‘The international language of soccer’: Camp teaches young refugees to communicate through beloved sport

For many refugee children in Spokane, summer can be a gap in their sense of community when schools are out. But Thrive International has been trying to bridge that gap with an activity many kids already know how to do.

rom Monday to Thursday, they ran a short soccer camp at North Central High School to get the kids some exercise and build some friendships among young people with a similar story.

This group has been practicing and playing scrimmage matches all week, and as they separate into teams, they jostle and joke with each other, a little bit of pre-game banter between friends before the first match starts.

The group is very diverse, with 10 countries and even more languages represented. Swahili, Arabic, Ukrainian and English are all spoken, but it doesn’t confuse the players on the field. Everyone already knows what to do.

“It removes the barrier of language, and instead it’s the international language of soccer,” said Thrive youth empowerment director Jackson Lino, originally from Sudan and once a refugee himself.

Lino said it feels therapeutic to help kids in a similar situation. He is coaching them partially to improve at the sport, but overwhelmingly to help them become friends.

A large number of cleats were donated for this event, along with uniforms and socks so that the players could enjoy themselves without charge or worry. Next year, Lino said, they’re aiming to get everyone who shows up their own cleats, on top of the soccer ball that each player receives at the end of the camp. It’s entirely a matter of funds, he said.

But playing on the field isn’t all the camp works on.

Some of the youngsters take on the role of referee, learning the rules and making calls during games. One boy, Jed, was undecided on which role he preferred. “On the one hand, players make more money and they’re cool, but refs are really in control of the game,” he said.

Among those coaching the kids are three SPD officers. In addition to their athletic outfits, they wear an unusual piece of kit for soccer coaches: their badge and service weapon.

Police officers are always expected to carry their firearm while on duty, but there’s more to it than that.

“In a lot of countries that people are fleeing from, there aren’t good relationships with the police. And so, we talk to them and build that connection,” said senior police officer Jennifer Kerns.

She said helping out and playing alongside them goes a long way in creating a healthy relationship with law enforcement, which can help families that have immigrated get the support they need.

“We need to be proactive, because we want them here,” she said.

While the majority of players were male, there were more than a couple girls playing alongside them. The younger group was seamless, but in the older group, there was a slight separation between the sexes.

“It’s annoying when the boys get serious, it’s supposed to be about having fun,” one of the girls, Mwajuma, said. “Hate the player, love the game.”

The view that soccer is not a feminine sport does affect people’s preferences, she said, and she thought that a camp for volleyball would draw a larger female audience.

As a game finishes, the players patted each other on the back as they walked off the field. While most of the kids can speak plenty of English, they didn’t need to say anything to tell each other, “Good game.”