Dec. 13, 2010
Homeless learn skills via soccer–San Antonio Express

Oct 9, 2010
L.A.’s team of homeless soccer players | L.A. NOW | Los Angeles Times

Teamwork is a goal for homeless soccer player – Los Angeles Times

September 17, 2010
Through street soccer, homeless woman earns spot on national team …Sep

August 1, 2010
Goal of homeless soccer players is to have a chance to start over–Washingtonpost.com

CNN ran a story about the Street Soccer USA organization recently, featuring an interview with Lawrence Cann, and some footage of the Charlotte, N.C. team practicing. The blue surface you see in the video is the same surface used for the Street Soccer USA tournament, in which Richmond will compete again this summer.

The video won’t embed on this blog, but click either the image above or here to open the CNN video.

In our opening game we let a 4-1 lead slip to a 4-4 draw at full time, but scored an golden goal in overtime to win 5-4.

We eventually lost 3-1 in the semi-final game to a team that went on to win the tournament.

Great effort all round. Big thanks to everyone who played, to Janet for organizing our team and to J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College for hosting the tournament.

If you are interested in helping in any capacity, great or small, we’d appreciate you coming to this meeting and spreading the word to others who may be interested. And if you can’t make it for some reason but are still interested, please email richmondstreetsoccer@gmail.com and Liana will follow up with you afterwards.

The atmosphere for the 10k was excellent (arguably Richmond at its best) and all of us were motivated to keep running by shouts of “Go Rebels!” every few feet. Three of the runners were players from the tournament in D.C. last summer: Rodney Knight, Sheron Teal and William Williams. Congratulations to everyone who was involved.

If anyone’s interested in learning more about poverty in Richmond and in Virginia as a whole, then this report from Virginia’s Poverty Reduction Taskforce contains a lot of valuable information.

If you’re too busy/lazy to read the whole thing, then here is the Cliffs Notes version:

Stats:

• More than 10% of Virginians live below the poverty level. That’s more than one in ten.
• That’s more than 750,000 Virginians, 250,000 of whom are children.
• In 2008, 13.8% of children lived in households that were below the poverty line. That’s about one in seven children.
• Government assistance reduces the number of children in extreme poverty (that is, those with income less than half of the poverty threshold) by 76 percent.
• The state unemployment rate in June 2009 was 7.3%.
• The “typical” or modal Virginian below the poverty line is a white female head of household, age 25 to 34, with less than a high school education, with children, who works. The fact that more Virginians in poverty are white than nonwhite and more are working than not working contradicts a common image of poverty.
• Nearly 80% of people below the poverty line live in urban or suburban areas.
• Over the last 40 years the inflation-adjusted earnings of less-skilled workers have not increased, so for this group there has been no rising tide to lift them above poverty.

Solutions:

• Adults with high school completion credentials are more than 50 percent less likely to live in poverty.
• Increasing educational attainment netted up to a 15 percent reduction in poverty – a reduction of approximately 100,000 persons in Virginia.
• Approximately 500,000 households participating in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program and benefited from nearly $1 billion in tax credits, or nearly $2,000 per participating household.
• The federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), as a cash refund to working families, lifts more than 25 percent of children out of poverty.
• Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are matched savings ($2 of Virginia’s Individual Development Account Program (VIDA) funds to $1 of individual funds, up to $4,000 in VIDA funds) accounts that enable low-income families to save, build assets, and enter the financial mainstream.
• The Commonwealth has one of the most restrictive unemployment insurance programs in the nation. Only
  26 percent of unemployed persons qualify, ranking Virginia 46th nationally.

- Click here to read the full Virginia Poverty Reduction Taskforce report.

If you are interested in getting involved with the Richmond Rebels soccer team, then you are welcome to attend.

The team’s story didn’t end there. The players found the tournament such a positive experience that the team decided to do three things: 1. Stay together, 2. Recruit more players and 3. Compete in the Central Virginia Soccer Association‘s Fall league.

