 "Photo: May-Ying Lam")
Edwin, a 17-year-old from Honduras, is the only player on Austin's homeless street soccer team who has played soccer before.
Edwin is one of nearly 20 homeless Austin men who play for The Entourage, a team organized by Sabelyn Pussman, a homeless shelter volunteer from Austin who wanted to find a way to give structure, responsibility and commitment to the lives of the homeless.
"The hope is that they'll want to become coaches, too," Pussman said.
Pussman formed the team by going around Austin's Resource Center for the Homeless and asking people if they might be interested in playing. She also provides the funds for team practices, which include using a rented gym, sports equipment and a snack break.
The group is one of 12 soccer teams in the nation of its kind, according to a statement from Austin's Front Steps, the homeless advocacy organization for which Pussman volunteers.
The team has been practicing for almost a year to compete at the June 26 Homeless USA Cup in Washington, D.C. The team received a grant from Street Soccer USA, the team's main organizer, which will pay for their flights, accomodations, food, insurance and uniforms for the tournament.
Participating players from homeless teams around the country will vie for eight spots on the National Street Soccer Team, which will compete in the Homeless World Cup in Melbourne, Australia in December. Teams from 64 countries around the world are expected to participate.
But before entering the national tournament, the 11 unexperienced men from Austin will require rigorous training, Pussman said.
For the D.C. tournament, six of the players from The Entourage, who Pussman has already chosen, will be competing, though up to 20 people may show up to practice on a given day.
Austin's team, the only homeless soccer team in Texas, has two non-mandatory scheduled practices each week at the gym in St. David's Episcopal Church downtown.
"From day to day I'm not sure who's going to come," Pussman said, adding that having regular practices has been constructive for the participants.
She said the participants' lives are positively changing from attending practice: they get exercise, they're developing friendships, and they're learning. The team gives its players something to achieve when they may not otherwise have much, Pussman said. All homeless people are eligible to play.
Pussman said some players have said they want to quit smoking and eat healthier, but most just come to play, even though the team gets to travel to D.C.
Edwin, who grew up in LifeWorks, Austin's shelter for homeless children, spoke Thursday before practice through his translator and chaperone, LifeWork's volunteer Frank Baca, who will accompany him on the D.C. trip.
Edwin said the soccer team offers him a great outlet for learning: He's "getting acquainted with U.S. customs and culture," as it's important that he's "exposed to it."
A student of Literacy Austin, a free English as a second language instruction program, Edwin is learning English and working toward his GED.
The Entourage provides him with yet another social channel and, while the team itself might be the most beneficial aspect of the experience, the trip will be the most memorable, he said.
"It's exciting to go see the capital of the United States," he said. "I want to see the White House."
Austin's Street Soccer team was created by Mel Young, a Scottish entrepreneur who established the Homeless World Cup, with the greater goal of reintegrating the homeless back into society.
Pussman said practice will continue after the national tournament to build a team for next year's cup and continue to offer an avenue for self-improvement.
