Street Soccer USA Global Finalist at Beyond Sport Awards
"I’ve witnessed first-hand the power sport can have on communities and to see so many people in one room talking about they can use this power for good was a humbling moment. Beyond Sport can achieve great things."
Street Soccer USA was featured in the shortlisted project for the ‘Sport for Social Inclusion Award’ at the second annual Beyond Sport Summit. Mayor Richard M. Daley opened the ceremony alongside Olympian Michael Johnson as well as Beyond Sport Ambassadors, which included; Senator Bill Bradley, Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan, Scott Blackmun, CEO of the US Olympic Committee, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, New Orleans Saints Owner Rita Benson Leblanc, NBA star Dikembe Mutombo, US Women's soccer great Julie Foudy and many others.
Chaired by Tony Blair and founded by Nick Keller, Beyond Sport hosts a global summit each year dedicated to exploring and bolstering the role of sport in social change. The Summit has allowed SSUSA to dialogue with other practitioners and academics from all over the world as well as corporate leaders and sports institutions interested in playing a role in using sport for social change.
The inclusion of Street Soccer USA in the summit reflects on the efforts of all our passionate project leads and partner organizations such as Help USA and bodes well for the expansion of our role in combating homelessness and poverty throughout the United States though the vehicle of sport. We have been truly humbled to have been included as a highlighted organization.
As the business of social sports has developed continuously over recent decades, it is very apparent that the potential for sport as a development tool for addressing the world's problems is very powerful and needs to continue its legacy. It is through hard work and the building of community that we might begin to positively change the world, one ball at a time.
Many thanks to the volunteers, players and supporters of Street Soccer USA, and a special thank you to the Beyond Sport staff for the incredible platform created which has built the vision for the work in which we are so passionately engaged.
Please visit the Beyond Sport website http://www.beyondsport.org to follow the progress of the organization as it opens a new branch here in the U.S. and hosts the second annual summit next year in Denver, Colorado.
