Harlem Youth Soccer Association
Encyclopedia
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
-based, 501(c)3 [non-profit] youth development organization using soccer as a means of doing social development.
The program serves youth in the Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
/South Bronx
South Bronx
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of The Bronx. The neighborhoods of Tremont, University Heights, Highbridge, Morrisania, Soundview, Hunts Point, and Castle Hill are sometimes considered part of the South Bronx....
community, focusing on boys and girls aged 5–12 and youth aged 13–19.
The two goals of the program are to build a community organization that delivers soccer-based, youth development programs addressing the areas of academic enrichment, character and leadership development and healthy lifestyles and to establish the first top flight, inner-city soccer club in the US.
FC Harlem’s L.I.O.N.S (Leaders In Our Neighborhoods) serve as role models and positive peers in their communities.
The logo is the shield featuring the lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
's head. Widely understood as a symbol of strength, the lion symbolizes other attributes such as courage
Courage
Courage is the ability to confront fear, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation...
, strength
Strength
- Physical ability :*Physical strength, as in people or animals*Superhuman strength, as in fictional characters*A common character attribute in role-playing gamesConflict between persons or groups:*Virtue and moral uprightness...
, honor, and leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
.