Description
At the soccer fields of Oakland International High School in late May, players excitedly spilled onto the pitch for the last game of the season.
“Sometimes, I get super nervous before a game,” said Sharon, a 15-year-old player for a high school team in East Oakland. “Leave the negative aside, give the best of yourself,” the athlete, an immigrant from El Salvador, said to herself before each game.
Mildred, her teammate, said she admires Sharon’s improvement over the last year. At one point, she said, Sharon didn’t know how to kick a ball.
The girls have come a long way: last season, their team didn’t make the playoffs. This past spring, when the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicked off in the Bay Area, the girls set out to win third place. More importantly, the teams play for community — “their sense of belonging,” said Alexis Catt, who coaches the East Oakland high school team as part of a national nonprofit Soccer Without Borders.
The Bay Area location provides critical year-round support to newcomer refugee and immigrant youth across Alameda and San Francisco counties.
The program combines zero-cost access to fields, gear and soccer training with dedicated mental health resources to support underserved youth in the Bay Area. Through a new program called Meet Me on the Pitch and a collaboration with UCSF, coaches aim to provide comprehensive mental health support for the students on and off the field.
Using funding from the National Institute of Health, the Meet Me on the Pitch study will enroll youth aged 14-21 over the next two years to formally explore how soccer can be used as a holistic way to support mental well-being.
The goal is to see whether programs like Soccer Without Borders can markedly improve mental health, academic support-seeking and social belonging among youth who participate.
✍️: Alonso Daboub
🎤: Ximena Natera
📹+ 🎬: Martin do Nascimento and Gina Castro