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
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