Street Soccer is about having fun, getting fit, making friends, finding connections to jobs and housing, and working on decreasing substance use, but somehow we just have fun and the other parts mostly take care of themselves.

That is the motto of the Vancouver Street Soccer League. For my 30 Days Of Kindness today I partnered with Fairware, whose mantra is “products with purpose”. So it was no surprise to me when I got a tweet from the co-owners Sarah and Denise asking if they could be a part of my kind acts campaign.

Read more and check out some photos.

The Whitecaps and Vancouver Street Soccer League are waging a relentless around-the-clock online campaign to secure $10,000 for the grassroots sports program and recognition for its outgoing president Alan Bates.

The professional soccer club nominated Bates for the league-wide 2012 W.O.R.K.S. Community MVP, a Major League Soccer charitable initiative now in its fifth year that addresses social inequality and promotes health through sport.

“He’s really deserving of this community award,” said Whitecaps ambassador and former national team player Carl Valentine. “We want it so much for him because he deserves it and obviously, the money that comes in will enable him to do a lot more for homeless soccer. We’ll be doing everything in our power to make sure that happens.”

Ever the team player, Bates recognized it might be his name on the ballot but said the honour is shared.

“It’s unfortunate that they had to put one person’s name down because we’re all about being a team of volunteers and a team of street soccer players who work together and that’s the way that we’re approaching this contest,” he said. “We’ve got a huge team of people voting over and over and over and over. It’s fun that way—it’s another team activity that we’re working on together.”

Teams from around the league name a candidate who makes a difference in their town. Online voting began last week. The winner claims the cash prize, a chance to see the MLS all-star game in Philadelphia.

Since supporters can vote more than once, street soccer players, volunteers and supporters are furiously voting as often as they can sit down at a computer.

Valentine has voted, and the street soccer league hosted a voting party Monday afternoon at the W2 Media Lab in Woodward’s after a handful of Whitecaps players joined them for a scrimmage at Oppenheimer Park.

On a Facebook page created to drum up support and motivate voters, players joke about launching midnight and morning “attacks” and coordinating their efforts to pick off competitors. “No. 1 and No. 2 are right in front of us,” said one voter. “I can smell them.”

The ploys are playful but not in jest since $10,000 is at stake.

Out of 19 nominations, Bates jumped from 12th to seventh and, over the weekend, crept into fifth and then fourth. On Tuesday morning, he sat third behind nominees from the Philadelphia Union and FC Dallas.

Voting closes at 2 p.m. Friday, July 13 and can be done HERE.

Like the calm at the centre of a storm, Bates is one of the street soccer league’s primary administrators, its technical director, and coach of the Portland FC men’s team. He is also the league’s president, although he is leaving the volunteer position and the league will hire a part-time executive director. Professionally, he is a psychiatrist.

He is appreciative of the Whitecaps and its charitable foundation, both which have contributed time, money, equipment and game tickets to the league.

“Sometimes, what I’ve heard some street soccer players say is that it’s nice to feel like you’re someone important,” said Bates. “Just with some of the problems street soccer players run into with poverty, mental illness and addictions, sometimes there are feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness that set in and if you’ve got the Whitecaps to come visit you, you’re not nobody.”

His dedication to the city’s marginalized and disenfranchised has created opportunities where none existed before, said Debbie Krull, a goalkeeper who tended net for Team Canada at the Homeless World Cup in Paris last summer.

“He is calm and quiet and has endured numerous instances of extreme violence and character assassinations. And he’s completely calm. Because of that perseverance, the league has grown,” she said, noting the rise of a women’s program and a team called Phoenix.

“Not only does he create space for the league, he creates space for each player to share their personal challenges. The fact that men are openly disclosing and making themselves open to him to share, that’s really quite amazing and rare, especially in sport. He’s creating that space where men feel safe and can overcome their challenges. Not just men, women, too. The fact that I have this opportunity to talk to you and express this—even this is one of the outcomes of Alan’s perseverance.”

Along with self-control and a wellspring of self-esteem, Virgil Goosehead discovered his latent ball-handling talent after he joined Portland FC.

In an email to the Courier, Goosehead wrote, “Coach Alan has given me a new understanding of soccer, how it’s played, rules, and most of all PRIDE!! He has taught me that a ball can change the world, and how to deal with my anger on and off the field. I admire his kindness and passion to help street people.”

Through the street soccer league, Goosehead secured housing and now plays for a team he helped found, the Station Street Express. Along with Krull, he represented Canada at last year’s Homeless World Cup. (Full disclosure: I also volunteer with the league.)

“I’m voting for Alan because if it wasn’t for him, a lot of us street soccer players would have never experienced the things we’ve done. Without Street Soccer I wouldn’t have a clue what I’d be doing.”

