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As the World Cup is showing us, soccer is more than just a sport, match, or friendly competition between communities. Soccer gives us a reason to interact with new people, sharing in the enjoyment of the world’s game. Cleveland SC believes taking opportunities to share pieces of our culture, learn from others and help those in need is a duty that allows all people to improve their lives within and beyond soccer.
Cleveland SC recently made new friends in Călineşti, Moldova through a donation of soccer nets to be used by youth at a local community center. Călineşti is a small village about six kilometers long of roughly 2,600 people in western Moldova near the Romanian border. According to Celia Joyce, a Peace Corps volunteer working on community health projects in the region, kids in the community needed a space to play, specifically a soccer field because of the sport’s popularity in Călineşti and neighboring towns.
Because Moldova has the lowest GDP per capita in Europe, many children grow up with one parent as they seek livable wages abroad. Children work to help their siblings, grandparents and parents tend gardens and farm animals, waking up at 5am to work when the temperatures are cooler. They are given an opportunity to play later in the day or on Sundays when majority of people rest, according to Joyce.
In addition to providing a place in the village center for people to gather in the enjoyment of playing or watching soccer, acquiring supplies to support a well-maintained soccer field is also being used to better health outcomes for locals.
“Many health problems in Moldova come from unhealthy lifestyle choices (smoking, drinking, etc),” said Joyce. “In order to focus on behavior change and prevention, we focused our attention to the needs of the youth in the community.”
Joyce teaches 5th-9th grade health classes while promoting healthy behaviors throughout the community, giving lessons about hydration, nutrition, exercise, hand washing and sex education. A soccer field in the center of town near a school and kindergarten, she hopes, will offer one way for students to practice their lessons.
“The field will be used more for events, camps, gym class, games and activities for the community as well as the surrounding community,” according to Joyce.
Cleveland SC President Sam Seibert believes the donation supports the club’s commitment to community and growing the game worldwide.
“We are engaged in principal to support all communities that love the beautiful game worldwide. The NPSL, Cleveland SC, and our supporters here want Moldovans to know things like sport connect us on a whole new level. In the spirit of the World Cup we hope the nets are out to very good use,” said Seibert.
The nets will accompany other equipment built by locals to make the Călineşti community center a destination for soccer fans in adjacent villages. One-year prior, a fundraiser was organized to raise money for nets. “The music teacher at the school played music at the fundraising event and the physical education teacher formed teams and we played soccer,” said Joyce. Almost 100 community members came to the event and raised enough money to purchase uniforms for Călineşti’s local team while also receiving two donated nets from community members. The town’s mayor, along with another community member, even built the posts on which the donated soccer nets will rest.
“The goal was to have a space and uniforms so now our village can be a place where other villages come to watch games. With some basic renovations (benches, white linings) the field will be perfect,” said Joyce.
Content for article was provided to NEOSI by Cleveland SC.
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