Street Ballers: Homeless Soccer Squads Flock to D.C.

| Print Post This | Like (0) | Comments (0)

MAURICE KING has been homeless — living and working at the Community Center for Nonviolence in downtown Washington — since a nasty divorce forced him out on the street in 2003.

A technical writer by trade, King, 56, hadn't played soccer since high school. But when a co-worker told him about D.C.'s street soccer team and asked him to play, he couldn't say no.

"I said to him, 'I'm not going to pass up the challenge,'" said King. "So, I gave it my all and went out for the team."

He is now the goalie and a captain for the D.C. team.

The Homeless World Cup is in its sixth year, and there are dozens of stories like King's. Lawrence and Rob Cann started the first U.S. program in Charlotte, N.C., in 2004. Its players have set three-, six- and 12-month goals for soccer and their lives.

"A lot of them have been shoved around from group home to group home," Lawrence said. "It's about unconditional love, bringing people in and working with them."

Jarvis "Hoover" Weaver was shoved out of foster care after he turned 18. He was fooling around on the soccer field at the Urban Ministry Center in Charlotte where the Canns work when someone told him to come out for the team.

Now, he is just two tests away from obtaining his GED, his three-month goal. This weekend, he is coming to D.C. with his team for the U.S. Trials for the Homeless World Cup. The players will stay in GW housing, go to the L.A. Galaxy-D.C. United game and vie for a spot on the U.S. team, which travels to Melbourne, Australia, in December.

"You build these relationships, and it's another pair of eyes — people are accountable to the team," Lawrence Cann said. "And it really makes the social work more effective."

» Read our interview with Ted Leonsis about the film "Kicking It," which covers the 2006 Homeless World Cup. The documentary opens June 27 at the E Street Cinema.

Photo courtesy of Street Soccer USA