The Whitecaps partnership with the Street Soccer League started about four years ago when the club’s alumni team played the Vancouver Dream Catchers, the inaugural team and the impetus for the league that followed.

Valentine played in that early game. He said the changes he’s seen from individuals has been remarkable.

“You get to hear some of the stories and the journeys they’ve had and where they are now. You go back again and you see the transition. Some of the players that have come from that world where they’re just down and out—there’s just nothing for them—and you give them a lift, give them a healthy outlook on life and it just really is incredible.”

The Whitecaps ambassador pointed to the source of the league’s growth and its individual and international accomplishments: “I think he’s got everything to do with it—Alan’s passion and his desire to give people another chance at life.

Read more: http://www.vancourier.com/sports/Street+soccer+president+named+community/6913177/story.html#ixzz20GIFcH1Q

The president of the Vancouver Street Soccer League, Bates is the Whitecaps nominee for the MLS Community MVP project, which includes nominees from 19 clubs across the league and will, based on fan voting, give $10,000 to the winner’s charity of choice.

Voting at the official MLS Soccer website began on July 2, and concludes Friday at 2 p.m.

As of Wednesday morning, Bates was third in the polls.

Bates feels that giving those people affected by homelessness an outlet such as soccer can pay dividends for both the individuals, and society as a whole.

“We find, through street soccer, people can get better housing, they get employment, it builds their confidence and improves their health,” he said.

Bates has even submitted the abstract research to the UBC psychiatry department and presented his findings at a conference in Honolulu.

The full results have yet to be published, but the abstract report indicates that of the 63 self-reports collected by Vancouver Street Soccer, 46 per cent of those players say they have seen an improvement in their physical health since joining the league.

Forty-two per cent said their mental health had also improved.

Street soccer has been in Vancouver for the last four years, said Bates. Players range from 15 years of age to 55, and both men and women can play. There are now nine teams that make up the VSSL.

Most of the players in the local league come from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, but there are teams from Surrey and North Vancouver, as well.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/Street+soccer+league+president+Community+award/6913134/story.html#ixzz20GHwxIQI

Alan Bates has seen it first-hand many times.

And thanks to that the former Tsawwassen soccer player is in the running for a $10,000 charitable donation to help others enjoy the “beautiful game”  and improve their fortunes.

Bates, who attended Cliff Drive Elementary school and graduated from South Delta Secondary, is the Vancouver Whitecaps‘ nominee in the Major League Soccer Community MVP Award, on on-line competition seeking votes from fans across North America.

A resident psychiatrist at UBC Bates founded the Vancouver Street Soccer League for those affected by homelessness.

Every Sunday Bates, who works in some of the medical clinics and hospitals on the Downtown Eastside, leads the practice for Portland FC—named after the Portland Hotel Society, one of the city’s largest social housing providers.

And many of those who show up to kick the ball around for fun experience plenty of other benefits.

“I was never an elite soccer player but definitely recognized the game’s potential to help people with their self confidence and identity,” said Bates, a right-sided fullback who was a member of the Tsawwassen Cougars team that was one of the first Tsawwassen teams to win a provincial title. “And I think that’s why it works with the street soccer players.”

Bates said there has been research done at UBC on the effects of participating in the street soccer league that showed the players ultimately found better housing, got employment, reduced their drug use, made friends and got into trouble with the police less often.

“We’re seeing all of these positives effects of just having friends, a social network, and being part of a team,” Bates said.

Bates, 35, discovered street soccer through Facebook four years ago and volunteered as a coach for Vancouver’s first street soccer team called the Dreamcatchers.

And as he saw the positive affects mount he became more involved with the league and is now its president.

One of those players who showed a remarkable turnaround was Patrick Oldman who captained Bates’ team that played in the Homeless World Cup in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2010.

“He (Oldman) just started playing soccer that year—he’d never played before—and just a month or two ago he completed the Vancouver Marathon,” Bates said. “So, physical fitness and soccer have become an integral part of his life, and he’s really changed things around.”

Bates said seeing the transformation many undergo is “awesome.”

“It’s not only on the field seeing them develop skills and fitness. All these players, men and women, hang out together off the field as well. And when I’m walking through the Downtown Eastside in my job as a doctor I see guys wearing soccer jerseys and hanging out together. And it’s really become part of their identity.”

To vote for Bates in the MLS Works Award competition visit mlssoccer.com/mlsworks/community-mvp/vote.

Bates is currently in third place in the standings. Voting ends Friday (July 13) at 2 p.m.

http://video.citytv.com/video/detail/1727359633001.000000/jody-talks-with-bob-lenarduzzi-and-alan-bates/

All that’s standing between Alan Bates and a $10,000 prize for charity is an online vote – and you can help.

The resident psychiatrist at the University of B.C. is taking a real-world approach to helping Vancouver’s home-less – founding a Street Soccer league to help them play their way to a better life.

