A field with overgrown grass and patches of mud, two rusty soccer goals without nets and a tired chain link fence was the setting for soccer practice on a hazy Monday afternoon at Northeast Middle School on Moravia Road.
Jill Pardini, of Waverly, tried to gather her dozen or so players, who were dressed in a rainbow of athletic shorts, most in soccer cleats and three in soccer socks, into some semblance of a practice.
In a pale yellow shirt and black shorts, 15-year-old Glory Aganze, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, shouted to his friends something in a foreign language that sounded like a hurry-up call.
The team is part of the nonprofit Soccer Without Borders umbrella organization based in Berkeley, Calif., which seeks to "use soccer as a vehicle for positive change in the live of marginalized youth," according to the organization's local website, http://www.soccerwithoutborders.org/baltimore.
The organization gathers refugee students, most from a northeast Baltimore apartment complex where their families were resettled, and uses the game of soccer — a language all the players speak — to try to smooth relations among them in the classroom and off the field.
Project partners include the Maryland Office for Refugees and Asylees, the Baltimore City school system (which provides field space), Baltimore City Community College, the Baltimore Resettlement Center, the International Rescue Committee and the Waverly-based Y of Central Maryland, according to the website.
The team, which is a part of the Maryland Central Soccer Association, sponsors a 14-and-under and a 16-and-under team, with 18 members on each. The team members represent nine countries, including Iraq, Bhutan, Nepal, Rwanda, Cameroon and the Pan Africa region.
Pardini, 27, an education consultant, was interning with the Maryland Office for Refugees and Asylees when she learned of Soccer Without Borders, which was founded in 2006 by Ben Gucciardi, of Bethlehem, Pa.
"I reached out to Ben in an email and said Baltimore was a great opportunity to be part of the umbrella organization," she said.
According to Soccer Without Borders executive director Mary McVeigh, cities that want to participate must demonstrate a need and "a community buy-in" to the program.
"It's been so well received," McVeigh said of the Baltimore program. "Jill reached out to all the local actors in the community, so it's a really grass roots-level program and that's all because of her. She saw the need and reached out to local leaders, coaches and participants and pieced it all together."
Pardini said soccer was a natural fit for an after-school program for refugee children, who don't know one another's languages and culture.
"Soccer is one environment where they feel confident," she said. "It's a great outlet, and it's a safe space."
She also discusses with the team members the challenges they face because of differences ranging from religion to clothing to personal lifestyle choices.
"They're hanging out with (people from) their own community and those very different from them. And we have discussions about that," she said.
The umbrella organization provides Pardini with the local website and money to pay referees, soccer association fees, bus rentals and snacks, among other expenses.
Coach and counselor
Pardini, a former University of Iowa soccer player who is certified as a referee and has a coaching license, plays the role of coach, driver, counselor and people herder — and all as a volunteer. She estimates that her involvement with Soccer Without Borders consumes 30 to 40 hours of her week, in addition to her full-time job as an education consultant for the Teaching Institute for Excellence in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education.
Sometimes constricted by language barriers, she offers the players guidance during the two-hour practices as best she can, through demonstrations and hand motions, and through the translations of the other players.
When she called the first day of practice in mid-June, 40 guys showed up.
"Each group would be talking among themselves; you'd have the Iraqis, the French-speaking Africans all together. Now, they're all practicing and warming up together," she said. "At first, they didn't identify together as a community that they shared as a common element of being a refugee."
Birendra Rai, 14, a ninth-grader at Digital Harbor High School, has embraced the opportunity to play on the team.
Originally from Bhutan, Rai came to America with his parents, five brothers and four sisters from Nepal in 2008. They lived first in Georgia before settling in Baltimore last year.
"When we first came, we didn't know English," he said.
He said that although he and his siblings have since become fluent, his parents still do not understand the language.
