Alphonso Davies used to attend this after school soccer program. Now a transformative center for Edmonton’s underserved children

EDMONTON – Alphonso Davies and the Canadian men’s team are in town for two crucial World Cup qualifying matches and the city is full of soccer fever.

Nowhere is the excitement more palpable than at Edmonton Soccer Center East.

Every weekday, hundreds of kids and teens flock to the recreation facilities to play soccer, basketball, and other sports with the after-school program. Free game for kids.

It’s the same program Davies attended as an elementary school student after his parents moved to Edmonton as refugees. Now the 21-year-old is an international star, playing in front of a local crowd for the first time in his professional career.

But Free Play for Kids is much more than sports.

Tim Adams, who founded Free Play (formerly Free Footie) in 2007, describes the program as an inclusive and barrier-free “community center” providing tutoring, education and childcare services five days a week for about 400 children. and families from marginalized and vulnerable communities in the city.

“I don’t care how good someone is here kicking the ball or bouncing the ball or throwing the puck,” Free Play founder Tim Adams told the Star this week. “I care more that sport is a tool to create safe spaces and meaningful relationships.”

“We are not building the pipeline for the next great soccer player. We are building the pipeline for the next great leader. The next great teacher, lawyer, doctor, dentist, businessman, politician. That is what we are building. “

Open to children in grades 3-12, Free Play offers athletic and educational programming, transportation to and from school, free meals, and much more. Each day of the week, the kids alternate between soccer, hockey, basketball, and soccer, plus one day for an “adventure” somewhere in town.

“We are turning this place into a center where children feel safe,” says Adam. “They can let us know about challenges at home or where they need additional support, and we actually have the skill set and experience to make sure we can get that support now. It’s just a massive evolution. “

The program offers all children the opportunity to participate in sports, regardless of their family’s financial situation or other barriers to access, explains Diana Siwila, program coordinator, basketball coach and Free Play student.

Siwila and her three siblings, who were raised by a single mother, loved to play sports when they were little, but had trouble balancing rates and traveling to different parts of the city.

“It was difficult for our family,” he says. “That’s why we give children this opportunity where their parents don’t have to worry about paying to play. Your parents don’t have to worry about getting you there. You have your sandwiches. You have food. They are needs, but not everyone has access to them ”.

Responding to the growing need during the COVID-19 pandemic, Siwala also developed the Free Food Program. Each week, children are taught about nutrition and how to prepare their own meals, and are sent home with children’s recipes and a food packet full of ingredients to prepare meals that week.

Free Play also helps children develop social and emotional skills, explains Ruke Okome, manager of social operations and programs.

“All of our coaches work on a different topic each week in their practice plan,” says Okome. “So, for example, we have learned about perseverance. Last week, we learned what cooling looks like and how subjective for everyone. We are teaching children to take care of themselves. ”

Once the children reach high school, they become “junior coaches” and act as mentors to the younger children.

“Working in a team environment, you know, learning new skills, requires you to understand who you are as a person. So these children have many opportunities to discover themselves, find out what they like and what they don’t like and what they enjoy, how to communicate socially with other people, how to introduce themselves, how to be a good human being and contribute positively to the community. “

Davies’ meteoric rise, from Edmonton to Bayern Munich to the international stage, has become an inspiration to an entire generation of children, especially those who are not reflected or represented in sports like hockey.

Citing the success of the Canadian men’s and women’s soccer teams, and the excitement surrounding Davies, Okome believes soccer will grow “exponentially” in the years to come.

“I think these kids see themselves a lot in (Davies). He was a refugee and much of our demographic here is refugees and new immigrants, ”he says. “Representation is extremely important and to see that individual working towards a goal that is much bigger than him and much bigger than even football, I think that will open the doors for many other people there as well.”