“Sometimes people get more out of playing on a field than coming into an office and telling me what’s wrong,” said Bates, who signed up as a volunteer for the Vancouver Dreamcatchers four years ago and never looked back.

“At soccer, I’m just a coach.

“We did a study at UBC – the players make more friends, they get better housing.

“But I think it would be a lot less popular if it was portrayed as a medical pro-gram.

“It’s just a soccer team.”

Bates’ volunteer post led him to found

Vancouver’s Street Soccer league – now nine teams strong – and every Sunday finds him coaching the Portland FC team.

Bates said soccer is an obvious fit in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a people’s game with no upfront costs where every Sunday he’s out on the pitch playing.

“All you need is a ball and you’ve got the beautiful game,” said the 35-year-old doctor.

For his efforts, Bates is now the Vancouver Whitecaps’ nominee for the Major League Soccer Community MVP Award, which carries a $10,000 first prize and is now being put to an online vote.

“We strongly believe that soccer is

important,” said Rachel Lewis, Chief Operating Officer of Whitecaps FC.

“He’s using soccer as a vehicle for improving their lives, and that’s fantastic.

“Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money for an organization like this. We’re proud to support this nomination, and we’re encouraging people to vote.”

Bates made a small move Tuesday – from 13th to 12th – in the online contest, currently led by nominee Andrew Pock-lington of the Philadelphia Union.

To enter your vote, go to mlssoccer. com/mlsworks/community-mvp/vote and click on the blue vote button.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/sports/soccer/euro2012/Whitecaps+nominate+street+coach/6881153/story.html#ixzz1zhVQSLEK

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Metta World Peace, a Los Angeles Lakers NBA player formerly known as Ron Artest has been vacationing in Vancouver and last night his agenda included a game of street soccer at Oppenheimer park on the east side.

The player tweeted early yesterday morning calling his fans to join him at the Vancouver Street Soccer League, an organization that helps the high risk community.

Metta has his own nonprofit organization, Xcel University, which helps promote mental health awareness to at risk communities and schools, helping children have a healthy and positive lifestyle, according to a post on ronartest.com

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Video+Metta+World+Peace+plays+street+soccer+Vancouver+Downtown+Eastside/6783384/story.html#ixzz1zbLUJgzH

The Dance Party Promo from Colin Askey on Vimeo

The Love Promo from Colin Askey on Vimeo

The Warrior Promo from Colin Askey on Vimeo.

They dropped by to watch and encourage players from the Homeless World Cup team Thursday morning during their training at Andy Livingston Park.

Paula Armstrong, a player on the women’s street soccer team, said it meant a lot to them to meet the players from Team Canada.

“It’s out of this world,” she said. “It’s beyond anything I could’ve imagined coming from the Downtown Eastside and being involved with drugs and poverty.”

Omar Duran, who dropped in to play with his friends on the street soccer team, said the unexpected visitors distracted him from the morning scrimmage.

“They were all very friendly and nice,” he said. “They’re telling us they were nervous for (the game against Mexico), and excited as well.”

“I had my heart divided because I’m Canadian and Mexican,” Duran added. “I told them that and they were like, ‘You have to decide if you’re going to cheer for Canada or Mexico.’ In the end, they won my heart and I’m going to cheer for Canada.”

North Delta’s Chelsea Buckland, a forward for the national team, said the team is in a positive mindset and pumped up to play on Friday.

“There’s definitely the pressure of playing against a great Mexico squad,” she said. “Their fan base is going to be up to par with our Canadian fans.”

“This is do-or-die,” Buckland added. “We’re going to put everything on the line because this is it. This game is the determination if we go to the Olympics or not.”

Click here to read more.

For almost four years he’s been coaching soccer teams composed mostly of Vancouver street people, which has led to rewarding trips to both Rio de Janeiro and Paris for the Home-less World Cup.

Now in the psychiatric residency program at the University of B.C., Bates has transformed his love of soccer into helping provide role models for inner-city men, women, boys and girls, many of whom are waiting for someone to believe in them.

Through Vancouver Street Soccer, scores of inner-city residents, ranging from ages 15 to 54, get the chance to be on teams with players from all walks of life, some of whom end up serving as their mentors.

Playing sports together, Bates said, mentors and mentees, some of whom are dealing with drug problems, get a chance to experience “positive peer pres-sure” from their teammates, which lures them to work hard, pay attention and practise sportsmanship.

“If you got hammered the night before on drugs or alcohol, you’re not going to do well for your team the next morning,” said Bates, 34, who works closely with Portland FC. It’s a soccer squad connected to the Downtown Eastside’s Portland Hotel, which is a leader in innovative social engagement.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Being+mentor+helps+those+need+extra+guidance/5711115/story.html#ixzz1dn9VOCjM