Although the World Cup may be over, the passion for soccer lives on. Rob Cann, Cohort 32, has been heavily involved in the development of Street Soccer USA (SSUSA), a program established in 2004, which aims at getting homeless people off the streets by “scoring goals on the field and achieving goals in life.” Rob and his brother, Lawrence Cann, Founder of Street Soccer USA, were inspired with this idea when learning about the international event the Homeless World Cup. Both former Division I soccer players and Lawrence, already a case-worker at a homeless service agency, started a team and Rob joined him less than a year later.
Rob is now the National Program Director for SSUSA and is involved in the development and implementation of the program and its curriculum with partner agencies. He came to the University of San Francisco Sport Management program to acquire the skills needed to effectively drive the organization into the next phase of development. Street Soccer USA is a social service agency first, engaged in changing the lives of the homeless forever, but is inherently a sports organization and a Master of Arts in Sport Management from USF will provide SSUSA the expertise to succeed in the sport industry. The Bay Area is a hot bed of creativity and innovation and is an ideal location to expand programming. Robs entry into the USF Sport Management network will be crucial as the Bay Area becomes the West Coast headquarters of SSUSA.
During the early development stages of the program, both Rob and Lawrence saw the major impact with players and felt compelled to spread their message of “soccer for social change”. They have gone on to create homeless soccer teams in 20 different cities across the nation, including San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver,New York and Seattle. Teams train two to three times a week and each year unite at the Street Soccer USA Cup where a national champion is crowned and eight men and eight women are selected to represent the country at the Homeless World Cup.
In addition to soccer practices, SSUSA aims at improving social skills, self esteem and mental and physical health to eliminate barriers to employment and self sufficiency for the homeless. All players as members of the team are required to set 3, 6 and 12 month goals and abide by team rules. Jobs Academies help with finding job placement and niche services like financial literacy, resume writing, legal service and workplace readiness workshops prepare the players for reintegration into mainstream society. SSUSA also heavily relies on volunteers, their motto is "ending homelessness is a team sport" and to that end they train volunteers as sports mentors and using the talents of the community to help players reach their goals.
The future vision for SSUSA is to be the leader in Sport Development in the Unites States and to be the primary source of research and experience based authority on Sport for Social Change. The organization seeks to expand into 50 cities over the next five years and effect social change by pushing public policy toward a more holistic approach to serving the homeless and impoverished among social service agencies.
Street Soccer USA players are playing for more than scoring goals and winning championships, to learn more about the values SSUSA players stand for visit www.iplayfor.org
