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Over the next several weeks, we’ll reflect upon the incredible ways soccer can inspire, unite, and drive us toward a more inclusive and equitable world. Stay tuned as we share staff-selected mission moments, uplifting books and songs, memorable Soccer Without Borders (SWB) moments, and more.
From the Bay Area to Maryland, Massachusetts to Colorado, Nicaragua to Uganda, and globally through SWB Assist, an incredible team of staff members and volunteers work tirelessly to advance the mission of SWB.
These passionate and dedicated individuals, alongside the unwavering support of local families, communities, and partners, made it possible for nearly 8,000 participants to thrive in 2024—both on and off the soccer field.
Our participants, hailing from 73 countries and speaking 48 languages, include many refugee and asylum-seeking youth fleeing conflict and instability in search of safety, belonging, and a fresh start. Serving these resilient communities comes with challenges, but it also brings profound moments of inspiration.
To kick off the new year, we’re reflecting on those moments and celebrating the stories that have inspired us. Beyond the soccer fields and classrooms, our staff has found motivation in books—fiction and nonfiction works that have added perspective, energy, and hope to their days. As you explore these recommendations, we hope they become a source of inspiration for you too!
SWB Staff Reading Picks:
Solito (2022)
by Javier Zamora
“A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier Zamora’s story, but it’s also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.”
Refuge (2022)
by Heba Gowayed
“Heba Gowayed spent three years documenting the strikingly divergent journeys of Syrian families from similar economic and social backgrounds during their crucial first years of resettlement in the United States and Canada and asylum in Germany. All three countries offer a legal solution to displacement, while simultaneously minoritizing newcomers through policies that fail to recognize their histories, aspirations, and personhood. The United States stands out for its emphasis on “self-sufficiency” that integrates refugees into American poverty, which, by design, is populated by people of color and marked by stagnation. Gowayed argues that refugee human capital is less an attribute of newcomers than a product of the same racist welfare systems that have long shaped the contours of national belonging.”
A is for Asylum Seeker (2020)
by Rachel Ida Buff
“A is for Asylum Seeker reframes key words that describe people on the move. Written to correct the de-meaning of terms by rhetoric and policies based on dehumanization and profitable incarceration, this glossary provides an intersectional and historically grounded consideration of the words deployed in enflamed debate. Skipping some letters of the alphabet while repeating others, thirty terms cover everything from Asylum-seeker to Zero Tolerance Policy. Each entry begins with a contemporary or historical story for illustration and then proceeds to discuss the language politics of the word. The book balances terms affected by current political debates―such as “migrant,” “refugee,” and “illegal alien”―and terms that offer historical context to these controversies, such as “fugitive,” “unhoused,” and “vagrant.”
Far Away Brothers (2017)
by Lauren Markham
“Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, the United States was a distant fantasy to identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores—until, at age seventeen, a deadly threat from the region’s brutal gangs forces them to flee the only home they’ve ever known. In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist Lauren Markham follows the Flores twins as they make their way across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother in Oakland, CA. Soon these unaccompanied minors are navigating school in a new language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the triumphs and pitfalls of teenage life with only each other for support. With intimate access and breathtaking range, Markham offers an unforgettable testament to the migrant experience.”
Dragon Hoops (2020)
by Gen Luen Yang
“Gene understands stories―comic book stories, in particular. Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins.
But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships.
Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.”
(Editor's note: the views and opinions expressed by the above authors and publishers do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Soccer Without Borders. Read about the SWB mission and vision here.)
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