Girls For A Change

Girls for a Change began as an idea in Santa Clara County, CA in 2000 with a group of energized volunteers, one staff member, $100,000, and a vision to create a national organization that could empower teen girls to implement social change projects that would transform the communities in which they lived.

In 2008, GFC launched its first National Tour to bring Change Your World trainings to more than 2,500 girls in cities across the U.S. and since then the program's popularity continues to grow. As of last year over 100 Girls Action Teams implemented social change projects, including a group of girls at our SWB site in El Salvador, and well as through a partner organization, Girls Helping Girls, with a site based in India.

On January 2nd the Futbol Sin Fronteras Granada Girls Action Team, or as we have dubbed it Chicas Para Cambio (CPC), had its very first meeting to begin discussing life in Granada from their perspective. As we move into the 3rd of this 12-week program, the team is becoming more aware of the issues that are important to them, and soon we will begin to develop and implement our very own social change project here in Nicaragua.

Without further adieu, we present to you a few members of our Chicas Para Cambio team...

From Soccer Without Borders Granada Project

Pictured left to right we have Helen, Tatiana, Evelyn, and Anielka (Zamari, Gladys, and Yorleni not pictured).

Felicidades to these girls for their decision to become a GFC Girls Action Team.

Check out this TNT video clip of GFC Founder Whitney Smith talking about the program as part of Pinesol's Powerful Difference campaign...visit the site and you may be inspired to make a powerful difference in your community.

We'll keep you updated on our progress here in Granada, of course. Until next time, hasta luego.

La Prensa TV Visits 2010 T.E.A.M. Camp

Click image to be redirected to a short video produced by La Prensa TV highlighting this year's camp activities.

O'Brien Sin Limites Para El Futbol

Former U.S. Men's National Team Player John O'Brien joined us for this year's T.E.A.M. Camp in Granada. A friend of SWB founder Ben Gucciardi, O'Brien respresented the U.S. in both the 2002 and 2006 World Cup, played for Ajax Amsterdam from 1999-2005 and later for CD Chivas USA in the MLS. Needless to say, his visit drew a bit of excitement.

Here he is featured in an article in Nicaragua's La Prensa newspaper about his experience visiting Granada and working with Soccer Without Borders.

Look Who Earned "Feature of the Month" Status

Click icon to be redirected to SWB's main site and this month's feature.

Congratulations to all these Catawissan Girls! So proud of you.

We Think Not, Hurricane Ida

In November of 1998, Hurricane Mitch trampled the Atlantic Coast of Central America leaving disaster in its wake. Nicaragua, already the Western Hemisphere's second poorest country (give it up for Haiti at the #1 spot), was left with $1 billion worth of damage, primarily in the agricultural sector which traditionally provides a majority of the country's exports. It washed out roads and destroyed bridges throughout the region. Heavy rains instigated a mudslide at Volcan Casita which tragically buried several rural villages.

Yesterday, a sweet little note from the U.S. Embassy in Managua popped up in my inbox. It was addressed to all American citizens registered as living in Nicaragua and it read, "U.S. citizens are urged to identify secure locations to shelter, monitor media reports, and follow all official instructions. U.S. citizens should carry their travel documents at all times (i.e. U.S Passport, birth certificate, picture I.D.'s, etc.) or secure them in safe, waterproof locations. We also suggest that American citizens contact friends and family in the United States with updates about their whereabouts...the U.S. Embassy will continue to monitor Tropical Storm Ida's track, and will issue updated messages."

So, Moms/Dads, I suppose this is us issuing the recommended update of our whereabouts.

Still in Granada, still living in the barrio, and still planning on going forward with tonight's activities for Noche de Ninas en La Oficina (Girls Night in the Office). I mean, c'mon, let this itty bitty little Hurricane stand in the way of tonight's review of Donde Viven Los Monstruos (Where The Wild Things Are)? We think not.

We'll let nothing stand in the way of that childhood classic.

Keep abreast of Ida's progress at cnn.com.

La Empieza de La Liga Femenina

According to @Futsal.com, the origins of futsal can be traced back to 1930’s Uruguay, where, amid the euphoria generated by the country's victory at the inaugural FIFA World Cup on its home soil, there was a soccer ball being kicked on every street corner in the capital of Montevideo.

Juan Carlos Ceriani, an Argentinean physical education instructor living there at the time observed many youngsters playing soccer on basketball courts due to the shortage of “football pitches” in the city. It was then and there that the idea for a five-a-side variation came about.

Borrowing from the rules of water polo, handball and basketball, Ceriani drew up the original rules of the game, which were quickly adopted across South America. In 1965 the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol de Salon (South American Futsal Confederation) was formed, consisting of Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina and Brazil, and futsal continued to spread throughout the region.

It wasn’t long after Kay and I arrived that we realized futsal was beginning to make its mark in our small colonial town of Granada as well. In the historic Parque Central, kids could be found playing throughout the afternoon and evening, maneuvering around monuments and potholes on their way down the court…

We stumbled upon after school leagues where boys (and a handful of girls) put together teams to compete in the cement courtyard. They play in close quarters with mobs of classmates swarming the sidelines heckling and giving much-needed coaching advice. Music blasts over the school’s intercom system…


When we began to plan our Liga Femenina de Fútbol Sin Fronteras, we knew futsal was the answer. Not only are the girls passionate about playing the game, but there are far more concrete surfaces throughout the city than there are hormiga-free fields.

So on Saturday, October 24^th the SWB ninas paraded to the courts, and as an organization, we welcome over 120 girls to help us celebrate the inauguration of our very own Futsal League for Girls.

Dalila López, La Directora del Fútbol Femenino de La Federación Nicaragüense de Fútbol traveled from Nicaragua’s capital of Managua to serve as our guest of honor. We simultaneously celebrated the opening of our league and the 2009 United Nation’s Global Peace Games for Children and Youth. Dalila read the UN Manifesto and highlighted the significance of the day’s games…

We would play to recognize and demonstrate the value of sport to:

• Unite, motivate, inspire and educate

• Encourage peaceful solutions and cultural understanding

• Teach essential values such as cooperation and respect

• Promote life-long health and social skills

• Improve health and wellbeing

• Strengthen links between children and adults

• Contribute to the development of communities

Thanks to the generous donations from high schools, clubs, and university teams across the country, Soccer Without Borders is able to lend uniforms sets to all participating teams so that they can play in style.

Please check back in for League updates and other Special Events.

Until next time, Keep Playing for Change (and Peace).

Tigers Turn Out For Charity

The Southern Columbia Varsity Girls' Soccer Team receives more props for their amazing work raising funds for SWB.


Girls, thank you for making scenes like this possible for our girls (pictured above playing at last month's Saturday practice). Your contributions are helping make this program available to more and more young women throughout Granada and its surrounding areas.