​To say that our first ever street soccer cage event- filled weekend was a success would be an understatement. Thanks to our friends at Mettle Sports and Massachusetts Youth Soccer, we were able to host a 3 vs. 3 street soccer Food Donation tournament for high schoolers, free pickup games for anyone interested, and a full youth clinic for children ranging in ages 3-10. The weekend was a whirlwind. However, when the dust settled, we could not believe all we learned and all we took away. We have tried to condense our findings into four points, but it has been hard to fully capture all that came from this special opportunity. Here is what you need to know about why our community needs a permanent street soccer cage now more than ever. 

​This Spring, our Community Empowerment and Leadership Club hosted an event in collaboration with the Cape Cod WE CAN ( Women’s Empowerment Through Cape Area Networking) organization. The focus was to open up multigenerational discussions about what it means to be an empowered woman and girl within our communities and within society as a whole. The world we live in today is complicated, to say the least. It is our wish to help young women come to know the power of their voice and to instill in them the belief that they are capable of enacting great change. This event was a stepping stone to the greater work which is ahead.

“There is no tool more effective for development than the empowerment of women”. Kofi Annan

There is something simultaneously exhilarating and humbling about being a presenter. Crafting a talk which engages just as much as it educates is something which takes trial and error. Here at UKSD, we have recently tried our hand with this type of work.

Hello! Our names are Alexis and Phoebe Papavasiliou, and we are here to share our experience with UKSD! We started UKSD when we were 5 and 7 years old in a run down gym in Osterville, Massachusetts. There were about 4 other kids in the class, who are now very close friends. He introduced himself to us as “Doc”, and that is still what we call him to this day. We have not stopped participating in his clinics and community service projects since. Through this program, we have made many friends and valuable memories. We also met many young women, that we admire and look up to, including Megan Fligg and Maddie Brennan. They would run clinics, and we would hear about their inspiring trips to Dominica, Ohio, Jordan, Kibera, and Florida, hoping one day we too could be apart of such a journey. Now we are happy to say we have come full circle, and we are going on the next trip to Dominica in April.

There are rare moments in life when we get to stand, side by side, with someone who has been a fundamental component to our ability to achieve our dreams. This Fall, members of the Barnstable High School girl’s soccer team were given this opportunity.

The Cape Cod Cooperative Bank reached out to the high school team to ask if they would be interested in helping coach this year’s clinic offered by Kristine Lilly.
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​For those who don’t know, Lilly is a former professional soccer player and member of the Women’s National Team. She is a pioneer in the women’s game, as she helped to establish its legitimacy and power within the United States. Due to her incredible talent and unparalleled work ethic, she has set a foundation for girls to be able to pursue the dream of playing in a professional setting. 

Love is a very complex emotion. According to science, love can be explained through the release of neurotransmitters in the body called dopamine and endorphins that emulate a “feel-good” response towards someone or something. However, love is much more complicated than that. It can be applied to a plethora of different things. Someone can love another person, an object, an idea, or any other arbitrary thing. In my opinion, love is the most powerful emotion, which means it can also do the most damage. For example, I loved soccer more than anything in the entire world.

Something we have learned through our journey here at UKSD is the importance of making partnerships. For the past few weeks, we have partnered with South Shore Select and Coaches Across Continents in order to enhance all of our abilities to reach kids through the game of soccer. South Shore Select is an all girls soccer club located in Hingham, MA. Although they focus much of their work on building talented young athletes who are both technically and tactically educated, they are very much aware of the importance of helping their players also build their sense of character, commitment, leadership potential, and global awareness. It is because of this that Select welcomed, with open arms, Coaches Across Continents hands- on-training.