KPU associate dean launches soccer club for refugee youth

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s associate dean of arts has launched a free soccer club in Surrey for refugee youth to build community, connect, and share experiences together.     

After coming to Canada at a young age as a refugee from Afghanistan, Afsana Tabibi couldn’t afford to participate in extracurricular activities while growing up. There were, however, organizations that helped her family.

Having gone through this experience, Tabibi launched the Little Soccer Stars Club to give back to the community and help refugee children and teenagers facing similar barriers find a sense of safety and belonging in Canada.

“I want to give refugee kids like myself coming to Canada an opportunity to participate in the big beautiful game, which is soccer, to play together,” Tabibi says.

The youth who participate in the soccer club range from those that have been in the country for just a month to those that have been here for a couple of years, Tabibi says.

Being new to Canada, children don’t know a lot of people, so the club offers the chance to develop new friendships with other refugees and newcomers, as well as build a community while playing the game they love, Tabibi says.

Especially for kids who grew up in war-torn countries, discussing matters related to it can be difficult, she adds.

“When they are building these friendships and they’re connecting over a sport they love, it’s easier to make friends and to be able to then open up and talk about some of the difficult life experiences that they’ve experienced in their life,” Tabibi says.

The program also received positive feedback from the Surrey Schools Welcome Centre, which is a community hub that the club has partnered with to recruit students.

“[The centre] said that we’re helping these students in the community more than we even know,” Tabibi says.

KPU is a sponsor for the club and was pivotal in making it possible to be free for the kids, which means a lot to Tabibi. 

“KPU is an open access university. We’re a polytechnic university and we have a duty as a public institution to serve the public. This is one way, among many ways, that I feel KPU is contributing to the public and giving back,” Tabibi says.

“It was KPU that provided the majority of funding for our program, and so without KPU’s support, we wouldn’t have been able to put on this event and have it as successful as it was.”

The Little Soccer Stars Club meets on Thursdays at Surrey’s Cedar Hills Elementary School.

KPU students volunteer for the soccer club as role models who help empower the kids and develop their skills, Tabibi says.

With more than 100 kids on the waitlist, Tabibi hopes the club has other programs throughout the year to be able to reach demand. The club has received feedback from other communities that would love to see it run, including Richmond and Coquitlam.

“My hope is that we continue to provide an opportunity for these kids and contribute to their growth.”