When 90+ Project Director of Programming and Coach Aaron Lewis asked the players at Thrive International\u2019s youth summer soccer camp how many of them weren\u2019t born in the United States, dozens of hands shot up.<\/p>\n
Sitting in the grass at Franklin Park, those same players watched as four out of the five Spokane Velocity players who were visiting camp Thursday raised their hands, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re my GOAT,\u201d 9-year-old Mel Akon later told Velocity left-backer Moses Mensah while the kids collected autographs on soccer balls, cleats and posters. \u201cOne day I\u2019m gonna look like you and be like you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see that,\u201d Mensah, originally from Ghana, answered without hesitation.<\/p>\n
The annual youth soccer camp is run through a partnership with refugee resettlement organization Thrive International and sports-based youth development organization 90+ Project. This year, close to 200 kids, including kindergartners to 12th graders, from more than a dozen nationalities, arrived at Franklin Park to play soccer.<\/p>\n
The free weeklong camp focuses on providing an opportunity for players from refugee and immigrant families, and several participants previously lived in Thrive\u2019s shelters in Spokane and Tacoma.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe teach character, leadership, mental wellness, and we do those things through the sport of soccer, so using it really as a vehicle for transformation,\u201d said 90+ Project Executive Director Russ Davis. \u201cAnd then we seek to provide access to the game, so creating opportunities for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the Velocity superstars there to watch, Davis and other camp coaches gave shout-outs to players who exhibited virtue, respect and responsibility throughout the day and week. The standout players were awarded Velocity posters that they could get signed by the professionals.<\/p>\n
Mel received the first shout-out from Davis, who applauded him for showing up every morning and afternoon to get in as much soccer as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were talking about the Velocity, and I said, \u2018The Velocity is gonna be here tomorrow,\u2019 \u201d Davis said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know that (Mel) believed me fully, he was kinda like doubting it, and then he said to me, \u2018If the Velocities show up tomorrow, I will now trust you one billion percent.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
With Mel\u2019s doubts proven wrong and the Velocity players really there in Franklin Park, Davis said he was ready to cash in for \u201cone billion percent\u201d trust from Mel, who beamed while holding up his new poster.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the fifth year we\u2019ve done a soccer camp, and the reason we do that is because our vision is we want to see people not just survive when they come to a new country, we want to help them thrive,\u201d said Thrive International Executive Director Mark Finney.<\/p>\n
Before the aspiring players were let loose to chat with the players, 15-year-old Teodoro Tchetchembe and 16-year-old Jomar TC got the chance to test their juggling skills against Velocity forward Joe Gallardo.<\/p>\n
Sporting a Lamine Yamal Barcelona jersey, Jomar tied with Gallardo with 35 hits.<\/p>\n
Gallardo said the best advice he could give the kids at the camp was to assure them that their dreams were possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you really want to get there, if you push yourself, just work hard everyday \u2013 I mean obviously, it\u2019s still hard to get there \u2013 but if you can do everything possible to get there, I think it\u2019s achievable,\u201d Gallardo said.<\/p>\n
Mensah\u2019s guidance was more concrete: \u201cListen to your coaches a lot because they have more experience than you guys.\u201d The piece of advice was met with a high five from Coach Lewis and laughs from the players.<\/p>\n
Originally living in Ghana , Mensah said he felt a special sort of connection with the kids at Thrive\u2019s camp, who had arrived in Spokane from all over the world and have had to learn the culture just like he did. He said his goal as a player for Velocity is to be a role model for all the people in the community.<\/p>\n
The Velocity players\u2019 appearance at the camp was a highlight of the week for 11-year-old Emmanuel Kalumuna, who managed to get his soccer ball signed by all the players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe week has been amazing,\u201d Emmanuel said. \u201cI\u2019ve been playing a lot and hanging out and having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When 90+ Project Director of Programming and Coach Aaron Lewis asked the players at Thrive International\u2019s youth summer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-837384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}