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Cultivating a creative, effective, and strategic approach to Sport for Development

GLOBAL CHALLENGES. COMMUNITY PITCHES.

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Brian Gonzales Brian Gonzales is the Founder and President of Good Football. A highly experienced and versatile educator and project director, Brian founded Good Football to play a creative and unifying role in the field of sport in/for development. Since its inception in 2008, Good Football has worked with partners such as Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club, Freetown HIV Awareness Cup, Freddy Fund, and the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute. Along with Good Football Executive Vice President, Lorrie Fair, Brian co-founded Kickabout: Africa 2010, an overland expedition from London to Cape Town that celebrated the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Good Football has also collaborated with Sport in Society (Northeastern University), the Urban Soccer Collaborative, and Beyond Sport. Prior to starting Good Football, Brian worked for a variety of education and development projects in the U.S. and abroad. He spent three years in New York City working as a curriculum designer and graphic artist for the Morse Center for the Professional Education of Teachers, the National Academy for Excellent Teaching, the Student Press Initiative, and the Metropolitan School Study Council. Brian also spent a year in Azerbaijan where he managed and implemented Right To Play's SportWorks project, promoting healthy sport and play programs for internally-displaced persons and refugee communities in Baku and Sumgayit. While in Azerbaijan, Brian trained local coaches in Right To Play program modules, recruited and trained Local Project Coordinators to replace the international staff, and maintained relations with operational partners including UN agencies, local and international non-governmental organizations, government officials, and local community leaders. Upon his return from Azerbaijan, Brian returned to the classroom, teaching at the Episcopal School of Dallas (ESD) and coordinating service-learning and global awareness activities as ESDs Community Relations Coordinator. He also joined FC Dallas (Major League Soccer) and managed the clubs community outreach programs, Kicks for Kids, Get a Kick Out of Reading, Community Clinic Series. In his spare time, Brian volunteered with the International Rescue Committee and Catholic Charities of Dallas, facilitating education and sport programs for refugee youth. Brian received a Master of Arts in International Educational Development from Teachers College of Columbia University. Specializing in Human Rights and Peace Education, his research focused on the emerging field of sport for development and the pedagogy behind teaching values through youth sport. He also helped develop human rights curricula on issues such as the blood-diamond trade in Sierra Leone, worked to launch Teachers Colleges journal on education in emergency environments, and traveled to Istanbul, Turkey to examine the role of human rights in Turkeys accession to the EU. Prior to graduate school, Brian taught history, coached soccer, and worked with youth programs across the US. A native Texan, he played competitive youth soccer at the club, ODP, and collegiate levels. Brian earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and International Relations from Rhodes College where he was a four-letter winner for the Mens Soccer team and where he played in three NCAA Division III National Championship Tournaments. He also holds a NSCAA National D Coaching Diploma and is a diehard supporter of Liverpool FC.

