SANTA BARBARA, CA, April 21, 2014- Sol Soccer Club was selected to take part in the Sports Matter Initiative which aims to raise awareness of the youth sports crisis and provide up to $2 million in matching funds via a new crowdfunding platform. If Sol SC U9 can raise half of the budget that is needed for next fall by May 23, 2014, the DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation will match the other half. The catch is, they only get funding if they hit their goal of $7,590.
Sports participation has a positive impact on girls’ long-term health, educational success, and employment. Financial problems that prevent participation means a lot of lost health and educational opportunities for girls. In September 2013 The Insight Center for Community Economic Development published “A Snapshot of Poverty in Santa Barbara County.” The most troubling finding was that “more than 1 in every 5 children are living in high poverty areas.” These communities are struggling to ensure that all families have access to the kinds of services and opportunities that promote these benefits of sports participation. As members of the Sol SC U9 the girls will be connected to the larger soccer community. This community offers positive, physically active, female soccer playing role models that they may not otherwise be exposed to. The Sol U9 Team is in many ways an effort to break down financial barriers and give girls an early and positive introduction into sports so that they may have the opportunity to succeed in life and also within their communities.
“Not being able to afford the basic costs of participation, such as shoes and shinguards, leaves these girls off a team and without a place to play,” said d’Alary Dalton, Coach of the Sol SC U9 team. “With this grant and the generous support of the community, girls who want the opportunity to play soccer will have one.”
