Grover Cleveland soccer goes global
Published: November 19, 2009, 8:31 am
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Lian Za Kam’s family fled turmoil in Burma and spent three years in a Malaysian refugee camp before coming to Buffalo.
After Mohamed Kanneh’s parents escaped civil war in Liberia, he was born and raised in a refugee camp in Syria.
“It was a hard life,” said Mohamed, who has been here since 2004. “No jobs — living in a tent.”
Fate — in the form of danger, hunger and even the death of parents — brought Lian and Mohamed together with 18 teammates from Asia, Africa and the Middle East at Buffalo’s Grover Cleveland High School.
They share chilling stories of troubles in their homelands, and the same bright hopes for the future.
Now they have become the unlikely sports heroes of Western New York.
They are the Section VI and regional soccer champions and are headed to the state Class B championship soccer tournament this weekend in Oneonta. Never before has a Buffalo boys soccer team gone to “states.”
There are no inflated egos, let alone salaries, on this team.
Instead, the Grover Cleveland Presidents — all of them seeking better lives in America — are characterized by hard work, earnestness and a pure joy for the game they call football.
Along the way, Mohamed said, opponents have underestimated the Presidents because of their size, youth and appearance.
Even some Grover classmates chose not to try out for the team because they saw little potential for the squad.
“It doesn’t matter to us,” said Mohamed, an 18-year-old senior. “We just go out and play the game and have fun.”
Before arriving in Buffalo, many of the players never wore soccer shoes, played with a real soccer ball or had uniforms.
Now they play together as one, even though they come from South Africa, Kenya, Senegal, Sudan, Somalia, Burma, Liberia, Thailand and Congo. Only the team manager was born in the United States.
Despite geographic, cultural and language differences, the Presidents find common ground in their troubled backgrounds and their determination to make the most of their new opportunities.
“We work everything out as a team,” Mohamed said. “We share. We understand each other.”
The Grover players say soccer provided them with a crucial anchor in their previous homes and now offers a comfortable and exhilarating experience in their new country.
Stitching it together is Telly Forcucci, the coach and a Grover physical-education teacher.
“He’s a pretty nice coach,” Mohamed said. “He knows us and cares about us. He doesn’t yell at us like other coaches do. If you make a mistake, he just helps you correct it.”
Forcucci gives his players wide latitude on the soccer pitch but has high demands when it comes to academics and personal responsibility.
“Soccer players carry books here,” said Casey Young, the Grover principal. “Soccer players do their homework. If they don’t toe the line for Coach Forcucci, they don’t get to play the game they love.”
Soccer at Grover is an international experience. English is the language of choice when directions are aimed at the whole team. At other times, teammates from Kenya or Somalia will exchange strategic tips in their native languages so their opponents don’t catch on.
The Presidents head for Oneonta as a confident, comfortable team, and that’s not just because of their skill level and 15-1 record.
Compared with the life-and-death obstacles the players faced earlier in their lives, the tension generated by a state sports tournament is minimal, Forcucci said.
“They don’t feel the enormity of it,” he said. “They get to go to Oneonta and stay in a hotel room. And if we win, they spend another night in a hotel room. We just play to win. We don’t feel the pressure.”
The players’ aspirations go beyond soccer.
Mohamed Kanneh and Omar Sundi, a senior from Kenya, both plan to study criminal justice in college.
Lian Za Kam wants to be an engineer, and Abdikadir Sabtow, a freshman from Kenya, hopes to be a physician.
More immediately, the Presidents face Center Moriches High School in the state semifinals at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The winner plays Sunday for the state crown.
Regardless of the outcome, this much is clear:
These young men are already champions.
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