NorthStar and Inspiritus Soccer Camp for Refugee Children - July 2024

Earlier this July, NorthStar had the amazing opportunity to host the second annual week-long soccer camp for children from refugee families with Inspiritus, Birmingham’s local refugee resettlement agency. It was an amazing week filled with lots of soccer, fun activities, popsicles, and new friendships across language and cultural barriers! All 76 kids were picked up from their homes by a wonderful team of Holy Family Cristo Rey drivers and other NorthStar volunteers, and arrived to experience five days filled with soccer skills training, scrimmages, play-time, and fun in their different age groups. To top it off, the week ended with cheering on the Birmingham Legion FC players at their game on Saturday evening. 

The ages and the smiles were the most the kids had in common, as they are from many different countries and cultures, speaking different languages and having varying levels of experience in soccer. What was beautiful about this, though, is that the kids were making friends, laughing, and playing together throughout the week. Some of the older kids would even pull out their phones and use a translator app to communicate with one another. At the end of the day, the kids would play and enjoy popsicles together then line up for their buses to go home. 

The camp would not have been as successful without the help of the wonderful coaches who were filled with joy, kindness, patience, and fun. These coaches made the kids feel welcomed and enacted fun activities planned out by NorthStar staff, making everyday a new and fun experience for the kids. There were also a couple of older NorthStar players serving as assistant coaches to the younger age groups who made the days all that more fun and successful. They did a great job developing their coaching and leadership skills while giving back to younger kids. We also had a wonderful medical student, Laci, serving as our on-site first-aid.

While gathering interviews from the coaches throughout the week, it was apparent that the overwhelming sentiment was that it was wonderful to see the kids being kind and playing with one another regardless of the language barrier between them. The majority of coaches also commented that it became more than soccer to them and the kids by the end of the week. It was about friendship, flexibility, and kindness to one another. 

NorthStar is so grateful for another successful year of soccer camp with Inspiritus. Last year there were 26 kids from 6 countries, this year there were 76 from 16 countries! This partnership extends into the fall and spring seasons as some of the kids from camp join NorthStar teams and become NorthStar intramural and club players, and we are thrilled to have more players join us from camp this year.