Lorrie Fair Lorrie FairLorrie Fair is Executive Vice-President and Director of International Development for Good Football. Lorrie is a former professional soccer player dedicated to promoting peace, social development, anti-racism, women’s issues, and health education through the power of sport.Lorrie is one of the most well-traveled and well-respected development-through-sport specialists in the world. As a Right To Play Athlete Ambassador, Lorrie has traveled to refugee camps in Azerbaijan, Uganda, Thailand, Jordan, and Ethiopia to promote sport for social development for some of the world's most disadvantaged children. In 2006, Lorrie led a 10-person documentary for Nike and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that told the story of the nine million refugees living around the world. She has also been an active member of Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC), an anti-racism charity supported by the Professional Footballers Association, and is also on the advisory board of the Academy of International Sport at George Mason University. In January 2008, Lorrie moved to London to join Chelsea Football Club to work for the famous club in their Corporate and Social Responsibility Department and to play for the Chelsea Ladies. During her time with Chelsea FC, she implemented an Equality Thru Football program in primary schools and developed and led Leadership Thru Football sessions for youth teams and school physical education classes. Lorrie also played a key role in Chelsea FC’s Football in the Community Programs, coaching and teaching in the UK, China, Macau, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States. Returning to California in 2009, Lorrie joined the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) as the Director of Community Relations and Social Responsibility. Lorrie coached several LAFC teams and managed LAFC Foundation’s local and international programs such as Duke Womens Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER) Program in Muhuru Bay, Kenya.Together with Good Football’s Brian Gonzales, Lorrie co-founded Kickabout in 2008, an organization committed to promoting peace, connecting people, and celebrating the world’s game from a grassroots perspective. The inaugural project, Kickabout Africa 2010 was a six-month, 20-country overland journey from London to Cape Town (via the Middle East) designed to accomplish these goals. In particular, Kickabout Africa 2010 focused on celebrating both African football as well as the World Cup being hosted on the continent for the first time. Lorrie managed all logistics, communication, and the execution of the expedition and program plan. She established major partnerships that included Coaches Across Continents, Grassroot Soccer, Right To Play, Plus 3 Network, Special Olympics, Spirit of Football, Carolina For Kibera, Alive and Kicking, Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, and the Egyptian Paralympic Committee. As a veteran member of the U.S. State Department Sport Envoy Program, Lorrie has coached underprivileged teens in Morocco and Paraguay. She has also served as a guest speaker and panelist at numerous functions, most recently at the UNAIDS Millenium Development Goals Summit in Moscow in October of 2011 and the Women in Sport and Legacy forums in Doha, Qatar for the Aspire4Sport Congress and Exhibition in November of 2010. In January 2011, Lorrie returned to South Africa on a project coordinator contract in the Umkhanyakude District of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She is currently implementing a sports field and water initiative called Home Field Advantage, funded by Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Program (CTAOP) and part of Mpilonhle, a South African non-profit that provides health services to rural communities via mobile health units.Lorrie’s soccer career took her from the shores of her native California to the apex of world football. At the age of 15, she played on the U.S. U-20 National Team, and by 17 Lorrie was on the senior U.S. National Team, earning a spot as an alternate on the 1996 Gold Medal winning Olympic team in Atlanta. An NSCAA All-American and Parade All-American, Lorrie received a full scholarship to the University of North Carolina and won NCAA championships in 1996, 1997, and 1999. She was the youngest member of the U.S. Women’s National Team in 1999 that won the World Cup in front of 90,000 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. She went back to UNC, declining a significant financial reward from the World Cup, and led the team to another NCAA Championship in her senior season. The following year, she played every minute of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, anchoring the midfield to help the U.S. earn a Silver Medal. Lorrie spent the next four years playing professionally with the Philadelphia Charge (WUSA) and Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon, France). In 2004, she earned as spot as an alternate on the Gold Medal winning Olympic team in Athens. With 121 caps and a desire to launch the next phase of her career, Lorrie retired from the National Team in 2005 and focused her energy on promoting development through sport.Lorrie holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication with a Minor in Mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece. Lorrie is a self-professed foodie, an avid cruciverbalist and a diehard AC Milan supporter.

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Brian Gonzales

What is Good Football?

Good Football, LLC is a consulting group, advocacy platform, and collaborative network of sport for development professionals.

Utilizing an innovative and strategic development through sport methodology, Good Football provides services for clients and partners around the world. Our mission is to cultivate and nurture creative, effective and locally-owned solutions to global development challenges. Learn More

Short Movie from Good Football's Kickabout: Africa 2010 (Credit: Eli Sinkus)

Services

Consultation, Services, and Support

For Organizations

Whether they are fledgling ideas or established programs, sport for development initiatives throughout the world can be enhanced with Good Football's consultation. Our goals are your goals, and we make them achievable through aligned objectives, monitoring-and-evaluation systems, effective marketing strategies, and replication and expansion plans.

Good Football serves to support existing sport for development programs as well as cultivate new ones in cities, towns, and villages around the globe. With experiences throughout the developing world, in urban and rural environments, and across the international football community, Good Football's reach embodies the universal scope of the beautiful game .

