Sometimes the clearest sports story is not about a scoreline at all. At Franklin Park on Thursday, the more meaningful picture was a gathering that used youth soccer to connect players, coaches and children from very different paths, all in the same place for the same game.
Spokane Velocity players visited Thrive International’s youth summer soccer camp, a weeklong program that reached its fifth year and brought close to 200 kids together from more than a dozen nationalities. The camp is a partnership between Thrive International and the 90+ Project, and it serves refugee and immigrant children, including some who have lived in Thrive’s shelters in Spokane and Tacoma.
Soccer as more than a game
Russ Davis, the 90+ Project executive director, said the camp uses soccer to teach character, leadership and mental wellness, while also creating access to the game. That combination matters because it gives the camp a purpose beyond drills and juggling. It is not just about skill development; it is about giving children a place where the sport can become a tool for confidence and connection.
Mark Finney said the camp exists because the vision is to help people not just survive when they come to a new country, but thrive. That idea fits the setting at Franklin Park, where the presence of professional players made the experience feel bigger than a summer activity. For a 9-year-old, a 15-year-old or a 16-year-old, that kind of encounter can turn soccer into something more vivid and more attainable.
What the players gave the camp
The visiting Spokane Velocity group included five players, and four of the five raised their hands when asked on Thursday if they were not born in the United States. That detail matters because it made the visit feel especially relevant to a camp centered on refugee and immigrant children. The players were not there as distant symbols. They were there as examples of different routes into the game.
Mel Akon’s reaction captured the mood in a simple way: “You’re my GOAT.” He also said, “One day I’m gonna look like you and be like you.” Moses Mensah answered, “I want to see that,” and later told the campers to listen to their coaches because they have more experience. Those exchanges may have been brief, but they showed how quickly a professional player can turn into a reference point for ambition.
Small moments, bigger message
There was also the kind of playful competition that makes a camp feel alive. On Thursday at Franklin Park, Teodoro Tchetchembe and Jomar TC challenged Joe Gallardo in juggling, a small moment that said plenty about the atmosphere. The camp was clearly structured around learning, but it also had room for joy and personality.
Gallardo’s advice to the kids was straightforward: if you really want to get there, push yourself and work hard every day, even if the climb is still hard. That is the right message for a camp built around access and opportunity. It does not promise easy success. It suggests that the path becomes more real when the standard is shown up close.
In that sense, the camp’s fifth year feels important. It shows a program that is no longer a one-off gesture, but part of a larger effort to create belonging through sport. Youth soccer can sometimes be described in broad, generic terms. This was more specific than that: a free week of soccer that brought together close to 200 children, several nationalities and a visiting pro team, all around the same idea that the game can be a bridge.
