Where It's All About Goals
Homeless People Find Motivation in Soccer Tournament

By Valerie Strauss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 30, 2008

At 56 years old and living in a D.C. homeless shelter, Maurice King was not the most likely candidate to be running around on a hard court under yesterday's brutal sun, chasing after a soccer ball.

But neither were the six other players on the D.C. team, nor the more than 100 other competitors from 10 other cities at this past weekend's Homeless USA Cup 2008.

"It gives us a voice and a chance to connect, be seen, be heard and be known as more than just homeless people," said Michael Jones, 21, one of King's teammates who has been homeless off and on since he was 11.

King, who since 2003 has lived at the Community for Creative Non-Violence near the Capitol, agreed. "For me, it is a positive social interaction. I hadn't played this game in 39 years when I started. It was quite a challenge to me to get back into it, but it's been fun."

The tournament was the brainchild of 30-year-old Lawrence Cann of Charlotte. Combining a love of soccer -- he played for Davidson College on scholarship -- with his work at a Charlotte homeless shelter, he founded the nonprofit Street Soccer USA based on a program flourishing in other countries. Cann raised funds, and teams sprouted in different cities.

The game is street soccer, played on a 72-by-52-foot court with four members on each side, including the goalie. It is fast and free-flowing, the kind of soccer ordinarily played in pickup games around the world, said David M. Tyahla, director of government relations for the nonprofit U.S. Soccer Foundation. Tyahla was a referee for yesterday's matches, held in the parking lot of the old D.C. Convention Center in Northwest Washington.

The theory, Cann said, is that although homeless people need to focus on their pressing daily needs, it is also important for them to set and meet longer-term goals. Doing this within the context of sports has other dimensions, including better health and team cooperation.

"They have what I call the homeless timeline of one day. We understood that. We also understood that if we had a tournament or a game to look forward to a week ahead, a month ahead, that it might motivate them to change their behavior," Cann said.

Cann, other advocates and participants say that the approach works and that most players find new motivation for living. They also say it is increasingly important to understand how to help the homeless at a time when their numbers are growing.

The most recent U.S. government figures show that there are 744,000 homeless people living on the street or in shelters across the country any given night. Michael Stoops, acting executive director of the D.C.-based nonprofit National Coalition for the Homeless, said that over the course of a year 3.5 million Americans experience homelessness. It is estimated that there are 12,000 homeless people in the District, he said.

"We're in a growth industry," he said.

Stoops said he had initial doubts about the soccer tournament. "I thought that this was a crazy idea, and that we should be working on ending homelessness and not sponsoring sports leagues for the homeless."

But he came to realize, he said, that it works to dispel stereotypes and shows homeless people as able to do more than "stand in a soup line."

The first Homeless USA Cup tournament was in 2006, and players were selected to compete in the Homeless World Cup in Scotland. Last year's World Cup in Denmark hosted nearly 500 players from 48 nations. Players will be selected from the D.C. tournament to represent the United States in December's World Cup in Australia. Yesterday, the D.C. team placed third in the third division. The Minneapolis-St. Paul team won the top division's USA Cup, and an all-star team will go on to Australia.

Some teams drove to the District; others flew. The men and women stayed in dormitories at George Washington University, and they spent time sightseeing as well as watching D.C. United play the Los Angeles Galaxy yesterday afternoon.

For many players, the trip to Washington was their first. Marcus Davis, 40, of St. Louis said he was overcome by "going to the very spot" near the Lincoln Memorial where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech.

Funding has come from various sources, including Washington businessman and philanthropist Ted Leonsis, who produced a documentary, "Kicking It," which tells the story of the Homeless World Cup. It is playing a short run at E Street Cinema in the District.

For Jones, the tournament offered a chance to connect and have fun after years of moving from place to place and abusing drugs and alcohol.

Jones is interning with Stoops's coalition this summer. He said he found his time in Washington to be life-altering, especially after seeing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and facilities at King's shelter.

"I realized I didn't have it as bad as I thought," he said.

Jones plans to return in the fall to Franklin College in Indiana, which he said he has been attending for two years while living in various places. He said he doesn't know where he will live.