Soccer could have saved us

I come from a low income community. For many of us, soccer was the one thing that kept us away from trouble. There were many talented players on the team but, due to lack of resources and money, we never had the opportunity to grow as soccer players. Instead, we began shifting our focus to more unhealthy habits once we saw that our soccer careers had hit a ceiling.

 

There is nobody to blame but ourselves for the paths we chose to pursue. But I cannot help but wonder, if we had received a little more support and had been given more opportunities... would we have become the athletes we had dreamed of being? Or, even if we did not make it in the soccer world, would we have become better and more successful individuals?

The reality is that we come from a community where we have to work twice as hard just to be at an even playing field with some of our peers/competition. That is just how things are. The people who were born with a little more did not ask to be born with more, and the people born with less did not ask to be born with less. So there is nobody to blame.

But there is something I can do. I can help create an opportunity that will put those people who were born with a little less in a place that will give them a fair chance at success.

In 2016 I started IBLV(I Believe) and our mission is to inspire individuals to become the person they are meant to be, and to help the undeserved members of our communities have access to a fair chance at success. 

On March 3rd, the IBLV Family and I will be doing the 4x4x24 running challenge (run 4 miles every 4 hours for 24 hours). The purpose of this challenge is to help raise money for a local youth soccer team called Vancity. Many of these players come from low income families and cannot afford to cover all the expenses involved in being part of the team. The goal with this challenge/fundraiser is to help cover all, if not at least some of the team's expenses.