Give for the Game

02/24/2017

"When you give a girl a pair of cleats, you are giving her a challenge. She is going to grow and learn, and she’s going to want to quit at times, but she is going to look down at her feet and remember why she’s doing this. She’s going to remember her teammates and her coaches and the amount of time she’s poured into this sport, and she’s going to realize that it’s worth it. She’s going to be covered in bruises and her socks are going to stink, and she’s always going to be looking for a sock or needing a hair elastic. She’s going to be tired, and she’s going to get hurt. But those cleats are going to establish lessons that she’s going to remember for the rest of her life, friends that she is going to learn to love, and discipline that she is going to be thankful for. If you’re the girl with the cleats, soak it in. Love the long practices and the exhaustion through your body and the sound of the whistle that starts the game. If you’re the girl without the cleats, go get some. Try something new. Take the risk. Sign up for the team, the musical, the club. You will regret it if you don’t. Even if you fail, few things can teach you the lessons that those cleats will."

"When you give a girl a pair of cleats, you are giving her game days. You are giving her bus rides and warm up playlists and team matching hair ribbons and orange slices at half-time and constantly looking for your water bottle on the sidelines."

02/09/2017

Back in April, Give for the Game founder Madi Williamson dropped four boxes of equipment off to an organization in Seattle where they were to be shipped to one of the biggest refugee camps in the word- Zaatari camp in Jordan is home to nearly 80,000 refugees who have been displaced by the brutal fighting in Syria. Three days later she boarded a plane and relocated to Greece for the summer to work in the camps there- always making time to jump in for a few passes of the ball with the children who called the refugee camps home. Like Lovren says, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Even on the hardest days, there has to be hope.
There are millions of stories that are heart-wrenching like this one, but our hope is that by sharing them, one story at a time, from someone we can relate to and identify with, we will be able to bring the world together.
What we do know is that football is a common and global language, we can all speak it with our feet and with our hearts.
Thank you to Liverpool FC and Dejan Lovren for sharing this story.

06/30/2015

Welcome, Mageeco!
http://giveforthegame.org/projects.html

Welcome Mageeco Football Academy from Nigeria! Mageeco has players that range in age from just five years old up to twenty-two. We are currently collecting equipment of all kinds for them....

06/30/2015

I am happy to introduce our latest project: these are academy players from Mageeco Football Academy in Nigeria. Their academy has players ranging in age from 5-22yrs. They are lacking basic equipment and are lacking matching kits for their games. Right now we are still looking for donations of ANY KIND of soccer equipment- balls, nets, cleats, jerseys, socks, shorts, whistles- you name it we will accept it! When the time comes to ship these things over to our new friends, we will also be looking for donations to help cover the costs of sending boxes or suitcases overseas. Donations can be made to our paypal account here http://giveforthegame.org/how-you-can-help.html
Thank you all so much!

12/08/2014

My football tree is up! Happy holidays to you all thank you for the support- don't forget that if a shiny new pair of boots are awaiting you under the tree, your old ones can become a great Christmas present for a player in need.

12/03/2014

Now that the soccer seasons are winding to a close, do you have any cleats or gear that have been outgrown? We'll take new or used soccer equipment to donate to players in need! Right now we have a few organizations who are requesting equipment for summer trips in 2015- please consider donating! Players like these kiddos in Sierra Leone (sponsored by Children of the Nations) really appreciate your support of their passion and yours.

09/22/2014

Spread the word! We've had lots of recent requests and are looking for more equipment ASAP!

09/22/2014

Sunday evening wisdom...

09/01/2014

Thank you all so much for the donations! The palate is headed to Sierra Leone!

08/24/2014

Just a friendly reminder for the week ahead

08/22/2014

Remember our Sierra Leone friends at Children of the Nations?
We've collected more gear to send to them! Thank you so much to the Bozo Ball community for your massive donations- thanks to you I have a truckload of balls, cleats, and other equipment- even a collapsible goal! There's still time to bring me more stuff, I'm not dropping this load off until Thursday, August 28th!

04/11/2014

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated money to our campaign on fundly! We are officially closing the fundraising campaign and were able to set aside nearly $700 to use for shipping costs of the soccer equipment we still have! If you or someone you know knows of soccer players in need of children's shoes and small men's equipment, let us know- we now have the funds to ship it there :)
I can't thank you all enough for your generosity!