KITCHENER — With just five soccer balls and a few plastic cones Mary Saleh has started a free Sunday soccer clinic for refugee girls in downtown Kitchener.

The 26-year-old is from war-torn Syria, where she was a member of the country's national soccer team for women. She came to Canada in September 2017 to earn a graduate degree in film studies and English from Wilfrid Laurier University, as a recipient of a scholarship program from the student-run organization International Students Overcoming War.

She's has also gained employment with Reception House in Waterloo Region, an organization that assists refugees with settlement.

Grateful to Laurier and the greater Kitchener-Waterloo community for making her feel welcomed and supported, she wanted to do something.

"I want to give back to this community," she said of the free soccer clinic. So far she has run two clinics with the help of Levant, a non-profit organization that sponsors and supports refugees in Canada. It has paid for the soccer balls and the rental of space at St. John's the Evangelist Church in Kitchener, where she has run the classes.

Saleh already works with the organization on Saturdays at the church. For three hours, Saleh and others offer traditional dance lessons, snacks and art classes.

Passionate about soccer, she asked some of the girls in the Saturday program if it was a sport they might be interested in learning. She knew she would have to offer the soccer clinic for free because many of the newcomer families could not afford to pay for the classes.

Seven girls between the ages of seven and 13 have been participating in the soccer clinic run by Saleh and a few other volunteers.

"Through their passion that I'm seeing now, I'm remembering how passionate I was about soccer when I was a little girl, and how it helped me to develop many skills other than just physical skills — like leadership skills, developing communication skills, being more courageous," she said.

Each class is focused on teaching the girls the basic skills required to play the sport and at the end of class they play a 10-minute scrimmage. Saleh hopes, as the class numbers grow and the girls develop their skills, that they will be able to rent a larger space to practice and one day play against other teams in the city.

To keep the volunteer program running consistently for a year she needs steady funding. This week she created a Go Fund Me account with a goal of raising $8,000 to help pay for the rental space, equipment, bus tickets for families who need help with transportation, and uniforms including footwear.

lbooth@therecord.com

Twitter: @BoothRecord

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