The power of sports knows no international bounds. That much is being proven by the New York University women's soccer team and former player Ashley Hollister.
Upon graduating from NYU's Silver School of Social Work in 2009, Hollister, who was a three-year members of the Violets' women's soccer team, relocated to Tanzania, Africa, where she now works as the assistant director of The Janada L. Batchelor Foundation for Children (JBFC), an organization that tackles the noblest of causes.
“We primarily work with abandoned girls, many of whom had been living on the street or in very abusive homes,” said JBFC Executive Director Chris Gates. “We provide them with shelter, education and health care, as well as a family and a home. We try to teach them the basic life skills that they will need in the future.”
What brought Hollister back to New York on April 15, however, was a sport that she played throughout her life and is now passing on to a generation of African girls who need all the support they can get.
Hollister is spearheading an initiative aimed at turning residents of the Kitongo Girls Orphanage in Tanzania into a fully-functioning soccer operation. The Tiger Lilly Girls Soccer League, named after Hollister's soccer role model, former U.S. national team member Kristine Lilly, is comprised of six teams of enthusiastic girls, who had no chance to play organized sports prior to Hollister touching down in Tanzania. The grassroots effort is as challenging as it is dignified, and lending a hand with the project is the NYU women's soccer program.
“When we started playing, the girls didn't have shoes and were playing in skirts,” Hollister said. “We really wanted to get them proper equipment, so I figured I would connect with NYU women's soccer.”
For the past several months, members of the NYU women's soccer team have been collecting equipment for the Tiger Lilly girls, including balls, cleats, shorts, and the long socks necessary to cover the girls' legs from the exposure that is forbidden by their culture.
“It's not really acceptable in the village for the girls to have their legs showing," Hollister explained. "So he (NYU head coach Werner T. Dasbach) made an effort to get a lot of long socks that they can wear with their shorts, be covered, and play freely,” .
Her former coach is not surprised by the path Hollister has chosen.
“She was the first player that I met when I started coaching here,” said Dasbach, who has been coaching the NYU women's soccer team since 2007. “We ran into each other on the street. I knew when I first met Ashley that she would be doing this kind of work. She's always had a passion for it, and now she's living it.”
While providing the Tiger Lilly girls with soccer equipment and the opportunity to play organized sports is only a small fraction of what the JBFC is committed to doing, it has given the NYU women a chance to contribute to lives halfway around the world. It's an opportunity that the Violets cherish.
“Ashley contacted (junior captain) Jane Barrett and I about working with her project, and then we brought it to the team,” said NYU senior captain Lucy Dolly Caires. “When it came time in the spring, everyone really chipped in and helped out. It has been a team effort. We all really love the sport, and all of the equipment that we've had in the past, that's where all our love is. This helps us spread the love even more.”
“Ashley showed us pictures of the girls and we got to put a face to where our equipment is going,” said freshman Monica Warek. “We know that we are helping put smiles on their faces and it's inspiring. It's great knowing that what I had is going to really benefit them.”
Dasbach is proud not only of his former and current players for the way they have embraced the effort, but also of the culture of global responsibility that NYU fosters.
“It's really a testament to NYU. It's the globally-networked university in action,” Dasbach said. “The fact that all of this equipment will be hand-delivered to the Tiger Lilly Club by a former NYU player is pretty remarkable. It's the power of sports.
"NYU is all about possibilities.”
For more information about the Tiger Lilly Girls Soccer League and the other work done by the Janada L. Batchelor Foundation for Children, please visit the following Web sites:
