by Mike Herman | Apr 02, 2010
Summary
Our Mission: Through the sport of soccer and the resources of US Soccer, develop a new generation of leaders who excel in all aspects of life: mentally, physically, socially, spiritually, and emotionally, to ultimately help develop our community into a model of social, economic and spiritual transformation.About Us
Name
Mike HermanOrganization
Compton United Soccer ClubCountry
United States, CA, Los Angeles CountyOrganization Name
Compton United Soccer ClubOrganization Phone
310 402-2872Organization Address
415 South Pearl Ave. Compton, CA 90221Is your organization a:
Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organizationOrganization Country
United States, CA, Los Angeles CountyThe Idea
Project Name
Soccer for urban youth and leadership developmentCountry your work focuses on
United States, CA, Los Angeles CountyDescribe Your Idea
Our Mission: Through the sport of soccer and the resources of US Soccer, develop a new generation of leaders who excel in all aspects of life: mentally, physically, socially, spiritually, and emotionally, to ultimately help develop our community into a model of social, economic and spiritual transformation.Innovation
What makes your idea unique?
Why is this so important?- Everyone deserves a chance to play soccer
- The US is still the only country on the planet where soccer is a suburban sport
- US Soccer is missing immeasurable talent by not effectively plugging into the independent Latino leagues
- Soccer can be a much more significant key to race relations in America than it has been so far
- Soccer is a worldwide language and a platform for leadership and community development
- We use soccer to provide social change through our five stages of development:
- Athletic,
- Academic,
- Character, and
- Leadership Development, for the ultimate goal of
- Community Development
Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What impact have you had?
Since our inception in 2006 we have touched over 700 kids and youth with athletic, academic and leadership development via club soccer teams, leadership camps, tutoring and mentoring.The Problem
A large percentage of inner city neighborhoods play soccer/football. However in the US, Club Soccer is played in suburban communities and usually very expensive. This essentially locks out urban kids from participating in the benefits and development programming set up by the US Soccer Federation.The result is ethnic, socioeconomic and geographical disadvantage for urban youth trying to use their passion for soccer to further the soccer and education and opportunities.
Soccer can be a powerful tool for education, race-relations, economic and leadership development. However, in the US, soccer is almost exclusively about competition and winning.
We can and are changing that.
Actions
Our Programs:Compton United Soccer Club strives for excellence and innovation in bring the best in urban soccer programs to the youth of the Compton area.
Below is a listing of some of these programs:
Soccer Programs
- US Soccer Competitive Club Teams
- Youth Developmental/Recreational Teams
- Futsal Teams
- Indoor Futsal Recreational League
- * Creation of Compton United Youth Soccer Academy (currently in planning stages)
- Soccer Leadership Programs
- Academic Tutoring
- Crash Elite Leadership Mentoring Program
- Urban Soccer Leadership Academy, Compton
- Urban Soccer Collaborative National Leadership Soccer Camp
- International Youth Leadership Soccer Trips
- Community Development Programs
- Soccer field creation
- Economic development through local businesses and job creation
Results
We have and will continue to see student-players attitudes change, relationships with parents become stronger, grades remarkably improve, work ethic strengthen, commitment and dedication grow.100% of players in high school have graduated thus far.
Many of them have gone on to college.
What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.
2010Home field development- in partnership with Compton College (El Camino College- Compton Center) we are building two new soccer fields for Compton United as well as the college's men's and women's teams. This project needs to be completed 0n time to help stabilize our places to practice and play home games.
2011
We will need to develop more coaches and teams to begin to increase numbers of players to continue to build youth leaders in Compton.
2012
We need to develop our Urban Youth Soccer Leadership Academy. This formalized training program will increase skill level to help get our players to the next level in soccer, academics, athletic performance and college preparatory programming.
What would prevent your project from being a success?
Funding has been and could continue to be our largest roadblock. We serve in a community that cannot within itself sustain such programs. We rely on outside funding and grants to provide and grow our programming.How many people will your project serve annually?
101‐1000What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?
$1000 - 4000Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?
YesSustainability
What stage is your project in?
Operating for 1‐5 yearsIn what country?
United States, CA, Los Angeles CountyIs your initiative connected to an established organization?
YesIf yes, provide organization name.
Compton United Soccer ClubHow long has this organization been operating?
1‐5 yearsDoes your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?
YesDoes your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?
YesDoes your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?
YesDoes your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?
YesPlease tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.
We partner with a number of organizations such as The Salvation Army- Compton, Game Plan Academy, Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA, US Youth Soccer , etc.We have relationships with several corporate sponsors.
What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?
1. Field Development2. Board Development
2. Sponsor Relations
3. Long-term relationship agreement with Compton College
The Story
What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?
In 2006, I launched the first season of “Compton United” – an official, US Soccer sanctioned soccer club for kids in Compton and the surrounding area. Up until that point, no such thing had been available. Soccer is everywhere in our community, and the talent level is stunning, but our youth play in independent Hispanic leagues that are not involved with the traditional competitive soccer system. While our kids may have some of the best talent in the country (literally), they have no opportunities to use that talent to open any other doors for their future.
In Southern California, like most of the country, college and team scouts do their recruiting through soccer clubs. To play in a club, you have to have the funds to do so (they are incredibly expensive), a local club available to try out for, and/or the transportation to travel to a not-so-local club.
As I watched our Compton kids grow up playing soccer, I saw incredible talent but nowhere for that talent to be used to help the player build his or her future. I then began to understand the inequity of the system, how these talented soccer players where essentially held out of the opportunities that the US Soccer system offered (i.e. the big tournaments, college recruiting, national & international travel. Olympic Development Program for youth, etc.)