Able to work at the grassroots, organizational, and/or governmental level, Good Football promotes a systemic and strategic approach to development through sport. Good Football adapts to work within established infrastructure to create or empower sustainable plans of action. We focus on bringing aligned stakeholders to the table in promoting long-term investment and sustainable solutions.

We are capable of assisting in any type of development through sport platform, especially in the areas of: promoting lifetime wellness and combating lifestyle diseases, empowering women and girls, and teaching learning through sport.

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For Individuals

Good Football exists because of a true and natural human need for individual and societal development through sport. And so, we welcome and support the mentoring of new leaders in the field (pun intended). If you are motivated by and passionate about sport and development and its essential role in the global community, we will assist you in developing your own initiative or enhancing your skill set.

Projects
Kickabout: Africa 2010Good Football is the founder of Kickabout: Africa 2010, a 6-month, overland journey from London to Cape Town in celebration of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Visiting 20 nations, Kickabout: Africa 2010 showcased the positive and inspirational side of African football and to ensure that this side, where football is utilized as a powerful tool for social chang, is nurtured and celebrated long after the final whistle in Johannesburg. Kickabout partnered with some of the leading sport for development organizations working throughout Africa – Right To Play, Grassroot Soccer, and Coaches Across Continents – and conducted a series of community “kickabouts” in villages and towns along the route. Kickabout will become the non-profit arm of Good Football with the next Kickabout planned for 2014: South America. - www.theKickabout.orgHapoel Tel Aviv Football ClubThe Education and Social Project of Hapoel Tel Aviv FC (Mifalot) is the largest and most diverse sport for development organization in the Middle East. Good Football worked with Mifalot to align their existing programs to international standards and trained local staff on the best practices in the field of international development and sport. Good Football played a key role in enhancing Mifalot’s profile within the international sport and development community and developing new English-language collateral (print and online). Key successes include the formation of new strategic partnerships with European and North American stakeholders and Mifalot’s recognition at Beyond Sport and other international summits. - www.mifalot.co.il/mifalot/Language/English/Total Recreation at DHWIA subsidiary of Baylor Health Care System (Dallas, TX), the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute™ at the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center is a community and family-centered health platform designed to prevent the onset of diabetes, identify and treat asymptomatic people who have risk factors for developing diabetes, and care for people who have diabetes by helping them regain their highest functional level, minimize the negative effects of the disease, and prevent complications (DHWIDallas.com). Good Football is the primary architect of Total Recreation™, a comprehensive sport for community health initiative that delivers health-outcomes and promotes community revitalization through sport and recreation programs. Good Football worked with DHWI to develop and implement a grassroots sport for health platform that integrates DHWI’s health-care model within the existing infrastructure of the City of Dallas Department of Parks and Recreation. Through Total Recreation™, DHWI promotes measurable and durable health-care outcomes via community sport and recreation programs and interventions. - www.dhwidallas.comFreddy FundThe mission of the Freddy Fund is to honor the life of the late Federico "Freddy" Garcia by building a memorial soccer field in the Dallas neighborhood where he was born and raised (FreddyFund.com). Good Football is working with the Freddy Fund to develop the Freddy Field Legacy Plan to ensure that the field, when completed, celebrates Freddy’s spirit and life with every kick of the ball and that the field plays a vital role in promoting community health and wellness. Good Football designed a sponsorship model for engaging local businesses and corporate partners and continues to support the Freddy Fund’s fundraising efforts. - www.freddyfund.comFreetown HIV Awareness CupIn late 2011, The Freetown HIV Awareness Cup will bring together youth from Freetown, Sierra Leone and the surrounding areas to learn about HIV and AIDS and compete in an amateur football tournament. This event will serve as a platform through which important lessons about HIV awareness and prevention can be imparted to the Freetown community. The tournament will be the culmination of an HIV awareness campaign held throughout the summer and fall of 2011 to include HIV awareness classes, coaching clinics, player clinics, exhibition matches, and public service announcements (HIVAwarenessCup.org). Good Football helped develop the mission/vision statements and strategic action plan for the 2011 Freetown HIV Awareness Cup and coordinated with Rhodes College on fundraising and community mobilization plans. Good Football will continue to offer community outreach and project implementation support in the weeks leading up to the Cup. - www.hivawarenesscup.org

