November 8, 2013
Charelle EVELYN
Citizen photo by Brent Braaten
cevelyn@pgcitizen.ca
The Prince George Citizen
A pair of UNBC students are hoping a recreational outreach program will find the same success in Prince George as it has in communities across the country.
Stefan Widmer and Laureen Galbraith, two UNBC students, are bringing the Street Soccer program to Prince George
The first practice for the Prince George Street Soccer league kicks off Wednesday night at 8 p.m. in the Ron Brent elementary school gymnasium.
Street soccer takes aim at more isolated community members – such as the homeless, those with alcohol or substance abuse issues, or mental illnesses – and uses sport as a method of social inclusion.
Under the umbrella of registered charity Street Soccer Canada, grassroots programs are run in Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria, as well as in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec communities.
Northern Medical Program students Stefan Widmer and Lauren Galbraith have a mutual friend involved in Vancouver’s program and said they thought it would be a good fit for Prince George to help bridge the gap between marginalized populations and health and social services.
“Our goal is not to push or provide service for them at Street Soccer, but I think by creating relationships with someone that’s more connected to the health care side of things you might make them more comfortable asking for help when they’re ready for it and we’ve got the ability to provide them with information or contacts to get them that help they’re looking for,” said Widmer.
To start, the program will feature weekly hour-long, drop-in scrimmages at Ron Brent and then work up to more formal monthly games at the university soccer fields between the street soccer team and other community teams.
Participants who stick with the program have the opportunity to travel with the team to next May’s national tournament in Vancouver and could ultimately be selected by Street Soccer Canada to represent the country in the annual Homeless World Cup. This year’s event was held in Poznan, Poland.
“Beyond that the really practical things that people will be able to gain from this team is social inclusion, so hopefully there will be relationships that are built at these practices,” said Galbraith.
She added that the Vancouver Street Soccer program has demonstrated improvements in health outcomes, employment levels in participants and general skills such as communication and team work.
The Prince George Women’s Soccer Association has donated balls and Stride and Glide has donated a variety of pre-worn runners for participants to use during practices.
Galbraith and Widmer said they’re still looking for a grocery outlet interested in sponsoring a snack for participants as well as other funding support.
“We’ve been applying for grants but we’re kind of looking to the Prince George community to get this going, to support it, because we want it to be local,” said Galbraith.
But chief among all the start up requirements is players. Men and women aged 18 and older are welcome.
The second-year students said they have received positive feedback from the social service agencies that already work closely with the target demographic.
“Once we started talking to the community about this, it’s been great support in terms of service providers that are working with this population or are a little more familiar with their needs and what can benefit them and whether this program will fly or not,” said Widmer.
If the program does get off the ground, which Widmer and Galbraith expect to take a few weeks, if not months, they would ultimately like to see it as something handed down to each incoming Northern Medical Program cohort so it can run on a consistent basis, despite the transient nature of the students.
Anyone interested in donating to or volunteering with Prince George Street Soccer can contact Widmer and Galbraith at princegeorgestreetsoc…@gmail.com or find more information on the PG Street Soccer League Facebook page.
