Playing (Soccer) For Change in Nicaragua

As the only building that stands three floors high on Calle Santa Lucia, or even in the surrounding area, 'La Casa de Tres Pisos' (The house with 3 floors) is often the only description you need to provide when telling someone how to find the Fútbol Sin Fronteras community center. As one walks down the colorful streets of Santa Lucia, Tres Pisos truly stands out... if not for its height than for the buzz of excited teams and coaches laughing and shouting and the sound of soccer balls being juggled in front of the building. Through the years this tall, thin building has become an icon of the program and home to locals and visitors alike.

After many years in the now famous Tres Pisos, FSF made the move earlier this month to a new and improved building - this time to una casa con dos pisos (a house with two floors)! With the move to a new space comes the opportunity to provide more resources to both our players and staff. In our new home, there are 9 separate rooms that will be utilized as offices and meeting spaces for our coaches and program coordinators, storage space for our growing teams, quiet study spaces for academic support hours, and more facilities and bathrooms available for players changing into soccer gear before heading to the pitch. The building, which previously served as a hotel, even has a courtyard that our program has quickly begun to utilize as a space for team building activities and larger community events.

Amid this exciting development for Fútbol Sin Fronteras and the bustle of our ongoing programming is the larger context of the current situation in Nicaragua and the tremendous impact it has had, particularly on young people across the country. In this context, and thanks to the efforts of our mentor-coaches, FSF has made adjustments to program schedules so that we are able to continue to provide consistent support to our players and the football community within Granada. Crucial to providing that stability and consistency for our players is ongoing access to a safe, secure, girls-only space. Although we’ll be leaving the old murals of Tres Pisos behind and trading in three floors for two, we are excited to bring the community and sense of family that is Fútbol Sin Fronteras—Granada into our new home just a few more doors down Calle Santa Lucia.

Links:

• Read BBC Sport's article featuring FSF Granada
• Listen to BBC Sportshour's interview with Mary McVeigh Connor
• For more program updates follow FSF on Facebook