Charlotte Observer Logo

This soccer team's goal is helping the area's homeless | Charlotte Observer

×
  • E-edition
  • Customer Service
  • Advertise
  • Newsletters

    • News
    • Local
    • Crime
    • Databases
    • Education
    • Election
    • Politics
    • Nation/World
    • Special Reports
    • North Carolina
    • South Carolina
    • Corrections
    • Columnists
    • Retro Charlotte
    • Your Schools
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Sports
    • Carolina Panthers
    • Charlotte Hornets
    • That's Racin'
    • High Schools
    • College Sports
    • Charlotte Knights/MLB
    • Other Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Inside the Panthers
    • Inside the NBA
    • Prep Insiders
    • Scott Fowler
    • Tom Sorensen
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The North Carolina Influencer Series
    • RNC 2020
    • Business
    • Banking
    • Stocks Center
    • Top Workplaces
    • National Business
    • What's in Store
    • Development
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Living
    • Religion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Family
    • Home & Garden
    • CLT Style
    • Travel
    • Living Here Guide
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • I'll Bite
    • Kathleen Purvis
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Arts/Culture
    • Events
    • Movie News & Reviews
    • Restaurants
    • Music/Nightlife
    • Television
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Puzzles & Games
    • Rewards
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Kevin Siers
    • Letters
    • Submit an Op-ed
    • Submit a Letter
    • Viewpoint
    • All Blogs & Columns
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • O-Pinion
    • You Write The Caption
    • Taylor Batten
    • Peter St. Onge
  • Celebrations
  • Obituaries
  • TV Listings

  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Virtual Career Fair
  • Homes
  • Classifieds
  • Place an ad
  • Mobile & Apps

  • MomsCharlotte
  • Carolina Bride Magazine
  • South Park Magazine

University City

This soccer team's goal is helping the area's homeless

By Joe Habina - Correspondent

    ORDER REPRINT →

November 13, 2011 12:00 AM

Douji Jean is in the semifinals of Central Piedmont Community College's intramural soccer tournament and nothing about him looks out of place.

He's a recent transplant from Boston - slim, fast and 20 years old, with the fancy footwork of an agile collegiate soccer player.

But he's not in college. Not at CPCC. Not anywhere. Not yet.

He's a member of Street Soccer 945, a team of men and women who are either homeless or were recently homeless.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to The Charlotte Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

The team is sponsored by the Urban Ministry Center.

CPCC intramural league coordinators invited Street Soccer 945 to give the team an opportunity to play in a recreational setting, and to raise the consciousness of college students about different populations.

Street Soccer 945 is named for the address of the Urban Ministry Center on North College Street. This is the program that sends athletes to the Homeless World Cup, a soccer tournament started in 2003 in which all of the participants represent their own countries, but live on the streets.

Since 2006, cities with similar programs have sent teams to a U.S. Cup tournament. Street Soccer 945 finished second last June.

The Urban Ministry Center is a day shelter for the homeless, providing counseling, showers, laundry, and life skill programs such as art, gardening, and a choir.

Roughly 600 people use the Center's services daily.

Pete Fink volunteered at the center for a year-and-a-half before becoming its Director of Soccer in 2009. He teaches more than just passing and dribbling. Players are required to meet with him regularly, following up on three-, six-, and 12-month goals they set for themselves.

Homeless six months ago, 23-year old Antoin Huntley, the team's broad-bodied goalkeeper, and Ayoni Williams, 22, a friend he recruited on to the team, say Street Soccer 945 became part of their therapy for getting their lives on track.

"Ever since I've been with 945 and coach (Pete Fink), I've got housing, I'm working, doing good and taking care of my (fiancée and three-month old son)," Huntley said. "They taught me how to become a good, positive person, how to man up."

"Sometimes the goals are just going back to college or finishing high school," Fink says. "We give them the option that CPCC is there."

Last spring, Street Soccer 945 won the championship in CPCC's first intramural league. Since then, two of its players have enrolled in classes and Jean is also considering attending CPCC or Johnson and Wales.

Fink says there are 15-20 active players on the team. Street Soccer 945 has played in leagues through parks and recreation and a private indoor soccer facility.

Fink says the team will likely play in an indoor men's league starting in February.

  Comments  

Videos

Prep Basketball: Ardrey Kell upsets Olympic (again) in SoMECK 7 final

West Charlotte celebrates beating North Meck for I-MECK 4A title

View More Video

Trending Stories

Mine shaft found under Charlotte house could be 150-year-old tunnel to gold

February 21, 2019 12:20 PM

NC judge throws out voter ID and income tax constitutional amendments

February 22, 2019 05:38 PM

Rick Siskey Ponzi scheme victims win final approval for payment of ‘major settlement’

February 22, 2019 02:59 PM

Did a wolf or coyote kill NC teacher? DNA tests say maybe, but experts disagree

February 22, 2019 07:44 AM

The moment of truth in the 9th District election fraud hearing

February 22, 2019 11:07 AM

things to do

Read Next

Holy bat house! Why does Cannon School’s Brainy Yaks build them better?

Lake Norman & Mooresville

Holy bat house! Why does Cannon School’s Brainy Yaks build them better?

By Jennifer Baxter

Correspondent

    ORDER REPRINT →

February 13, 2017 01:24 PM

The Brainy Yaks, a competitive robotics team for middle school students at the Cannon School in Concord, are tackling a different kind of problem with their latest project – saving the bat population.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to The Charlotte Observer

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE UNIVERSITY CITY

Eagle Scouts who earned rank in December 2016

South Charlotte

Eagle Scouts who earned rank in December 2016

January 23, 2017 07:41 AM
Adopt a pet, Jan. 16, 2017: Come see me, please, and take me home

Lake Norman & Mooresville

Adopt a pet, Jan. 16, 2017: Come see me, please, and take me home

January 16, 2017 04:08 PM
This season’s finest: Pine Lake Prep’s Caroline Coleman big scores help Pride’s perfect season going

Lake Norman & Mooresville

This season’s finest: Pine Lake Prep’s Caroline Coleman big scores help Pride’s perfect season going

January 10, 2017 09:49 AM
Adopt a pet: Come see me, please, and take me home Jan. 10, 2017

Lake Norman & Mooresville

Adopt a pet: Come see me, please, and take me home Jan. 10, 2017

January 10, 2017 10:03 AM
Adopt a pet, Dec. 13, 2016: Come see me, please, and take me home

South Charlotte

Adopt a pet, Dec. 13, 2016: Come see me, please, and take me home

December 13, 2016 08:49 AM
Religion news, Dec. 7-13, 2016: in Ballantyne, Cotswold, Pineville, Matthews and Mint Hill

South Charlotte

Religion news, Dec. 7-13, 2016: in Ballantyne, Cotswold, Pineville, Matthews and Mint Hill

December 06, 2016 10:21 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Charlotte Observer App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Photo Store
Advertising
  • Information
  • Place a Classified
Copyright
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story