Project Launch:

Sundays in El Salvador are reserved for and revolve around soccer games. Everyone dresses their best, finishes their chores and heads to soccer fields to watch brothers, fathers, and/or sons play. Previously in the ??? community of El Salvador, there was only a men´s soccer team, but the barefoot young kids playing with a deflated plastic ball in a corner of the soccer field recently received their own designated days for practice and with a $450 grant from World Connect’s Kids to Kids Program in 2010, the kids now have the equipment they need to become “Futbolistas Fabulosas del Futuro” or ¨Fabulous Soccer Players of the Future¨. Through this program, young soccer players learned to stretch properly and communicate positively with their team members. This age-old, international pastime provided both recreation and education for all of the youth in this poor and remote area of El Salvador. Not only did the Kids to Kids grant provide the equipment, but it also helped bring the community together. Now every weekend the children of the community gather to work together and play soccer. Since the program was implemented, the children have learned a new sense of teamwork and dedication and their parents take pride in watching their children demonstrate their new soccer skills and their skills in teamwork. The Peace Corps Volunteer who supported the project reported that the children are thriving from the admiration they are receiving from the community and they work harder than ever to make their friends and family proud. Two notorious troublemakers in the community who used to run around town picking on smaller children and stealing their neighbors’ crops have now learned the value of cooperation and the responsibility of being on a team and now they spend their time practicing soccer.