Levant Soccer Club
Our Story
Levant Soccer Club firmly believes that women have a place in sports. That is why we started this team: to focus on empowering girls and youth and to break the stigma around girls playing sports.
Levant Soccer Club was launched in March 2019 by Mary Saleh and May Mahrat. Mary was a professional soccer player on the Syrian National Team, and she arrived in Kitchener on a university scholarship to pursue a master’s in English and Film Studies. Mary was eager to contribute to the Kitchener Waterloo (KW) community and found the means to do so through her soccer expertise.
May Mahrat, who arrived in Canada through the same scholarship program, saw potential in what Mary could offer to the community. Together, they developed the idea for an initiative that would offer free professional soccer training for newcomers.
Mary and May partnered with Levant, and with the participation and contributions of families already involved in our other programs, the Levant Soccer Club initiative was launched.
Since the launch of the Levant Soccer Club program, we have worked together with many newcomer families in the KW region. Through our work to build relationships with newcomer families, the barriers and difficulties families face when navigating and signing up their children, particularly girls, in recreational programs have become clear. Since the start of the program, our focus has been on eliminating those barriers and making sports accessible to newcomer girls and their families.
Our Mission
Our mission is:
To advocate for women in sports, especially among newcomer communities.
To provide newcomer girls with a space where they can express themselves, develop leadership skills, learn commitment and discipline, increase their confidence and self-esteem, integrate within the Canadian community and ultimately become brilliant soccer players.
To support the transitional period that newcomer families go through when they move into their new homes by involving them in recreational activities.
Our Vision
Our vision is to provide accessible and affordable sports opportunities for newcomer girls in the Kitchener Waterloo area through professional soccer coaching, that would create a step towards integrating, becoming active contributing members, enjoying a healthy life, and competing in professional sports opportunities in Canada and abroad.
Programming
Participants come from diverse backgrounds and countries.
Training sessions are 1.5 hours long. The sessions’ main focus is to explore the many different aspects and rules soccer while learning to enjoy the sport. In both the Junior and Senior groups, new players typically have little to no experience playing soccer. Therefore, training time is carefully spent to achieve 4 key goals:
Introducing and cultivating the fundamental techniques, skills, and athletic strength that a player needs to advance in soccer.
Creating and boosting team spirit and teamwork to develop a sense of belonging among teammates and emphasize the importance of collaborative work.
Promoting positive and healthy competitive attitudes to expand players’ limits and further explore their abilities to achieve and grow.
Encouraging the players’ personal growth by focusing on drills that improve endurance abilities, decision-making, and leadership skills that they can carry into their everyday lives.
Girls - Ages 6 - 13
Practice: Mondays, 5:00 - 6:00 PM
Boys - Ages 6 - 13
Practice: Mondays, 6:15 - 7:15 PM
Follow Our Journey
