{"id":292598,"date":"2026-07-10T19:48:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/292598\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T19:48:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T19:48:33","slug":"queens-teens-take-part-in-global-festival-for-the-world-cup-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/292598\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens teens take part in global festival for the World Cup \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

With community gatherings and team-fan meetups creating a vibrant tournament atmosphere throughout the city, New Yorkers are eagerly anticipating the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey, which has been hosting some of the tournament\u2019s biggest matches. Over in Boston \u2013 one of the cities hosting the World Cup games \u2013 a group of New York City teenagers are having fun representing our city at an international youth gathering taking place alongside the World Cup, and six soccer-loving young athletes representing Queens are taking part in this special event; they hail from Whitestone<\/a>, Elmhurst<\/a>, Glen Oaks<\/a>, Elmont, Ozone Park<\/a> and Middle Village<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Festival 26 is in full swing through July 13 and has brought together hundreds of young people from 24 nations for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The kids from NYC, aged 15 to 17, are having a blast playing soccer and participating in cultural events, community service, and leadership development workshops. They participate in City Parks Foundation<\/a> (CPF) sports programs and are all part of a delegation representing New York via CPF. The week included an international competition, with a soccer tournament that kicked off yesterday morning, as well as World Cup celebrations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy of the City Parks Foundation<\/p>\n

These are the teens representing Queens and NYC: Phillipe Tusinean, Whitestone; Malachi Jean, Ozone Park; Oana Cornell, Middle Village; Julia McCarthy, Glen Oaks; Isabella Charis, Elmont; Amy Chui (Young Leader), Jamaica; Leo Wahl, Manhattan; Cory Greenspan (Delegation Leader), Manhattan.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy of the City Parks Foundation<\/p>\n

One of the CPF participants, Julia McCarthy, 15, participates in the CityParks Girls Forward<\/a> soccer program Girls Forward \u2013 City Parks Foundation \u2013 a free initiative that gives girls, ages 13-16, a safe, empowering space to stay engaged in sports through instruction led by female coaches, while building confidence and leadership skills. Outside of soccer, she attends The Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica, and recently earned a promotion to a paid position as a Discovery Guide at the Queens Zoo, where she helps connect visitors with wildlife and conservation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy of the City Parks Foundation<\/p>\n

Talking about her experience at Festival 26, McCarthy told QNS: \u201cIt\u2019s been very exciting and inspirational. I\u2019ve gotten closer to many people here and developed new and friendly relationships. Being a kid from Queens and representing Queens itself, while being with everyone else here, is great! And I feel that getting to know other cultures is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cMy thoughts about the World Cup have been changing. The tournaments have been really exciting but also devastating, so my mood changes based on the winnings and the losses. But the World Cup is a fun experience and learning more about football (Futbol) is an amazing experience!\u201d City Parks Foundation Sports Director Jonathan Gamberg shared some interesting details about Festival 26.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Photo courtesy of the City Parks Foundation<\/p>\n

\u201cFestival 26 aligns perfectly with City Parks Foundation\u2019s mission of using sports as a vehicle for positive youth development. While sports are what initially brings young people together, experiences like this help them build confidence, leadership skills, cultural awareness, and meaningful relationships with peers from around the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this event taking place in Boston, one of the host cities for the FIFA World Cup, it\u2019s the perfect backdrop for this experience and a chance for our students to explore a new city just far enough away from home. It\u2019s a unique opportunity for our teens to broaden their perspectives, represent New York City on an international stage, and return home inspired to make a positive impact in their own communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

QNS: How did the invite to\/partnership with F26 come about?\n<\/p>\n

Jonathan Gamberg: For roughly the past 10 years, CPF has enjoyed a partnership with Sport dans la Ville, a French-based sports-based youth development organization. At the heart of our partnership, is providing students with an exchange program around some of the world\u2019s biggest sporting events. Typically, CPF sends a group of students to France, for either a trip to Roland Garros (French Open) or a weeklong summer camp with SDLV. In return, SDLV sends a group of students to NYC to attend the U.S. Open Tennis Championships. Through the years, SDLV has also hosted several large-scale global sports convenings around major sporting events, like the Olympics or the FIFA World Cup. With the US hosting the World Cup this year, SDLV partnered with Boston Scores to create Festival 26<\/a>. Through our partnership, CPF was invited to apply and was selected as one of the 40 delegations to attend.<\/p>\n

QNS: How exciting is it for CPF and its youth participants to be a part of a global event coinciding with the World Cup?\n<\/p>\n

JG: This is an incredible opportunity for both CPF and the young people we serve. The FIFA World Cup is one of the most celebrated sporting events in the world, and to participate in a global youth festival taking place alongside it is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Our participants won\u2019t just be spectators. Being selected as one of only 40 delegations is an honor and reflects the strength of our sports-based youth development programs and our longstanding commitment to creating meaningful opportunities through sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With community gatherings and team-fan meetups creating a vibrant tournament atmosphere throughout the city, New Yorkers are eagerly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[22456,111749,9,24,63,122,124,123,400,14771],"class_list":["post-292598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-city-parks-foundation","tag-festival-26","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news","tag-soccer","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}