“I want them to feel what I felt as a player in Poland”
|Image: Ole Christian Eklund
“Living as many do in really dangerous parts of Mexico, football is offering them a means of escape.”
Few people know as much about the capacity for change afforded to those who participate in a Homeless World Cup tournament as Anale Zarate Bravo.
That’s because the 26-year-old Mexican coach appeared herself as a player, captaining the team in the Polish city of Poznan at the 2013 tournament.
And for Bravo, she views her own experience as something that helps her really get across to her players how to make the most of their time in Oslo.
“I think that it really helps to have participated in the tournament before and be able to transmit this to the players, for sure. In certain moments you need to have tact with each player, and my experience is certainly helping me with that. That, and how to motivate to believe in what they can do on the park.”
Being part of the coaching team of a competing nation has its own sensations, some that differ greatly from participating as a player. Although for Bravo, it’s not easy to decide which role she enjoys more of the two.
“It’s a difficult question. Being part of the tournament as a player is something unique. While being part of it as a coach is a more ‘shared’ experience. I want that they feel what I felt as a player in Poland. That will represent a triumph for me.”
Bravo is, however, able to share in some detail the work that Street Soccer Mexico A.C does in selecting their squad of players and the effect for change their participation in the tournament can have for those lucky enough to pull on the green jersey.
“Above and beyond the tournament, our focus is on how the players conduct themselves. Independent of whether they become champions or not. For that reason, while in Mexico, all the players took part in preparations that stood apart from the sports side. We looked at the physical as well as the psychological side too.”
An importance placed on activities off the park is key, according to Bravo, in being able to see real change within the players, especially given the tough situations from which they have come or have found themselves in, and in many cases, continue to do so.
“We have some players from the Chihuahua region near the US border, where there’s a lot of drug addiction. We have some instances of that, alongside players who have slept on the streets and suffered with alcoholism. From real low points, in places considered some of the most dangerous in the country.”
Players that, given their different backgrounds and situations, have naturally required time to gel as a team, through a process Bravo admits hasn’t always been easy.
“It’s been difficult to control them sometimes because each one has their own history that they carry with them. But saying that, what is providing us with a lot of happiness is the possibility of bringing them here to live out new experiences and change their lives in the process.”
And, ultimately, central to this process of change is what gave birth to the Homeless World Cup in the first place: football.
“They are happy when they play football. Living as many do in really dangerous parts of Mexico, football is offering them a means of escape. What we are trying to do is tell them to think about other things than perhaps addiction. That they create new goals for themselves, such as studying. The Homeless World Cup is a form of change, because they have come here and are witnessing first hand a different world from what they are used to. That is enough to motivate anyone.”
Words: Craig Williams
Images: Ole Christian Eklund