THE FOREIGN POLICY

SSVCF wants to help Earthquakes fans build and burnish the club’s brand abroad by doing charitable work through soccer in other countries. Soccer is a global sport and we want to help grow the Earthquakes' global brand. Our goal is that Earthquakes fans around the world will be known for their superior sportsmanship and, as well, their goodwill and unparalleled generosity.

Iraq
SSV’s board previously worked collaboratively with the Blue Star Moms, mothers of Iraqi servicemen who wrote home saying that we could make a contribution to the war effort by providing soccer balls for Iraqi kids. SSV’s board quickly cobbled together $1,000 and chipped in. With the support of our fellow Earthquakes fans, SSVCF hopes to build on that example by providing soccer balls and equipment and money for fields to youngsters in countries all over the planet. We have already had preliminary discussions with the non-profit Soccer Without Borders and with the Rotary Club of San Jose International Service Committee about possible collaborations to do good and build goodwill abroad through soccer.

 

South Africa
Between the scourge of AIDS, poverty, and fighting the legacy of the Bantu Education system that was implemented under Apartheid, the challenges of everyday life in South Africa are formidable. Still, the interest in soccer is there. Megan Clapp, a Peace Corps volunteer from Saratoga, California, lives in the rural village of Setagole, where she speaks Setswana and works at a couple of local schools. Last term, armed with one soccer ball from her college days, she decided to start a girls' soccer team in an area where the idea of females playing soccer seemed to the local men to be... well, pretty silly.

These kids have never played organized soccer, but what they lack in skill, they make up for in enthusiasm and energy.

"I have never seen little girls go into tackles like these ones. It's really exciting. At the first practice, we had a pretty large audience of students from the school. There were over a hundred kids out there watching the practice--cheering them on from the sidelines," Megan says. "They have a lot of potential, and it is obvious that they want to be there and work hard. I was late to practice this week and the girls were already out there warming up."

This term Megan has expanded her efforts to more schools, using some balls with San Jose Earthquakes logos on them, provided by SSVCF. Her new teams will be outfitted in Almaden Valley Youth Soccer League uniforms, donated to SSVCF for the Setagole students.