Ali and I and the Risse soccer kids are delighted today, a good samaritan named Kevin Smith of Sportsplex of Half Moon negotiated an agreement with me today that will give the RISSE team space and time to practice once a week for 90-minutes.
Kevin also wants to get the kids pizza and shirts. He is a good man, eager to help. We negotiated a deal in minutes.
Soccer in America has become a popular, serious- and increasingly expensive – sport, especially in suburban areas where leagues often form. The kids on the RISSE soccer team often speak about the parent-funded and very wealthy teams they play against.
The financial challenges of sports in America are revealing and sometimes chilling. To play soccer and have access to playing fields and other teams, teams must pay general fees – often up to $500 or $600.
Soccer is the hot and trendy sport, and parents spend a fortune to prepare and equip their children. The suburban teams RISSE plays against pay for warm weather practice and playing fields and then for two indoor practice sessions a week from November to March or April.
Their parents pay for each of their kids for practices fees, which run $75 a session and up. These parents take the games very seriously.
Some have personal or team training coaches, stunningly expensive custom-made soccer shoes. Soccer leagues charge steep fees for entry and tournaments, teams have expensive, custom-designed jerseys that range from $50 to $300 apiece. At games, opposing teams have several coaches, deep benches, and scores of fans and parents lined up to cheer along the sidelines.
Back home for these kids, soccer is a national sport in many of the countries refugees and immigrants come from. In the United States, it is a booming sport, mostly in the suburbs. In their home countries, soccer is often played barefoot, not in uniform and in backyards, dirt roads and grassy fields. All they need is a soccer ball, there are no fees or fancy shoes.
The Bedlam Farm Warriors had only Ali, and usually, just enough players to field a team. They do not have much in the way of training or other equipment. We did get them new uniforms, we did not have the funds or the will to get the most expensive (and that is not necessary.)
The refugee team at RISSE – the Bedlam Farm Warriors the team is now called, over my complaints, have to play mostly suburban teams if they want to compete and play soccer.
Most are new to the country and have language or other barriers. They are not the least bit daunted by the odds against them, they can’t wait to play, and they love practice.
They have none of the advantages American kids have – most of these kids have single parents who are busy working several jobs, many don’t have cars, and hardly any have extra money for the fancy sneakers, trainers. These stories are familiar to anyone who understands the refugee experience, I could be talking about my grandparents or yours.
Their parents can’t pay for the fees and charges by the large indoor stadiums where the soccer teams go in the winter to practice. Ali has been scrounging for months for spaces to practice in – colleges, high school gyms, even open fields in the winter. Ali is tireless and ingenious, he never stops scrambling to keep the soccer team practiced and equipped.
Sometimes he buys an hour (thanks to the Army of Good) for training. A few local colleges give him free space when their schedules permit. But it’s catch-as-catch-can, and the team will suffer if they can’t practice all through the harsh upstate New York winter.
Enter Kevin Smith, a good man, a patriot, a businessman and sports lover with a good soul.
I was introduced to Kevin Smith a couple of months ago after he bought the kids dinner one day for the soccer team when they came to practice. He was impressed by their camaraderie, manners and hard work.
He told Ali and me – I raised the money to pay for an indoor soccer tournament over the holidays in which the Bedlam Farm Warriors placed a surprising second against the best teams in their league. He said he wanted to help them, and thanked me for sponsoring the team. He thinks they might have a shot at winning a tournament in late February.
I knew Ali was looking for space, but it wasn’t until this morning that he called me and wondered if I couldn’t come up with the money to pay for a few practice sessions at the Sportsplex, the team’s favorite space. One thing about Ali that I earned early on – he is very shy about asking for money.
He comes from a culture where you never ask friends for money. He is afraid, he says, that I will get sick of raising money for the team and abandon them. “You and your people are the only reason we have survived,” he said, “I don’t want to ask you for too much. I’m shy…” This was hard for him to say, I could tell.
I asked Kevin what else the team might need that Ali might not have asked me for, and he told me about a big tournament coming up in late February. We agreed in a $375 entry fee – also a substantial discount, and I told Ali about it, it was a surprise. “God bless you wherever you came from,” he said. He couldn’t wait to tell the kids. It was the Army of Good, I reminded him, not me.
Kevin said he greatly admired the discipline and hard work and skill of the team.”And they are such nice, good kids,” he said.
I called Kevin up today and we negotiated quickly and easily. We started at a good place. Sometimes I have to haggle hard for the things we get for the team, this was a pleasure.
We both agreed we needed to make this happen.
I said I wanted to purchase two months worth of indoor play space for 90 minutes a week. It isn’t as much time as the suburban teams, but it would mean a great deal to the team. That space would normally cost up to $800 for two months – one session a week.
Kevin agreed to give the Warriors a generous discount. I told him I didn’t want him to be hurt financially or agree to anything that might make him uncomfortable. He said he would find time that wasn’t in so much demand. I offered $600 and he agreed. The team will practice on Saturday mornings, and Kevin said he would be open to supporting the team in other ways as well.
This is a big break for the soccer team, and for the fiercely loyal community they have formed around Ali and their team. Ali was overjoyed. Ali says the team has built discipline and connection, and kept some of the kids away from drugs and other trouble on the streets.
It has also given them a sense of pride and strength during a time when they have become political footballs for people without morals or heart. Thanks Kevin Smith, one of the best things about the work the Army Of Good is doing is that meet so many good and caring people.
The refugee and immigrant experience is a central part of the America experience and the American soul. People like Kevin let the boys know that we are generous and compassionate people, and that they are welcome here. This team needs to succeed, and I am committed to helping them, as are so many of you.
This week, I also meeting the members of the new RISSE all-girls basketball team, I hope I can be of some support to them, funds permitting. None of us in the Army Of Good are rich, the money comes in small and precious donations.
I thought it might be nice of anyone wished to thank Kevin personally for his support of the soccer team, his e-mail is [email protected].
If anyone wishes to help support the refugee fund – subsidies and program and tuition and aid funds are being slashed every day – you can donate to my post office box – Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 or via Paypal, [email protected]. The money goes to varied refugee and immigrant projects, not just the team.
It also is funding the new Monthly Grocery program, where Ali and Maria and I buy a months’ worth of groceries and deliver them to a refugee family each month. February will be our second month.
Please mark “refugee fund” on your checks. If you wish to contribute to my work with the residents of the Mansion Assisted Care facility, you use the same address, please mark the payments “Mansion,” or also “either Mansion or Refugees.” thanks.
We are off to a good start in 2018. It is better to do good that argue about what good is.