At a time of increased ICE arrests in the Boston-area, the field means more than just soccer for youth like Kimberly, who is among 1,000 newcomer and immigrant students in the program. As families are having frank conversations with their children about potential arrests, the soccer coaches are trying to make the field a safe place for the children and their families.
The national program, founded in Pennsylvania in 2005, came to the Boston area in 2012. The coaches aim to build students’ confidence and nurture sportsmanship, while offering a community space where participants, who range in age from 7 to 20, can make friends and be proud of their cultural backgrounds. They practice twice a week and have soccer games on Saturdays.
The program has made changes to respond to its participants’ concerns that they, or their parents, could be the next target of the agency. Many of the children’s families are avoiding leaving their homes, worried about potential interactions with ICE.
When the Trump administration launched its mass deportation operations earlier this year, some of the families stopped bringing their children to games or activities far from their homes, said Caitlin Silva, a program manager with the organization’s Massachusetts program. The coaches’ job became to ensure families knew “the field is still a safe place for them,” Silva said.
When the program’s teams had games in Tewksbury or Woburn, for example, the unknown territory concerned families, said Bruno Contreras, director of Soccer Without Borders in Massachusetts. So, partly because of those concerns, the program shifted from participating in traditional leagues to a new in-house league. Before, the children would travel to compete as part of the Middlesex Youth Soccer League. Now, the organization hosts its own league locally in East Boston.
“They’re kids. They want to play and have the space to not constantly be stressed or worried about what’s going on in the world and with their families,” Silva said. “We needed this so much before, and of course, we just need it now, even more so.”
On the East Boston field at a recent practice, Spanglish permeated the conversations between players and coaches. Players are from several countries, including Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil.
“Chicas!” coach Eliani Suarez shouted at the beginning of practice. “Circle up!”
Forming one big circle, girls were asked to state the team’s rules. “Respect,” “safe space,” and “no bad words,” they shouted.
Soon after, the girls engaged in an elaborate warm up that included rock, paper, scissors. The losing player placed her arms behind the winning player’s shoulders and followed her to the next rock, paper, scissors match. As they continued to play, they formed a “human snake,” the sounds of their laughter filling the air.
Wearing a white bow in her hair, 13-year-old Luz was among 40 middle-school girls at the practice.
Luz moved to the United States from Nicaragua two years ago. The program has helped her learn English, while she also teaches Spanish to girls who don’t speak it. It has built her confidence, and over time, the team has become a second family, she said. Luz joined the program at age 11 after seeing a flyer at her school, Clark Avenue Middle School, in East Boston.
As a child in Nicaragua, Luz said she played volleyball.
“When I joined [Soccer Without Borders], I didn’t know any English, nor did I know any soccer,” Luz said. “[Here] I can express my way of thinking and just be myself,” she said.
Girls in the program join young and, as they get older, they often volunteer to assist coaches. Both Luz and Kimberly play and coach whenever they get a chance.
Kimberly now plays for three soccer teams, including at East Boston High School. Her dream is to continue playing in college and maybe play for an European league.
“I immediately fell in love with the game and the players,” she said. “It brings everybody together, whether you’re Black, Hispanic, a girl, a boy, anyone.”
Other teams in the state are in Chelsea, Somerville, Everett, and Springfield. The program also has teams in Maryland, Colorado, and California, and outside of the US, in Nicaragua and Uganda.
This is the fourth year the program’s students in Massachusetts have a 100 percent high school graduation rate, Contreras said, pointing out that researchers have studied the program’s positive correlation with higher attendance and grades.
For Contreras, who is originally from Mexico City and started in the program as a coach, part of the organization’s goal is to combat negative narratives about immigrants. He wants children to think of their cultural background as a strength, and not a hindrance.
Kimberly, who grew up watching soccer with her father, was in fifth grade when she joined the program. She has since become a leader her peers look up to, Contreras said. In the past couple of years, without being asked, she started recruiting other girls at school.
When Kimberly coaches younger players, explaining foot placement and the impulse required to kick the ball farther, her braces are often in full display. The teen walks around the field smiling and often joking around with other girls.
At the end of practice in late September, Kimberly rallied around the girls she had been coaching for a closing circle. They brought their hands together and lifted them up in the air.
The 14-year-old wrapped up another day in her safe space, another day she didn’t have to think of the “devastating” arrests happening in her neighborhood, including a recent operation at nearby gas station.
“This place has made me grow, not only as a player but as a person,” she said. “All of my friends are here. I’ve made a whole life here, and I don’t want to leave this behind.”
Marcela Rodrigues can be reached at marcela.rodrigues@globe.com.