The story of Hapoel/Mifalot by UEFA

UEFA recognizes the work done by Hapoel Tel Aviv FC and MIfalot

News

Latest News

June 2011World Refugee Day: Catholic Charities Fort Worth announce East Afro United Soccer ClubTo celebrate World Refugee Day and reaffirm their commitment to serving resettled refugees throughout Tarrant County, Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW) is delighted to announce the formation of the East Afro United Soccer Club. In collaboration with Good Football, CCFW believes soccer can play a huge role in providing support services to refugees in their adjustment and integration into American life. East Afro United will kick off a men’s team, comprised of Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Kenyan refugees, who will eventually compete in the Forth Worth Adult Soccer Association (FWASA) this fall. (Read more)May 2011Freddy Fund Update and AnnouncementGood Football and Slice Media collaborated with the Freddy Fund to produce a short movie about the project and host “Freddy Fund Night” at an FC Dallas match on May 22. The movie was shown during the pre-game warm-ups (and later featured on the FC Dallas website as well as the nationally broadcast “US Youth Soccer Show” on Fox Soccer Channel). Freddy Fund Night, along with FC Dallas donating proceeds of a special ticket off to the Freddy Fund, led to a private donation of $50,000. The Freddy Fund, we are proud to announce will break ground on the Freddy Field at Maple Lawn Elementary, this summer.See the movie and learn more at FreddyFund.com April 2011Good Football in AlgeriaThe United States Embassy in Algiers sponsored Good Football for a soccer program in several Algerian cities during a seven day trip to the North African nation. Ms. Fair, a two time Olympic gold medalist and women’s World Cup champion, was overwhelmed by the warm welcome she received from our Algerian hosts. The delegation was received by the current and former presidents of the Algerian Football Federation, and by presidents of both the men’s and women’s Algerian professional Leagues.(Read More)February 2011Good Football heading to AlgeriaIn April, the Good Football team will travel to Algeria at the request of the U.S. Embassy in Algiers. Good Football will implement a five-day “Bridging Nations through Sport” program that harnesses the universal appeal of soccer and strong relationship between the United States and Algeria. Good Football will coordinate a series of community clinics, training workshops, and educational programs aimed at highlighting the role sport can play in the development of young women through promoting equality, health, and positive social change. Led by Lorrie Fair, the Good Football team will collaborate with U.S. Embassy officials to discuss ‘development through sport’ opportunities with key stakeholders at the government, corporate, and local organization levels. Emphasizing issues regarding gender and the culture of sport in the United States and Algeria, Good Football seeks to foster a greater commitment and capacity for empowering community development through sport and equality.Good Football to Urban Soccer Collaborative SymposiumGood Football’s Brian Gonzales will be presenting at the Urban Soccer Collaborative Annual Symposium in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, April 5. The workshop, “Community Collaboration: Building Partnerships to Grow Programs and Impact Communities,” will examine the Total Recreation™ “sport for health” framework developed by Good Football for the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute. Learn more here. January 2011Lorrie Fair joins Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project and Home Field Advantage Good Football’s Lorrie Fair is in South Africa where she has joined the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project (CTAOP) for a 12-month consulting contract. Lorrie is working with Mpilonhle, a South African non-profit, and heading up the Home Field Advantage initiative that seeks to build sports fields and water sanitation units in schools supported by Mpilonhle’s mobile health units. You can follow Lorrie and her great work at here. Learn More about CTAOP, Mpilonhle, and Home Field Advantage.

Good Football created Total Recreation for DHWI

In the Press

August 2010Interview with Ashoka ChangemakersChangemakers and Brian Gonzales talked about The Kickabout's origins, the impact the beautiful game has on African communities, and local leaders' drive and commitment to changing lives through football. Part 2 Here

Contact

Good Football

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