By Neel Arora

(AXcess News) Washington - Jasmine Morris, 19, had never played soccer until a year ago. Over the weekend, she was here, playing with a team that expected to win a national tournament.

But it's not always about the sport. 

"I use the soccer team as my support," said Morris, part of the Minneapolis-based Youth Links teams, set up for men and women under age 21 who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless. "It really brought me up."

Minneapolis was one of 22 cities competing in the 2010 Street Soccer Cup. The women's team, playing in the tournament for the first time, reached the semifinals.

For the second straight year, the men's team finished second, after winning the inaugural cup in 2008.

Street Soccer USA uses the sport to build community through mentoring and empowerment by partnering with homeless shelters and nonprofits across the country.

"There's big value in a message that you're not alone in your struggle, when you play soccer," said Lawrence Cann, director and founder of Street Soccer USA. "Giving people a group so that they join so they can achieve their goals is really powerful."

Morris needed that support. At age 11 and 16, she was molested by a family friend. Morris' sister complained about the same thing, but family members did not believe the sister. No charges were filed.

Morris kept it bottled up because she feared no one would believe her. She found escape through rebellion, instead.

"That's kinda' how I dealt with it, was by not doing what I was supposed to because I was hurting on the inside," she said. "It was like nobody understood."  

From the age of 13, she often left home because of disagreements with her parents. She was permanently out by age 17, skipping from couch to couch at friends' houses.

Morris was cheering for her boyfriend at a Youth Links

training session last August when Coach Jose Acuna invited her to play.

She became the first female team member and remembers playing barefoot as a goalie. Here, she played the same position for the women's team but with shoes and gloves.

Youth Links helped her find a transitional home and a job as an intern at Padilla Speer Beardsley, a Minneapolis public relations firm.

She smiled and laughed after the first game Friday, happy that the team pulled off a 7-6 victory over Portland, Ore., and was ecstatic as she spoke about her acceptance to beauty school. Her tongue piercing and lip ring are signs of her rebellious past, now left behind.   

"Once I started playing soccer, it was just like, you don't need to be doing that, you don't need to be on the streets for the rest of your life not doing nothing," Morris said. "You need to get focused and do what you have to do."

She traveled 24 hours by bus with Acuna and the team to get here.

"Today we are not homeless," Acuna said before the first game. "Today we are soccer players, athletes, and we are ready to come show the great spirit of our game."

Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire