SSUSAcharlotte

Street Soccer 945: Road to the Street Soccer USA Cup 2009- TEAM BUILDING

This weekend Street Soccer 945 took the team away to the Tennessee mountains to work on some team building exercizes and to bond our team together before our trip to Street Soccer USA Cup 2009.
Peter Fink, super volunteer, invited the team to his family house. We departed on Saturday just in time to grill hot dogs and hamburgers and watch the sunset. The team then sat down at a family style dinner and took turns sharing with the group the best and worst parts of our week.

TEAM DINNER

COACHES PETE AND RAY

LUIS SPEAKS TO THE TEAM



Luis in particular opened up about his appreciation for having what he called "genuine friends" he has made on the team. While in living in Miami he said he had plenty of friends but the kind of friends he had to keep an eye on and this team has helped restore his faith in people and relearn to trust people and know there are good people out there he can let his guard down to.

On Sunday after a good nights rest with each player in a bed of his or her own, a luxury not many on our team know, we woke up to Pete cooking breakfast for everyone. Then we went down stairs to work together, to form a bond together for DC. Pete is pictured holding a couple of wooden boards. Each team member received a board after they told the team what they individually were going to bring to the team to help us be a cohesive unit on and off the field in DC. Some said, "never give up, not matter the score," while others said, "I am going to listen to my teammates and to coach." The players were given the boards and then they had to cross a pit of lava (the concrete deck) and get to the other side without touching the ground. The boards were their only refuge. If they were to take a hand off the board it would float away. This took communication and what we learned is that communication is not only talking, but listening and the tone in which you deliver you message can effect how your teammates receive what you have to say. You can tell by the pictures we came together and worked hard to get everyone across the pit safely.



PETE ASKS "WHY DID YOU LET GO OF THE BOARD?"



MISTER LOOKS FOR GUIDANCE

LUIS TALKS ABOUT WHAT THEY STRUGGLED WITH AT FIRST AND THEN WHAT MADE THEM WORK TOGETHER TO GET ACROSS

THEN THE COACHES HAD THEIR TURN!!








Rob, Ray, Pete and Curtis luckily made it too!

Former players now coaching for SS-945

Ray Isaac, Homeless World Cup Team 2005 and Tim Cummins, Homeless World Cup Team 2008 have moved into a coaching roll for Street Soccer 945 in Charlotte. Ray is mostly a team manager, making sure everyone is dressed in proper uniform and has a drink and a snack before the game. He also monitors substitutions by seeing who is into the game with a positive attitude and who works well together. Ray only allows positive cheering. Tim is the tactical coach, teaching skill and positioning and a loud voice calling for players to pick up a person on defense and to pass the ball. Both of these guys have set as a goal to be leaders and coaches for the Charlotte program. They both are doing it in their own way. Tim only shows up for games and is an example of someone who has moved on past the program in a healthy way. He's always dirty from a full days work he pops in and cheers the team up with his constant talking and smiles. Ray is now an employee of the Urban Ministry Center and runs the art room. He mentors young men and women who need a positive male role model. He counsels and encourages everyone and sees the best in them, but holds them to a standard of respect and teamwork. Big Cheers for these two excellent leaders and program graduates. (Ray on the left, Tim on the right in the picture)

Trinity Episcopal helps Street Soccer 945 make a "Rally Flag" to take take to the Street Soccer USA Cup 2009

The Street Soccer USA Cup 2009 is July 30-August 2, 2009 in Washington, DC. We will take 8 players from our team to represent North Carolina in the competition. One of the awards given at the event is for fair play, spirit and sportsmanship.
We have set as a team goal to try to win this award. We know that it takes focus and discipline to always keep in mind sportmanship and fair play above winning and we wanted to try to start training our minds in that way now. In our annual spring gathering with Trinity School. We proposed to the teachers and students that we make something that we could take with us to Washington to remind us of our great friends and supporters at Trinity and to remember above all to play fair and show our true spirit. We decided to make a flag. Pictured here are all the students who put their handprtints on the flag showing their support and below is Casper rubbing paint on a students hand just before she put her her mark on the flag. Look for this big flag waiving high and below it a group of a excited and proud players cheering every time Charlotte, North Carolina takes the field. A special thanks to Tachi and the Trinity parents who helped make this project happen!

Street Soccer Stars fall in Semifinals of Winter Revolution Soccer League

Our team of street soccer 945 program graduates, the "Street Soccer Stars" we call them, had an amazing season in the newly formed Revolution Athletics Soccer League. This group is great because they serve as inspiration for our players on the 945 Team and also because I, most of time, can pick up spectators at the Urban Ministry Center and then meet the team at the game. Elmer, Dave and Michael and Tim drive themselves to the game in their own cars. Wow, they have come so far!
We started out the season 0-3. The team then rebounded and won 7 games in row. We entered the playoffs as the #6 seed and faced off against the #3 seed Wings Select. Craig Holley, star of the Sundance documentary Kicking IT, played his best game of the season at marking back. Craig had the job of marking our opponents best forward, a strong and physical player with a cannon shot on both legs and a spin move that had weakened the legs of many defenders. Craig held him up and did not stab in, only when the opponent turned and showed Craig the ball did he step in and make a tackle. Craig was also not going to let him turn him and shoulder him off the ball. It looked like a center in basketball posting up his defender making a pump fake or trying to make a spin move to the basket. Time and time again Craig held him up strong won the ball and released it to our triumvirate who on this night looked like Brazilian jinga's passing back and fourth slotting easy goals in the net taking a commanding first half lead. This seemed a little too easy so Mike McGregor, Homeless World Cup 2007 team member, bicycled in our 5th goal and we were able to hold of a late surge by the Wings and advance to the semifinals by a score of 7-3.
The semifinals took place just 30 minutes after our quarterfinal victory and we started the game on our heels taking shot after shot which Craig, volunteer Curtis Gardner and Keeper Tim Cummins we able to keep them out of the net while we re-organized and got into our game. This was a beautiful game. Both teams fought hard and played fair. SBFC scored on us first when I did not pressure the ball at the top of the box, but alas I redeemed myself with a left footed shot to begin the second half. The game was back and fourth until the last 5 minutes when the game got just plain crazy. Elmer Nunez, Homeless World Cup 2007, confronted an attacking player in the middle of the field and what sounded like an explosion was a ball-to-foot contact in which Elmer won and gathered himself for a one on zero breakaway with the keeper. On this bouncy, dirt patched field, Elmer could not collect the ball where he wanted it and sprayed a shot wide of the goal. We were in shock. The next possession in what appeared to be another defensive stand for us quickly turned into a moment of chaos as the ball was turned back over and a free man at the back post was found where he put it past Tim in the only spot open...the roof of the net. We did not go down without a fight. Dave McGregor slipped and slid through defenders and found himself a small opening in which he took a toe-poke shot that clanged the post and came back into play only for the keeper to smother. We took our final push and earned a corner. The ball was played low and hard into the penalty area and bodies banged together and a deflection shot pinged right for the goal but only the keeper blocked it and fell on it. He was on top of the line and we appealed for a goal but it was not in. Our winning streak was over and we couldn’t believe it, the game was such a rush of excitement and we had come up just short. Pictured here is part of the team. Front row, SS-945 Team support Ebony, Coach Rob, Nori. Second Row Michael McGregor, Miguel, Elvis, Dave McGregor, volunteer Curtis. Not pictured Elmer Nunez, Craig Holley and Tim Cummins. The Stars will start vying for that first elusive title again on May 14th when the league re-starts. All games will be at the Queens University athletic complex off of Tyvola Road. Please check back for complete game schedule. Thanks for your support.

Street Soccer 945 Pointed in the Right Direction

Pictured here is Alex. Alex, Mamadi, Ellis, Wolf, Bianca and Kimtoya are just a few of the new team members for Street Soccer 945 in 2009. These team members along with Ebony, Nori, Casper and Osman will carry the torch for Street Soccer 945 as we set our sights on July 31st for the kickoff of Street Soccer USA Cup 2009 in Washington, DC.

Over the last several years Street Soccer 945 has transformed and grown and out of it came Street Soccer USA, the national body that organizes all of the grassroots street soccer projects across the nation. Our once former blog still carries on as the blog for reports on everything Street Soccer from east coast to west. With this new and exciting growth we were not able to post as many in depth reports on team players, practices, and events. WIth Street Soccer USA now having its own blog we have re-created our our blog for just for Charlotte. The Street Soccer 945 blog is back and we have a story to tell! Follow us through the spring, and summer as we improve our skills on the field and tackle our fiercest of challenges off the field. You will find here practice schedules, game schedules for the 945 team and our graduate team, the Street Soccer Stars. You will hear about triumphs as well as defeats on the field and in life. We will feature guest writings from players and volunteers. You will learn how each and every day our program particpants use soccer as a motivating and empowering factor in helping them face their fears and overcome them. Thank for reading and check back real soon. -ROB