At Soccer in the Streets, we work hard to help our players become young leaders who positively impact their communities. These players often overcome numerous obstacles along their path in life and it fills us with pride to share the example of their success. This month we are sharing the story of Ermias Sium - a former Soccer in the Streets youth player who is now giving back and making his mark on Atlanta.
He excelled through life and worked hard as a youth player when started playing at our organization at the age of five on the Clarkston boys team. His parents moved from the small East African country of Eritrea, at a time when there was a Civil War.
Young Erimas playing soccer
““ From my humble beginnings, the one constant thing in my life has been the love for soccer, and its ability to build a strong community of friendship regardless of your ethnic background.” ”
Ermias had a passion for soccer and wanted to transfer that into coaching. It was a goal of his starting at the age of 19 while attending Georgia State.
“Growing up in Atlanta, I was aware of the systematic obstacles facing the community the organization serves. Although, I was missing the consciousness of the deeper economic and social barriers".
It was important to him to give back to the younger kids as he was fortunate enough to play for our organization. During his freshman year, Ermias decided to fulfill his dream and become a coach at Soccer in the Streets.
“It was not until being a coach that it took me from being a bystander to a direct change agent in these low-income communities,” Ermias said.
Working with kids with social-economic backgrounds is important to our organization as we navigate through the tough obstacles they face on a daily basis. Ermias gave his knowledge to the kids that were going through tough times.
Ermias coached for a few years with the organization and got great experience working with all the kids. He learned the importance of mentoring, training, and developing young underprivileged children from the same areas he grew up in. As seeing the educational gaps throughout Atlanta.
Ermias at Georgetown University
“During my time as a coach, I also managed and piloted the first training sessions at StationSoccer - Five Points and some Atlanta Public Schools. The disparity I witnessed at the schools I coached at in the APS school system encouraged me to do research on how to solve the highly ignored problem of noninclusive training sessions we sometimes see in soccer practices across the world,” said Ermias. “In turn, I constructed inclusive training sessions in which kids of all ages and skill levels could participate.”
After his time at the organization and schooling at Georgia State, he then graduated in the summer of 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems. With his enthusiastic determination for education, he decided to pursue studying for his Master’s Degree in Foreign Services and was later accepted to prestigious Georgetown.
“I deem change should originate at the forefront of the country. I echo with the program pillar of social justice because it is impossible to create justifiable policies,” said Ermias.
Ermias has taken on a variety of jobs from working at Fortune 500 companies to working at tech startups, where he worked as a research analyst to study diverse entrepreneurs and their companies.
Coach Ermias with SITS youth players
Ermias felt he had an impact on people’s lives around him and especially on the youth players’ lives in metro Atlanta communities. Ermias left with a powerful message: “A great teacher learns from his students.”
“I know that statement holds extremely true in regards to my time a the Soccer in the Streets program. I was able to humble myself and truly learn how to listen. During my training sessions with my players, we learned what made each other “tick” and when we listen closely, we were able to build community and the skillset for it to sustain. Lessons like this are transferable to almost any aspect of life and will be a tool for sustainable success for years to come.”
Our coaching team at Soccer in the Streets strives to create positive youth development experiences for our players. Through our evaluation process, we have learned that our participants need more authentic engagement with adults as well as the opportunity to work with peers in teams to develop meaningful relationships. Ermias is an essential part of that initiative for Soccer in the Streets as he not only led off the field, but he chose to leverage his influence to impact others outside of soccer.