For international studies and sociology junior Cynthia Ballesteros, soccer has always been a part of life.
“I come from a soccer background, and have been playing since I was five,” Ballesteros said. “All of my sisters play, I”m one of five girls, and so every time I go home, there”s at least two or three soccer games going on.”
Ballesteros said a summer trip to Togo after her freshman year at University of Idaho sparked her interest in the soccer culture there, and how she could get involved.
“The project I thought to do was because of how much passion for soccer I”ve seen,” she said. “The first time I went (to Togo) our professor suggested we take like clothes, or whatever we thought would be good to donate. He suggested school supplies.”
She said that after seeing the difference handing out these supplies made on the communities they visited, mixed with experiencing the soccer culture there, she said she began to have a passion for the people playing all around her.
“My first trip was during the World Cup,” she said. “I don”t think I”ve ever been in a place that was so passionate for soccer, and it was just really a part of the culture.”
Ballesteros said the importance of regular donations such as school supplies and everyday items are essential to the people who receive them, but that soccer gear was a way for her to connect something that she was passionate about and give it to kids who shared that passion for the game.
“The idea came to me when I was at a soccer game for my sister and cousins, and I was just sitting there when it hit me,” said Ballesteros.
She said that she had never planned for it to turn into an actual project – maybe just a few different pieces of gear that she could give out after a soccer game or something, she said. But after receiving a message from a friend which explained that his soccer team had come together and raised $150 to buy a whole team jerseys, that the idea had transformed itself into something bigger.
“The hope is that this will help out not just one specific place, but different areas,” she said.
Will Meyer can be reached at [email protected]