Tag Archives: Homeless World Cup

Kicking It at Kastles Stadium for the 2010 Street Soccer Cup!

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I have been a proud supporter of Street Soccer USA and the Homeless World Cup for several years now. It is a wonderful charity that my family and I have grown very close to. Their use of the power of sport to help the homeless is inspiring and has helped countless people who have been or are currently homeless. That is why we are proud to support this weekend’s 2010 Street Soccer USA Cup being held at Kastles Stadium in downtown Washington D.C (11th and H Streets, NW). It is so appropriate that we can continue to celebrate Street Soccer’s efforts here in the nation’s capital. Thanks to Mark Ein and his team at the Washington Kastles, we can enjoy holding the Cup in DC for another amazing year.

Please come out this weekend to Kastles Stadium to cheer our players on as they battle for the coveted Street Soccer Cup. The players will be arriving from cities all over the country this Thursday and will be ready to begin play on Friday. The opening ceremonies will commence at 5:20 pm on Friday afternoon with games to quickly follow. Play starts back up early Saturday morning at 8:00 am and continues until 8:00 pm. The final day of competition will see the crowning of a new champion with games beginning at 8:20 am and lasting through the closing ceremonies, which are scheduled for 3:30 pm. There will also be a couple of concerts periodically throughout the day, so there will be plenty to see and enjoy. It is really important that we have a big crowd to cheer on these inspiring figures and push them to new heights. I plan on attending several matches and will be in attendance for the ceremonies as well. My son will also be at the tournament to volunteer and help out. The tournament will be taking walk-up volunteers in the morning, so its not too late to help out if you would like. I am excited to see competitive soccer in an outdoor venue. I encourage you to come out, join us, and enjoy great soccer. Oh, and tickets for attending the event are free :) .

The Leonsis Foundation has been strong supporters of this charity and their leadership, which includes Lawrence Cann. You may remember him from an article in People magazine last year. His commitment to rescuing the homeless has been a big reason for our continual support. I am also very proud to say that one of my good friends and partners at Monumental Sports & Entertainment, Dr. Sheila Johnson, has become involved with the charity as well. Dr. Johnson continues to set a great example. Her help with Street Soccer USA has been invaluable.

If you haven’t heard of Street Soccer before, or just want more information about it, check out the film Kicking It. It is about the Homeless World Cup that took place in South Africa. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry. It is an amazing story.

San Francisco Wins Street Soccer USA Cup

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A great weekend of sports and social change concluded here in DC. San Francisco won the Cup and will head to Milan to participate in the Homeless World Cup Tournament.

Thank you to Mark Ein for letting these folks play in his great tennis stadium and thank you to all of the folks who donated time, money and effort to make this tournament a great success.

Here is the ESPN write-up on the event. Thanks for your ongoing support. “A ball can change your life.”

Countdown to Street Soccer Tourney in DC

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As many of you have requested, here is the information about the Street Soccer Tournament coming to downtown DC. Click here for information on volunteering, attending the tournament or coming to some of the parties and related information.

This is a worthy cause. A ball can change your life. And for inspiration watch Kicking It on SnagFilms. Click here to watch the movie.

Soccer for Social Change

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Click here to read about Street Soccer; The Homeless World Cup trials coming to Washington, DC; and the DC Knights homeless soccer team.
 
I am proud to continue my family’s sponsorship of this worthy event. Get involved. Donate some time or money to this great cause and come on down and watch some games at Kastles Stadium.

Major New York Times Story on Homeless Soccer

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Wow. Here is a major piece on homeless soccer in the New York Times. As a reminder, this was the subject of our film Kicking It, available on SnagFilms. Thanks again to ESPN for showing this film to a worldwide audience. Click here to watch it.
Also, we will be hosting the US based Homeless World Cup qualifiers again here in Washington DC in late June. Stay tuned for more details.

Kudos to Lawrence Cann and his team for doing the Lord’s work here.

MLSnet on Kicking It

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Here is a very nice write-up on “Kicking It” and The Homeless World Cup. The folks at DC United and MLS have been a joy to work with. They are very connected to their communities and understand the power of sports to transform lives.

ESPN will start showing “Kicking It” in September. I will update you on the programming times once they are available. I hope those of you who didn’t see the film at a festival or in a theater will watch it for free on TV.

How I Have Spent My Summer Vacation So Far

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Summer is the time to regroup and to rest but so far this summer has been one of burning the midnight oil.

So far we have:

  • Been to Toronto to the NHL Awards ceremonies. Alex swept the awards including the MVP and our coach picked up the NHL Coach of the Year award;
  • Came back to DC and were feted by the Mayor. Alex got the keys to the city. We saw our fans at an event and we had a big party celebrating the awards;
  • Went to the NHL draft and picked two players in the first round;
  • Had a busy off season signing Jose Theodore as a free agent and re-signing Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Sergei Fedorov, Matt Bradley, Eric Fehr, Boyd Gordon and just about everyone else on our slate. We await the outcome of arbitration with just one player and we will be done with a very busy off season. Let us NOT forget that during the season we re-signed Alex Semin, Alex Ovechkin and Donald Brashear to extensions as well;
  • Held a fabulous Fan Fest at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Thank you to all that attended;
  • Completed a new film called “Kicking It” which went into theaters;
  • Hosted the US based Homeless World Cup in DC where we met more than 100 homeless people. We embraced them; housed them at George Washington University; fed them well via volunteerism from many of the Capitals’ great sponsors; took them to see “Kicking It”; took them to the DC United vs. LA Galaxy game; and chose a team to send to Australia for the Homeless World Cup in December;
  • Launched a new business called SnagFilms which we talked about last week. SnagFilms is off to a great start and I encourage you to go snag a film widget or go watch a film online via a widget. Check out SnagFilms.com daily :-) ;
  • SnagFilms acquired indieWIRE, the leading online site for news and information on independent films. Check out indieWIRE.com for all of the latest on independent films and what is happening at film festivals.

Wow – what a busy summer already. I am hopeful that in August the pace will slow down and my family and I can relax a bit more.