The CVSA is a Richmond, VA based adult soccer league featuring approximately 100 different teams and 2,000 active players. Unlike the street soccer the Rebels played at the D.C. tournament, CVSA is played on full size fields for 90 minutes, with full 11-a-side teams. The only major difference between a CVSA game and a full FIFA game is that each team can make unlimited substitutions.

Of the eight Rebels that went to D.C., six were keen to continue and play in the CVSA. They were: William Williams, Rodney Knight, Sheron Teal, Jamaal Yancey, Roual Mason and Paul Bigstaff.

Several volunteers who had been involved with the team since D.C. now got the chance to play alongside the Rebels. In addition we recruited several more volunteers, all of whom proved themselves committed to the team throughout the season.

Rob Ukrop generously donated the team’s kit (and a few goals throughout the season) while the CVSA were kind enough to donate $500 for us to use towards player fees. We entered the Seventh Divion. Results were as follows:

Sep 13th – Wellesley FC 4 vs. Richmond Rebels 3
Sep 20th – Capital Ale FC II 6 vs. Richmond Rebels 1
Oct 4th – Richmond Sting 3 vs. Richmond Rebels 4
Oct 11th – Sticky Rice FC 6 vs. Richmond Rebels 0
Oct 18th – Wellesley FC 5 vs. Richmond Rebels 2
Nov 8th – Richmond Sting 7 vs. Richmond Rebels 4
Nov 14th – Advanced FC 2 vs. Richmond Rebels 1
Nov 22nd – Sticky Rice FC 4 vs. Richmond Rebels 3
Dec 12th – Richmond Rebels 4 vs. Capital Ale FC II 6

So we lost more games that we won. A lot more. But it’s still a successful season. Here are the on-field achievements, as I see them. We won a game, beating Richmond Sting 4-3 in mid-September, with Paul Bigstaff getting one of the goals. While there were two games where we suffered heavy defeats, we can also claim to have given every single team in our division at least one tough game, and won their respect in the process.

Even including the victory over Richmond Sting, the Nov 22nd game against eventual 7th Division Sticky Rice is the probably the standout result. The narrowest of 4-3 defeats. Compare that with our first game vs Sticky Rice (a 6-0 defeat) and you’ve got clear evidence of our improvement as a team. The above photo was taken by Heather directly after that game.

We also achieved one of our stated goals at the start of the season, which was to facilitate friendships within the team and encourage the original Rebels who went to D.C. to interact and get involved with the volunteer players who joined the squad in September. The Richmond Rebels players are now a genuine team.

Our off the field achievements are even more impressive. Paul left us after a few games to serve in the military. He is currently in basic training and the whole team is extremely proud of him. Jamaal found an apartment, Sheron completed a voluntary program and Rodney has applied to South Carolina State University.

There is no more CVSA soccer league until March, but the Rebels plan to stay together as a team. We’re currently looking for an indoor space where we can practice and then talk on a weekly basis, so that the players and the team as a whole can build on the progress made in 2009.

Richmond Rebels out and about in Washington D.C.

Richmond Rebels team photo, outside the George Washington University dorms.

Will Williams in goal for the Richmond Rebels.

Rodney Knight in action.

Paul Bigstaff waiting for the ball.

Jamaal Yancey being careful to stay in attack. In street soccer one player must remain in the opposition half at all times.

Jarrell Jones points to where he wants the ball.

Rodney Knight scoring against St Louis.

Jarrell and Rodney celebrate the win over St Louis.

Rodney Knight getting an autograph from a rival player.

Rodney Knight with a sign that fans made to support the Richmond Rebels.

Left to right: Jym Coleman, Paul Bigstaff, Daryl Grove. Picture taken after Paul was selected for the national team pool.

Team photo in front of the Kickers bus after returning to Richmond.

Many many more photos can be found on our Facebook page.

After last Thursday’s front page story about the Rebels, the Richmond Times Dispatch followed up with a report in their Metro section yesterday, highlighting the team’s success in Washington D.C.

There was also a follow up story published online, celebrating Paul Bigstaff’s selection for the national team pool.

We want to thank the RTD for taking the time to research and report the story in some depth, and for recognizing the players’ achievements.