Every four years, the FIFA World Cup draws the passionate attention of some 1 billion soccer fans around the globe as 32 nations battle for the coveted title of world champion.
Substantially less attention is paid to the fact that approximately the same number of people wander the earth's streets homeless at any given time, racked by intense personal battles and often struggling for basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter.
"Kicking It" is a new documentary film which uses the story of another international soccer tournament to call attention to the plight of those oft-forgotten faces, joining six unique personalities from around the world on their journey from the margins of their societies to the 2006 Homeless World Cup in South Africa, working towards lives of stability and structure with the help of the beautiful game.
Guided by the "filmanthropy" concept coined by producer Ted Leonsis, owner of the NHL's Washington Capitals and a former top AOL executive, "Kicking It" was exhaustively shot by director Susan Koch and innovatively promoted with the goal of not only sharing the stories of its protagonists, but spreading awareness about the underlying issues and calling a wider population to action.
"We believe, very importantly and very deeply, that homelessness is a huge worldwide issue, and that sports is a tremendous tool for redemption, really," said Rick Allen, another of the film's producers and chief executive of the newly launched SnagFilms, which is using internet technology to encourage the "viral" spreading of the film and its message.
"The dynamics of the team sport are tremendously helpful for all people, including those who are most severely disadvantaged, to reclaim their own identities in the context of the team -- really begin to get their lives together and to advance their own aspirations through the dynamic of sports," said Allen. "It's something that Ted and I have always believed in, and we thought this was a wonderful representation of it, and that the individuals involved were really incredibly impressive."
In the United States, the homeless soccer movement began in North Carolina, where two brothers who'd played soccer their entire lives turned to their beloved sport as a way to improve the lives of down-and-out youths on the mean streets of Charlotte who were grappling with drug abuse, poverty and traumatic pasts.
"Soccer made sense in this context because we had a lot of guys who were immigrants, maybe hadn't mastered the language but soccer was something they did well. And then for a lot of guys, soccer was like a fresh start: there was no baggage or expectations," said founder Lawrence Cann. "We were really successful in engaging 18- to 24-year-olds -- older people as well, but folks that had kind of aged out of group homes and were on the street, were disconnected, hadn't had really typical childhoods."
Soon Lawrence's younger brother Rob, a teammate of D.C. United midfielder Clyde Simms at East Carolina University, came on board as the idea of assembling a U.S. team to compete in the Homeless World Cup (HWC) -- which debuted in Scotland in 2003 -- took shape.
Like Simms, who had to take an unorthodox path to MLS by gaining exposure as a replacement national team call-up during a 2005 labor dispute, Rob Cann believed he had unfinished business in the sport after his college career ended, and soon found his calling as a coach in homeless soccer. This December, he will lead a U.S. team featuring eight players from seven cities into the next HWC in Melbourne, Australia.
"The feeling that Clyde and I both had was, we didn't feel like our soccer careers were going to come to an end," he said, noting that ECU disbanded its men's soccer program soon after his departure. "It didn't seem right."
One of Cann's most remarkable players, a young Charlotte man named Craig Holley, was one of six HWC participants profiled by Koch in "Kicking It," along with players from Ireland, Kenya, Russia, Afghanistan and Spain. A victim of child abuse, Holley found himself on the streets as a teenager, and though he'd never played the game before joining Cann's squad, soccer soon became a positive influence and an abiding passion.
"It did a great job of really showing the struggles and hardships that Craig has gone through, and how soccer and the community around the soccer team has been a stabilizing thing for him, whereas before he just had no outlets for his anger and his frustrations with life," said Rob Cann. "He's at a community here with our program where he's formed relationships that are based on trust and people he knows really care about him."
Craig and his colleagues were given another boost at the Homeless USA Cup in downtown Washington, D.C. earlier this summer, a national street soccer championship event also bankrolled in large part by Leonsis. D.C. United star Ben Olsen attended the premiere of "Kicking It," as did Simms, and Olsen conducted a two-hour clinic and spent the better part of an afternoon getting to know tournament participants, who also got to watch United take on David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy at RFK Stadium the next day.
Lawrence Cann warmly praised Olsen's "generous spirit" but it was the 10-year MLS veteran who left feeling humbled, even making light of the chronic, painful ankle troubles which have kept him sidelined virtually all season.
"These guys are coming from the streets and drug problems and trying to wean off drugs or deal with anger issues, just some heavy stuff. And for them to come together through this great sport of ours -- it was a great movie," said Olsen. "Selfishly, it puts my situation in perspective. Those guys would love to have the opportunities that we have, playing this sport that we love and they now love."
In bringing their cameras into the lives of complicated, often sensitive individuals like Holley, Koch and her crew had to earn their trust, relying on volumes of patience and understanding along the way as she won over players and advocates alike.
"Sometimes it kind of brought up a lot of their old issues that we had been working on," said Lawrence Cann. "They got angry at times, and you see in the movie, especially in some of the earlier footage Susan shot, not very open and more confrontational. But Susan was really persistent and came back again and again, and really listened to Craig, and in the end, the same thing that Susan offered in her constant friendship, I think that's what the soccer offers."
Koch has described it as "a leap of faith," but her risk-taking drew the attention and backing of Leonsis and resulted in the series of moving portraits that drive "Kicking It."
"When you're making a film about people who pretty much by definition have gone through very difficult times in their lives, and who tend, as a variety of individuals say in the context of the film itself, tend to have low self-esteem and a range of other personal issues, gaining the trust of your film subjects is even more difficult," said Allen. "And I think it's really remarkable that Susan and Neil Barrett, who was the director of cinematography, were so successful in doing so ... that's the mark of a really good filmmaker."
"Kicking It" won plaudits at the illustrious Sundance Film Festival in January, at which time the producers' original promotional arrangement with ESPN was augmented by two more high-profile deals with Liberation Entertainment and Netflix.
"There were 9,000 films submitted to Sundance this year, and 118 of them were accepted to the festival, 38 of which were documentaries," said Allen. "And at the festival, only seven films got any distribution deals at all. We were one of the seven, and we got three deals. So we felt very, very good about what that said about Susan's film, and about the appeal of the topic."
The movie brought much-deserved attention to the Homeless World Cup and its fast-growing feeder network of local street soccer leagues. But Leonsis and his cohorts have also designed a grassroots-oriented promotional system to catch the imagination of soccer fans and homeless fans alike, helping to drum up financial support and spark community involvement.
"We've created the opportunity for folks who see the film and are moved by it, to donate to the Homeless World Cup, and/or to the charities of the six characters who feature in the film. And we took that model and applied in a broad way to SnagFilms," said Allen. "So individuals can treat this as pure entertainment and watch the film, or they can become engaged at any level."
MLSnet.com allows visitors to not only view "Kicking It" but to also embed the trailer and preview in their own pages and blogs. They can support the cause with online donations. It's an approach that Leonsis, Allen and company hope can spread knowledge and awareness far beyond conventional promotion methods.
"We tried to put those groups together and without the film, and without Ted's leadership, it would've been very challenging to pull off what we did," said Lawrence Cann. "So we're just really grateful. ... It's just been amazing, the way we've been treated and the way our guys feel dignified by the film."
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