Blackhawks > For All Youth
"FAY kids are a joy to coach. They have a real passion for the game. While they may not be the most skillful players on the team, they elevate our play through sheer determination and enthusiasm." - Blackhawk Coach
About For All Youth (FAY)
Most parents would agree that club soccer provides their children with the opportunity to enjoy soccer in a safe, engaging and enriching environment. But is the opportunity accessible and inviting to all youth. This question was asked and discussed by a group of St. Paul Blackhawks parents concerned about the barriers encountered by immigrant youth interested in club soccer. The parents' discussions turned into action and with the help of partner organizations the For all Youth anti-racism initiative was launched.
The goals of the initiative are to:
- improve access to club soccer for immigrant youth/youth of color
- increase participation in club soccer by immigrant youth/youth of color
- ensure that immigrant youth/youth of color are successful in club soccer
- ensure that anti-racism training is available to players, coaches, managers and parents
The initiative addresses the following barriers to immigrant youth participation in club soccer:
- Information/awareness (little outreach to these communities)
- Institutional (material and forms in English only)
- Lack of cultural competency (racist incidents during and after games)
- Funding (cost prohibitive for many potential players)
Barriers addressed in 2007:
- Community outreach to schools, churches, neighborhood recreations centers
- Club materials and forms translated into Hmong, Spanish and Somali interpreters were provided at various outreach events. Initiative coordinator was hired to assist players, families and teams.
- Anti-racism training, developed specifically for the club soccer experience, was delivered to board members, coaches, parents and players. See below for players' comments in response to the training.
- Scholarships have been made available through foundation grants.
A FAY Steering Committee made up of parent volunteers and representatives from participating organizations oversees the progress of the initiative.
"The most rewarding part for me has been watching a kid with good street skills but virtually no concept of team play join a team where most of the players had at least 3 years playing club soccer and then see that player mature into a solid team player." - Blackhawk Coach
Advisory Group
- Parents, Coaches, Managers, Players
- 3-4 meetings in 2007/08
- Provide critical feedback from all perspectives.
- Volunteer resource for program improvement & expansion.
Interested? Contact Chris Rosenthal, Blackhawks FAY Director, 651-964-8737
Contact Info
Please contact the following individuals with questions about FAY:
Hal Clapp, FAY Coordinator for Neighborhood House, 612-964-8737
Chris Rosenthal, Blackhawks FAY Director, 651-964-8737
Reporting Incidents
Racist incidents should be reported to:
Ted Kroeten, Director of Coaching and Player Development, 952-215-1861
Chris Rosenthal, Blackhawks FAY Director, 651-964-8737
Hal Clapp, FAY Coordinator for Neighborhood House, 612-964-8737
Neighborhood House is available to provide guidance on how best to respond to achieve a positive outcome in the aftermath of a racist incident.
Policy
St. Paul Blackhawks serves all youth, families, and communities to the best of our organizational ability. We welcome all players, regardless of gender, color, race, religion, sexual orientation, or income level. We are actively and continuously improving our outreach efforts to attempt to achieve a more diverse player population.
Through the FAY anti-racism initiative St. Paul Blackhawks makes special efforts to recruit and retain youth and families from all immigrant youth communities and communities of color. A Youth Opportunities Director serves on the Board of Directors to coordinate outreach efforts to improve the diversity of the club.
"This has been such a great experience for my daughter who attends an all white parochial school. This is one of the few opportunities she has to interact with kids of color and from other cultures." - Blackhawk Parent
Partners
St. Paul Blackhawks Soccer -- Founded in 1952, St. Paul Blackhawks is Minnesota's original and most accomplished soccer club. True to its pioneering roots, Blackhawks is both the originator of the FAY concept and the pilot organization for the FAY initiative. In a real sense, FAY is an expression of the Blackhawks tag line "Person. Player. Team." which indicates that Blackhawks fosters development of the person as well as the player and the team. Most Blackhawk participants received anti-racism training in 2007. Approximately fifty FAY players were recruited for the spring-summer 2007 season and scholarships have been made available to these players through grant monies received.
Neighborhood House -- The Anti-Racism portion of the initiative is being led by Neighborhood House which was established in 1905 with a mission to build doorways of opportunities for vibrant, diverse communities. Neighborhood House achieves their mission in partnership with individuals and organizations by facilitating active participation in community efforts like FAY. Neighborhood House administers the grant secured by the FAY steering committee as well as administrating the scholarship funds.
St. Paul Foundation and the Otto Bremer Foundation -- Grant provider.
The partners would like to recognize MYSA, HGRA and The City of St. Paul for their support of the FAY initiative.
"I call them my soccer girls. This has been such a positive experience for them. I have literally seen them mature before my eyes. They are so committed to the Blackhawks FAY program. It's all they talk about sometimes. They are noticeably better students because of the program and the benefits carry over into other aspects of their lives. Thank you!" - Homecroft School Teacher talking about her four Blackhawk U9 Girls
Training
Neighborhood House has developed an anti-racism training program that includes a video with sections tailored to players, coaches, parents and team managers. Blackhawks will continue to incorporate this training into our standard spring training regimen which will allow new players, coaches, parents and team managers to get anti-racism training before the season starts.
Key Success Factors -- Training is most likely to succeed over time when players, coaches, team managers and parents commit to the four R's:
- Receive anti-racism training and learn to recognize and respond to racist incidents.
- Recognize racist incidents as they occur in real-time.
- Respond appropriately to racist incidents when they occur.
- Report racist incidents.
What some players got from the training in 2007:
"how many ways we found to defend each other"
"how to have a teammate stand up for you"
"talking about solutions"
"learning that it is easy to stand up to racism"
"learning to say something when you hear racism"
"watching the video showed me how this (racism) could happen"
Challenges
Transportation -- Many of the FAY players come from families who have no car, or if they have a car it is often used by multiple wage earners in the family to get to work. Of those willing to drive many will not drive on freeways. Clearly this will be an ongoing challenge for the FAY program and multiple solutions will be needed to overcome it.
Language/Communication -- Language barriers have directly or indirectly been responsible for many of the problems experienced in the first year of implementation.
FAY Player is the Primary English Speaker in the Family -- Coaches and AGC's have to communicate practice, game and tournament information to a 9-12 year old. This results in miscommunication around pick ups by parents and managers which are frustrating.
Lack of Understanding of Club Soccer vs. Recreational Soccer -- Despite having interpreters at the outreach event describing differences between recreational soccer and the added commitment level for Blackhawks soccer, some parents still treat Blackhawks as a rec program. Future recruiting efforts have to clearly weed out those who cannot or will not make the added commitment to Blackhawks. At the same time we need to to resolve transportation and communication barriers so that we do not weed out solely on that basis.
Lack of Understanding of FAY Program within Blackhawks -- There are wide disparities of understanding of the FAY program within Blackhawks. Some have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities while others do not. Likewise, some have been willing to do whatever it takes to include a FAY player on their team. Others only if it does not require extra work. We need to communicate earlier to managers and AGC's and be certain they know what the responsibilities are and be certain they are willing to take them on.
Equipment -- Many FAY players come to the program without any equipment at all. We need to accommodate for this either through grant funds or donations.
"I'd be lying if I said this has not been hard work with issues related to transportation, language, equipment and all that. But these kids are so ready to play and are assimilating so well that the benefits to them and their teammates far outweigh the hassles early on." - Blackhawk Age Group Coordinator
Your Thoughts?
We're interested in what you think about FAY. What works? What doesn't work? Comments? Questions? Please take a moment to share your thoughts.
