Uniting communities and creating positive social impact in our city through the global game of soccer
Our Model
For the past seventeen years, Pittsburgh Soccer in the Community (PSC) has run a variety of camps and clinics throughout the city and beyond. Implementing our tried and tested model for youth education, PSC has impacted the lives of hundreds of local children.
PSC believes that children will be more receptive to lifestyle education after a level of trust has been established through interactive sessions between adult role models and youth. The sport of soccer is used as a tool for education by reinforcing the inherent values of teamwork, respect, hard work, discipline, and goal setting, among many others. These values are modeled by coaching staff and reinforced through on-going communication.
The Programs
Each session is approximately 60 minutes of soccer based, fun activities, followed by approximately 30 minutes of lifestyle instruction provided by guest presenters such as law enforcement officers and human service professionals. The values established in the soccer activities are carried through into the lifestyle sessions.
Programming Overview
Our youth programs provide high-quality, free soccer coaching to children living in under-served communities of Pittsburgh, who for financial and demographic reasons would normally not receive this opportunity. Our soccer coaches serve as mentors who combine life skills education with technical soccer training, using a proven effective approach called sport-based youth development. We aim to help children use their experience on the soccer field, encouraged by a supportive, relaxed, and interactive environment, to make positive, healthy and informed life decisions off the field.
PSC organizes soccer-centric programming that aims to:
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increase life skills learning
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break down barriers between diverse populations
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provide access to healthy, physical activity
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support mentoring relationships between player participants and PSC coaches
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provide positive and safe environments after school and during the summer
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increase knowledge and love of global game of soccer
Current Programs
Arsenal Elementary
Type of Program: School
Ages: 6-12
Grades: K-5
Frequency of sessions: every week (after school)
Duration: Year round
Number of youth participants: 20-30
Woolslair Elementary
Type of Program: School
Ages: 6-12
Grades: K-5
Frequency of sessions: every week (after school)
Duration: Year round
Number of youth participants: 20-30
Center of Life (Hazelwood)
Type of Program: Summer Camp
Ages: 8-14
Grades: 3-8
Frequency of sessions: twice per week
Duration: June – August
Number of youth participants: 10-20
Bloomfield Garfield Corporation (Lawrenceville – City Wide)
Type of Program: Summer Camp
Ages: 6-12
Grades: K-5
Frequency of sessions: twice per week
Duration: June – August
Number of youth participants: 20-25
Frick Park Tennis Association (East End – City Wide)
Type of Program: Summer Camp
Ages: 12-18
Grades: 6-12
Frequency of sessions: three times per week
Duration: July – August
Number of youth participants: 20-30
Past Programs
Fall and Winter Programming 2016
With support from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Pittsburgh Soccer in the Community (PSC) was able to provide sport-based youth development programming to students in grades 3-5 at Arsenal Elementary School during the fall and winter of the 2015-2016 school year. 25 students participated in weekly educational soccer programs after school which ran from the end of September through the middle of November. The program engaged students, both boys and girls, from different communities around the world who now reside in neighborhoods across the city of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County.
The educational soccer sessions were facilitated by volunteers from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University men’s soccer team. Young men and women volunteered their time to serve as coach – mentors who supported youth in their learning of technical soccer drills and also shared more about their experience as student athletes and scholars, some of them attending college for the first time in their family. At the end of the program, students were encouraged to focus on their academic success and positive behavior if they wanted to continue with winter programs and eventually play for the Arsenal Middle School soccer team.
During the winter, many of these students participated in an indoor soccer league offered by Pittsburgh Dynamo in Squirrel Hill. This opportunity allowed our youth to continue to work with some of the coach mentors from the fall program and also provided an experience many of them had never had. Being able to travel away from their neighborhood and play together on the same team with new friends from different socioeconomic backgrounds proved to be an enriching experience for both our players and their new teammates. Cultural exchange and exposure, especially among youth, helps to break down the barriers that exist, especially in a city like Pittsburgh, to promote a better quality of life for all residents of our city.
Also during the winter, PSC created another opportunity for Arsenal Middle School boys by creating access to more friendly, competitive soccer games at an indoor league offered by Obama Academy. Saturday mornings, youth benefitted from health team-based competition and a healthy breakfast provided by PSC which consisted of fresh fruit and whole grain peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to remind the youth about the importance of eating healthy and taking care of oneself to succeed both on and off the field.
PSC Was Proudly Profiled Across the Country to Every Office in the
U.S. Department of Justice
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania co-sponsors Pittsburgh Soccer in the Community (PSC), a soccer program for youth focused primarily on the Somali Bantu refugee population in the city’s Lawrenceville neighborhood. Soccer is a universal sport and serves as a natural platform to conduct outreach programs to Muslim youth.
For each of the past four years, PSC (funded by the DOJ’s Weed and Seed program) has operated a nine-week summer camp and organized a team that regularly plays in local leagues. PSC also provides clinics on nutrition and fitness, the value of staying in school, and scholarship opportunities.
FAUSA Robert S. Cessar (fifth from right) and SLC Bruce J. Teitelbaum (not pictured) serve on the PSC Board. The photograph was taken following a game with Central Catholic’s Junior Varsity Soccer Team. The Somali Bantu are being settled in Lawrenceville and the help of the Catholic Charities of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Soccer in the Community Programs
