that only 9 % of girls and 19 % of boys from Oakland are meeting the Center for Disease Control required 60 minutes of physical activity. This is unsurprising given the wealth and life opportunity inequities found in this region. While often lauded as free market success stories due to the recent‘ tech boom,’ both San Francisco and San Jose, for example, frequently rank as American cities with the highest household income inequality( Berube, 2018).
In this context, numerous networking relationships have proliferated between the CSSJ and local SDP groups, including Soccer Without Borders, with support from professional teams such as the Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club.
SOCCER WITHOUT BORDERS
Soccer without Borders( SWB) engages youth of color and immigrants across the nation( as well as Nicaragua and Uganda), with a major presence in East Bay communities such as Oakland and Hayward. SWB first began as summer soccer camps in 2006 and then eventually partnered with Oakland and Hayward public schools. SWB seeks to address the lack of safe spaces where youth feel empowered and have enjoyment, while promoting critical discussions about social and community issues. SWB also highlights the need to increase youths’ access to educational and employment opportunities. Founding director, Ben Gucciardi, once told the CSSJ during an interview that“ I think in the simplest fashion( our mission) is to use soccer to establish relationships with young people that kind of opens the door to so much more.” In 2024, SWB served 7757 registered youths, coming from more than 73 different countries of origin, with 48 unique langauges being spoken across SWB locations.( Soccer Without Borders Annual Report, 2024).
Youths from SWB annually visit the CSUEB campus in order to participate in an exhibition match and play alongside men’ s and women’ s varsity soccer team members( East Bay Soccer Without Borders news report). This provides youths with a view of university life in support of their higher education aspirations. These youths learn about academic institutional life and its purposes and opportunities, which is particularly beneficial for first-generation students involved in SWB. On the other hand, CSSJ scholars and students participate in annual community fundraising events involving SWB youths and their staff, such as the“ Small Goals Big Change” 5 v 5 tournament held annually at Oakland International High School.
OAKLAND ROOTS AND SOUL SPORTS CLUB
The CSSJ and SWB have both cultivated strong working relationships with the local Oakland Roots and Soul Sports Club. On the men’ s side, the Roots are a professional soccer team that competes in the USL Championship, while their women’ s team play in the USL W league. In addition to operating these two highperformance teams, the Roots and Soul are developing the first“ purpose driven” professional sports club in the US, which means they are focused on addressing social and environmental sustainability issues.
Oakland Roots and Soul staff support the CSSJ directly through voluntary leadership service, with former Chief Purpose Officer Mike Geddes and former Mental Health and Sport Performance Coach Lisa Bonta-Sumii having served on the CSSJ advisory board. Both of our organizations are jointly raising awareness about environmental sustainability and athlete mental health issues. For example, in 2022, I led a research study with other students and faculty to help develop a long-term environmental sustainability strategy for the Roots and Soul. The Roots and Soul want to become“ climate positive” in terms of the club’ s carbon emissions. The technical report based on our research study provided several recommendations to the Roots and Soul to mitigate climate change through locally-based practices. Roots and Soul leaders have also provided lectures to students in my classrooms and they have contributed expertise to CSSJ media productions such as the“ Making Moves” podcast series. In our podcasts, we have discussed a range of issues including youth soccer refereeing, the future of the Oakland Coliseum, and diversifying youth soccer coaching.
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