I became increasingly aware that something needed to be done. However, just creating a soccer team wasn’t going to be enough. We needed to build an entire program where education, tutoring, leadership development, community service, and character would all be emphasized and lived out.
Then finally, after two years of dreaming and planning and networking – the Compton United Soccer Club was born.
We started with one boys’ U17 team (17 and under), one sponsor to buy the uniforms, some borrowed equipment, and a whole pallet of donated PowerAde for us to sell.
Our family spent every weekend last fall with the team, driving all over to games and tournaments and cheering them on. By the time the season ended, the boys had won every game but one and taken the league title. The regional soccer magazine had featured us on the cover, telling the story of Compton United. Fox Sports Soccer channel had created a 5-min video on CU that was running in between shows. Most importantly we had fallen in love with 14 new teenagers and their families.
Number 10 on the team was Victor, a defender with a great work ethic and skill who led by his solid example of determination and consistency. Victor was one you could always count on in a game – when he was needed, he was there. He was a quiet kid who was well-liked, always teachable, humble, and a silent leader.
In one of the most memorable moments of the season, our team was playing in the exclusive Rancho Palos Verde against a team of wealthy kids. Unhappy that his team was getting beat by a bunch of poor Latinos from Compton, one player turned, spit on Victor, and remarked angrily, “Just remember, your parents work for my parents”.
In an amazing show of character, Victor did not retaliate, but rallied his teammates to play even harder. When we finished the game 3-2, it was our sweetest victory of the season.
Soon after that, my wife and I were out of town and received word that Victor had been tragically shot and killed.
He had been riding home from an indoor soccer game with his brother driving and his two younger brothers in the backseat. During an attempted carjacking, Victor took a bullet through his upper body while trying to protect his older brother.
He died on the way to the hospital. As you can imagine, this news was devastating to all of us.
What followed was two weeks filled with tears and sorrow but also a great sense of pride.
We witnessed the mind-numbing pain of parents who’ve had their entire family devastated by another's lust for a car. We saw the lost look in a teen’s eyes as he stood over the open casket of a lifelong friend, his hand reaching out to touch Victor’s face. And I understood a new definition of hell, as the guttural wailings of a mother who’d lost her teenage son echoed off the vaulted marble walls of a basement mausoleum.
We also witnessed amazing strength in the youth in Compton.
The week before the service they spent every day going door to door, hosting a soccer tournament, washing cars, selling tee-shirts/ and anything else they could think of to raise money so that Victor’s family could afford his funeral. One morning they headed to the high school at 7 am -- summer school was in session, so the boys went classroom to classroom, passing the hat to all the teachers and students present. They raised almost $200 that day. They spent every evening at his parent’s house attending prayer vigils. They brought his family pictures and made tee-shirts and signed and framed his soccer jersey – anything to stand with each other and surround the family with the support they needed. For the most part, they did it without parents or adults supervising them or organizing their efforts. Their creativity and initiative was profound.
Though many images are seared into my heart from that week, one stands out above the rest. Before I share, here’s a little context. Throughout the years of playing on high school and league teams, the players have ended every win with a special ritual. They circle up with arms around each other’s shoulders, locking them together, and then jump together around in a circle and they in unison call out a Spanish victory cheer. It is always a beautiful, inspiring display of solidarity and friendship, victory and celebration -- a symbol of all the good things in sports.
At the end of the burial service in the basement of the mausoleum, Victor’s older brother requested that all his friends step forward. Thirty to forty high school and college-aged guys crowded in, circled arms, and to the wails of Victor’s grieving mother and father, they did that cheer. It was absolutely electric in the corridor, as though everyone’s pain met collectively in the midst of that circle. When they finished, the boys clung to one another desperately, pouring out all their grief, weeping and laying out their broken hearts. The grief of the rest of us in the room surrounded them. This lasted for several minutes. The pain and beauty there were almost too powerful to behold – it was one of the most moving experiences of my life.
Eventually the circle begun to brake up and the boys began to file out. Everyone hugged everyone else; whether you knew the person did not matter.
In the middle to a large group hug, I said to them, “I wish everyone could see and understand that you are the youth of Compton. You all have done such an amazing job holding up each other and Victor’s family -- Compton has never been more proud.”
It’s true – they are the youth of Compton. Many from outside our community would look at their baggy clothes, brown skin, and tattoos, and make assumptions that they are hard-hearted, uncaring, dangerous, menacing kids. Those assumptions would be wrong. They are not gang-bangers or drug dealers; they are not the nameless faces of thieves or murderers. They are Frank and Juan and Jose and Luis. Yes many of them have drunk their share of alcohol and smoked some weed along the way, as many teenagers in the suburbs have. Yes they use language that I often wish they wouldn’t and most don’t understand the reality of their purpose and place in life.
But they are also caring and respectful kids who love their families, support their friends, and are a delight to those around them. They are kids that are misunderstood, under challenged and given-up on.
They are why Compton United exists.
Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.
Mike Herman is on staff with Athletes in Action and has been a youth and community developer in Compton for 15 years. He and his wife moved in to the area to help pioneer the S.A.Y. Yes! Centers for Youth Development movement which now stretches all across the US.
Mike and Tonya have two biological and four "community kids" which they also call part of their family.
How did you first hear about Changemakers?
Through another organization or companyIf through another, please provide the name of the organization or company
LA 84 FoundationThe above was taken from the Compton United Application for the Ashoka Changemakers 2010 Changing Lives Through Football Competition- http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/football
The Compton United Entry- http://www.changemakers.com/en-us/node/74131
