Minnesota Thunder Plus Featured at MPR News Q
Thunder Plus players work out near I-94 and Dale Avenue.
Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) did a very nice feature on the Minnesota Thunder Plus today. Chris Roberts has an audio report (also in hard copy) and speaks to numerous players in the program that feel the program keeps them off the street. He also spoke with Minnesota Thunder Plus executive director Jean Paul Bigirindavyi who played soccer professionally in his native Berundi until he lost his leg in a land mine. He has also lived through both the 1993 massacres in Burundi and the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. After graduating from Gustavus Adolphus College in 1997 he earned a Master’s Degree in international peace studies from the University of Notre Dame.
The Thunder Plus Program works with immigrant children using soccer to keep them off the street and in school. It also works to use the lessons learned in soccer for conflict resolution in life.
IMS has spoken to Bigirindavyi numerous times throughout the years and he truly believes in his program and the importance of soccer in these young men’s and women’s lives. So much so that he decided to continue the Thunder Plus program even after the Thunder pro team folded last fall.
“For these kids, before they get here, their main activity, Monday through Sunday, is soccer,” said Bigirindavyi.
The articles states that Bigirindavyi had to go outside St. Paul at the last minute to reserve home fields for this summer. He says league coordinators and city officials talk a lot about how important soccer for immigrant youth is.
“But there is not a genuine desire to serve our kids,” he said. “You know I always feel when I’m asking them to access the fields it’s almost like we are a burden.”
Maybe the greatest need is for more local soccer clubs for young immigrants. Bigirindavyi knows of just three: the Minnesota Thunder Plus, a new Somali team in Minneapolis, and a Hmong club in St. Paul. He says if money were no object…
“We could easily put together two dozen teams, like that!” he said.
Please go to MPR News Q for this informative and important report.
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This is a great program and a great bunch of kids, coaches, and people involved. I’ve had the privilege to ref a number of their games and it’s a treat! It was fun to see some of the same kids doing the chuck for charity at Thunder games and chat with them about their season and just how things were going. Good stuff!
Cruz Azul MN is another club formed for and by Latino Immigrants.
95% of our players are from Mexico and Ecuador.
This is our second year in the MYSA . Financially it has been a struggle.
Because of the economic situation a majority of the players pay less then 50% of the fee that is required to pay for fields, refs, uniforms, equipment etc. Coaches often put in their own money to make it possible for these kids to play. We had to deal with sponsors that didn’t pay, coaches that were irresponsible and a Latino Culture that doesn’t mesh with the rules and principals of the MYSA.
Cruz Azul is run by Boer Soccer.
Boer Soccer also started Liga Internazionale were Latinos , Somalis , Ethiopians Liberians ,Hmongs and local teams are invited to play together at Joy of the People, Ted Kroetens new enterprise.We figured that if 10 year olds can not play soccer together in peace and unity, the world is lost.
Thanks for checking in and telling us about this Johannes. It seems there are a number of groups out there serving young minorities or immigrants in regard to soccer but they are all struggling. I have recently heard of a new organization, though I don’t think they are MYSA affiliated yet, that is starting up in NE Mpls. Also there is http://www.urbanventures.org who work with Urban Stars and even Buzz Lagos’ charter school HIgher Ground Academy where he teaches and works diligently with Somalian kids. So many needs and so few resources. Its all a little overwhelming. Thanks for all you do Johannes.
Cruz Azul came forth out of Urban Stars where I was the coaching director at the time. Funding for soccer stopped because of office politics at Urban Ventures. Sadly enough in organizations like this the mission disappears and people are just trying to hang on to their jobs and seize to care about the people they are suppose to serve. When the opportunity arose to buy the franchise rights from Cruz Azul Mexico we jumped on it and became an official “school”
We also started the world of Street Soccer (worldofstreetsoccer.com) to keep kids from all kind of backgrounds playing.
The NSC and Planet Soccer has shown an interest to work together with us. It is an exiting project, but it just started up.
Best of luck to you and Cruz Azul, Johannes. Hopefully once (if?) the economy turns around there will be more funding available to thses sorts of things…