Sports Reporting Story 4: Local Soccer Club Helps with Program for Refugees in Greece

Catherine “Cat” Wallace looked down at the ground and thought for a second when asked what she took away most from her four months in Greece setting up a soccer program for Afghan and Pakistani refugees. It was the longest time she took to answer a question.

Her answer was understandably long as she recounted stories she heard from the refugees during her time with them. One story, she told of a child coming from Afghanistan where the Taliban is killing civilians for no reason forcing his family to flee to Greece and are now stuck there.

“Who am I to be afraid of this 14-year-old boy who has been through hell and back,” she said. She ended her answer saying the most impactful thing was “don’t let social media, don’t let the media in general, determine your beliefs, or your thoughts, on individuals who have parents, or had parents, who have families who want something better, but they haven’t been given the opportunities because they live in a country that has been war-torn their entire lives.”

Courtesy of Samaritan's Purse

It was a deep thought from someone who Samaritan’s Purse hired to help set up a soccer program for the refugee children. Cat, head women’s varsity soccer coach at Watauga High School now, was sent to Greece for four months to create the program and get it running. She said she used her experience coaching with High Country Soccer Association, the local youth soccer club in Boone, as well as help from her husband and Director of Coaching for HCSA, Christopher “Kiki” Wallace, to create the practice plans and train the coaches; many of whom had never played or coached soccer before.

Chase Perry dribbles past his opponent for the u12 Boys Navy team in their game on Saturday.

The International Headquarters of Samaritan’s Purse is located in Boone and Cat said they started sending dart teams early on in the refugee crisis in Greece. A little over a year after beginning to send dart teams, she said they created an official office there, Samaritan’s Purse Greece, which works with the government and provides full time aid.

Part of that aid, is working with major groups, Cat mentioned United Nations, to help fund and create programs in the area. One of the programs they decided on was a soccer program, and that, Cat said, is where she came in. She said it started with a four-month pilot program to see how it would work.

Catherine Wallace gives much of her coaching experience to HCSA, but said she did more of running the program herself than actual coaching in Greece. She says her husband Kiki Wallace joked with her that she was going to see some of the things that he deals with running HCSA. She quickly followed up saying it was also very different between the language barrier, new country and inexperienced coaches.

Ben White dribbles downfield for the u12 Boys Navy team in their game on Saturday.

When she knew she was going to be running the program, Catherine Wallace said she was doing a lot of the things internationally that her husband is doing in Boone. She said setting the curriculum and practice plans was where Kiki and HCSA really supported and helped her. “It was daily bouncing ideas off of each other, getting advice from him and figuring it out,” she said.

Courtesy of Samaritan's Purse

Cat said that Kiki really helped her make practice plans and things easy for coaches who didn’t really know soccer. She also said that she had to tailor the philosophy to emphasize effort, respect and work ethic over efficiency and effectiveness.

“We wanted to develop their skills but it was more an emphasis on developing them personally,” Cat said.

Kiki also went to Greece to coach in the program for a week. He recalled a practice in which some kids showed up wanting to play who did not have the proper clearance to do so. “Two in particular, decided to be as disruptive and annoying as possible to our training session,” he said in an email. He said it was far from what he was used to as he could not discipline the kids, had no authority over them and had no parents to ask to come control them.

Courtesy of Samaritan's Purse

Kiki said for the ones who were part of the program, “soccer brought them joy.” “They wanted to continue to play and so you knew it was having a positive impact in their daily life and brought them joy,” he said.

Chase Perry wins the ball in the air in the u12 Boys Navy team's game Saturday