Grassroots Soccer

Project Summary

Led by young adult mentor Coaches, Grassroot Soccer's evidence-based SKILLZ programs use the power of soccer to engage adolescents in fun, interactive, and dynamic activities about health and wellness in a safe environment.

ICAP Charity Day’s generous gift to Grassroot Soccer supported its crosscutting work across HIV/AIDS, young women and girls, and mental health, including the SKILLZ Plus program. SKILLZ Plus uses sport and fun to create a safe space where youth living with HIV can develop critical knowledge and skills necessary to navigate different aspects of living with the virus, including prevention and transmission, adherence to medication, healthy relationships, and mental health.

SKILLZ Plus Spotlight: Mercy’s Story

One of the young people supported by ICAP through the SKILLZ Plus program is Mercy, a young woman from Chongwe, Zambia. Mercy lost her mother when she was just 6 years old, and as a child suffered from a number of illnesses without being told exactly what the cause was. She would push her father and older siblings for answers until, when she was almost 13 years old, her cousin revealed to Mercy that she was HIV-positive, and that she contracted the virus from her mother. When she learned her status, Mercy’s behavior changed. She struggled with her mental health, often isolating herself during the difficult spell that followed. “I’d be sitting in class by myself thinking I was the only one taking medication, and it made me feel even worse,” she said. As the only one of her siblings living with HIV, those feelings of isolation followed her home as well.

Years later, this would change when volunteers at Mercy’s local health facility invited her to join Grassroot Soccer’s SKILLZ Plus program for young people like herself who were living with HIV. The safe and welcoming environment Grassroot Soccer provided helped Mercy to open up about her struggles with her mental health, which instilled in her a newfound confidence and paved the way for growth and transformation. “[At Grassroot Soccer], no one would point fingers at me over my status or how I have HIV at this age. All of that did not matter,” Mercy said. “I felt like I became a different person after losing myself when I found out about my status; I felt like I was reborn because of Grassroot Soccer.”

The heart of SKILLZ Plus and all Grassroot Soccer programs are the young adult Coaches who make learning fun, active, and memorable, and serve as valuable and trusted mentors for participants. SKILLZ Plus Coaches are openly living with HIV themselves and are from the communities they serve, meaning they relate to and empathize with the challenges faced by young people like Mercy whose shoes they were once in themselves. Mercy credits the support and mentorship of her SKILLZ Coach, Simon, for helping her become confident about speaking on HIV-related topics, such as disclosing one’s status. Mercy now volunteers at her local health facility where she is passing on the information she gained from Grassroot Soccer to other youth in her community. Looking toward her future, she is planning on pursuing clinical medicine as her profession, with the hope of continuing to make a difference in people’s lives.