¡Bienvenidos! Thank you for your interest and support. As December 2008 graduates of The Pennsylvania State University and former members of The Penn State Women's Soccer Team, we have decided to come out of our recent retirement and lace up our boots for just one more challenge. However this time around, we are met with a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity to give back to the sport which has provided us with so much.
While pursuing a B.A. in Economics and Minors in Business and Spanish, Zoey spent her four and a half years moseying through opponents' midfields. As a native of Baltimore, MD she does in fact believe in "crab cakes and football..." because "...that's what Maryland does." With a passion for food and fresh ingredients, Zoey will surely be scaling an endless amount of mango trees in search of the perfect mango to quench her midday cravings.
Hailing from the city of brotherly love, Kaleen is an avid Eagles and Phillies fan (2009 World Champs repeat, anyone?). Before receiving her B.A. in Crime, Law and Justice with Minors in Business and Sociology, Kaleen was most easily recognized around town by the incessant "E-A-G-L-E-S...Eagles!!!" chants she so frequently liked to initiate. As a proven "endless pit" for Nicaragua's traditional dish, gallopinto (rice and beans), Kaleen intends to get her fix for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The connection:
Throughout college, this blonde and brunette-haired duo somehow managed to find time between seasons to travel and study abroad in Argentina and Brazil, and absolutely fell in love with the region. After college, they took part in a volunteer service trip in Granada, Nicaragua with SWB, and (shockingly!) felt a similar connection to this Central American gem. When the opportunity arose to become the organization's first long-term interns, the lure of soccer, spanish, Latin culture and children, were too much to resist. It was as if the Soccer Without Borders' Granada Project and these two young graduates were made for one other...
"It's why we play the game. Anything is possible, anything can happen..."
- Casey Korkus
While a more recent phenomenon in the United States, soccer has been breaking down barriers in other parts of the world for many years. As the most popular sport on the planet, soccer serves as a "universal language" that brings people together, regardless of race, nationality, socioeconomic status, or gender. Whether it be the World Cup final or a Saturday morning local youth game, when the ball finally crosses the line into the goal, every fan and player recognizes that same feeling of pride...when hardwork and dedication result in victory.
Soccer Without Borders exists to make this ideal possible for youth across the world. By partnering with community-based organizations in underserved areas, SWB programs combine soccer instruction and life skills education. By using soccer as a "universal language", SWB has reached youth in Oakland, CA, Guatemala, Zambia, and Uganda to help them come to a greater understanding of their bodies, voices, minds and communities, and encourage them to make healthy choices for their futures.
We now turn to the organization's first ever exclusively female youth program based in Granada, Nicaragua to build an equally successful and sustainable site by providing the necessary resources, structures and support for local actors to continue heading the existing educational activities.
Beginning in September, we will dedicate ourselves to the Soccer Without Borders Girls Program in Nicaragua. For nine months we will reside in the town of Granada and work with our local partners to unite the amazing strides made by former volunteers and interns to establish an organized, site-specific, and most importantly sustainable, program for the administrators and female youth in the community.
To date, Granada is host to:
- The first ever girls' soccer league in the city
- SWB office space which houses pounds of donated gear and hosts daily events
- An educational/instructional program for youth coaches and and local P.E. teachers that helps establish both parties' understanding of the game and the positive impact it has on youth
- Ten Nicaraguan employees
- Saturday practices and semi-annual T.E.A.M. ('Trabajando en Equipo Aprendemos Mas' - Working as a Team We Learn More) camps run by current and former collegiate players and coaches
Your donation will make an immediate impact on the lives of the SWB Girls in Granada.
The funds we raise here will help support us as the organization's first-ever interns working abroad. Our mission is employ soccer as a tool for youth development and to continue to enrich and empower the lives of the young people who depend on the program's existence.
Your donation will help support many of our long-term goals, which include:
- Continuing to challenge the cultural conception of women in sports
- Connecting with young girls through camps, clinics, and life-skills training, to serve as proof that women can be whatever and whoever they wish to be
- Establishing T.E.A.M. camps that act as annual Spring Break services trip for U.S. college athletes
- Continuing to develop the relationship between U.S. youth and college teams, and the youth involved in the Granada project
We hope you will support our effort!
Please track our progress on our BLOG (http://swbnicaragua.blogspot.com/) and read about SWB's other success stories at http://www.soccerwithoutborders.org/index.html. ¡Gracias otra vez y saludos (Thank you again and all the best)!