Athlete-Turned Youth Advocate Guides Harlem Youth Toward Pro Soccer Stardom
Offering intramural and recreational leagues and an elite boys travel team, FC Harlem hopes to improve personal outcomes for youth in need by exposing them to the physical discipline and teamwork model of soccer. The club is also gaining acclaim for guiding its gifted young players to national and international visibility. From arranging hard-to-get tryouts with professional teams to connecting players with agents who can expose them to both Major League Soccer decision-makers and European teams coaches, FC Harlem is leaving an indelible mark on youth soccer.
New York, NY (PRWEB) May 12, 2009
Passion and personality are the hallmarks of Irv Smalls, Jr., who arrived as the Executive Director of FC Harlem in 2007 and has since worked tirelessly to leverage his personal and professional networks for the elite soccer club's benefit. Under Smalls' leadership, FC Harlem has blossomed, attracting media attention, celebrity-hosted soccer clinics and praise from the local communities it serves.
Offering intramural and recreational leagues for both boys and girls as well as an elite boys travel team, the Harlem-based non-profit hopes to improve personal outcomes for youth in need by exposing them to the physical discipline and teamwork model of soccer. The non-profit has also recently launched a multi-year marketing and fundraising strategy that will build upon the club's popularity and reputation for producing talented, academically strong, civic-minded athletes.
The club is also gaining acclaim for guiding its gifted young players to national and international visibility. From arranging hard-to-get tryouts with professional teams to connecting players with agents who can expose them to both Major League Soccer (MLS) decision-makers and European teams coaches, FC Harlem is leaving an indelible mark on youth soccer.
A former Penn State Nittany Lions football champion himself, Smalls arrived at FC Harlem (formerly the Harlem Junior Soccer Association) with little fanfare, choosing instead to focus on player development and earning the confidence of the Harlem and South Bronx neighborhoods that most of the club's players call home. Family by family, Smalls galvanized the community and energized local youth recreation by making soccer a viable option.
Prior to his role with FC Harlem, Smalls worked as the Contracts & Intellectual Property Advisor in the Business & Legal Affairs Department at Major League Soccer (MLS). This role, and the access it provided to key advocates and decision-makers within the sport, enabled Smalls to garner major support for the club from all over the country, and even the world -- as evidenced by an August 2007 soccer clinic that soccer megastar David Beckham led for FC Harlem.
A few months later, the club's inaugural fundraising event, a March 2008 "Streets to Fields" gala in New York City sponsored by MLS and the U. S. Soccer Foundation, honored Beckham and Pele and raised $500,000 for a first-of-its-kind mini-soccer field complex to be used for futsal, or street soccer. The futsal fields, slated for construction in Harlem's Riverside Park under the West Side Highway, should be completed in Fall 2009.
Other soccer stars, celebrities and public officials such as Steve Nash, Samuel Eto, Edgar Davids, Thierry Henry, and former Presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush have also acknowledged the efforts of FC Harlem.
In the midst of the acclaim, Smalls has pledged to continue addressing the holistic development of the youth most in need by providing them with the values and skills needed to be successful contributors to society and role models in their communities, or L. I.O. N.S. (Leaders In Our Neighborhoods). Other key initiatives Smalls plans for the club include the Lion Share Partnership Program™, which will forge community, regional, national and international partnerships with organizations to leverage FC Harlem's B. A.S. I.C™ (Building Athletic Social and Intellectual Capacity) model in the areas of academic achievement, self-esteem and social interaction, character/leadership development, cultural awareness and community service, and nutrition and healthy lifestyles.
Smalls' vision for FC Harlem is to make it the first elite, inner city soccer academy in the United States. "Soccer is an accessible option for any child, but here in the United States the game developed a suburban Saturday morning ritual stereotype. It never caught on like basketball or American football," said Smalls. "It will be a journey, but I am convinced that soccer will be a force of social change in urban neighborhoods."
Smalls would like to see the academy take the form of a unique school model that has a dual focus of developing top soccer players and student athletes. The academy will include a training facility and community center, which Smalls hopes to open in 2014. The facility will hold administrative offices, computer suites, classrooms, recreational and training areas, a cafeteria, indoor soccer and futsal fields and a retail/pro shop. This sports complex will be the home of FC Harlem's elite travel clubs and will allow the non-profit to facilitate all its programs on a year-round basis. The club's Harlem location and clientele promise to make this facility the first soccer complex of its kind in the US.
FC Harlem programs are guided by the organization's philosophy that all kids need the fundamental and foundational support of their families and community for their personal development. Through responsible instruction, FC Harlem will challenge and encourage our youth through team sports, specifically soccer, to be persons of upstanding moral character who seek to achieve their highest potential academically and athletically, treating all persons with respect. For more information or to make a donation, please visit http://www. fcharlemlions. com (http://www. fcharlemlions. com).
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