the hidden power of soccer | the power to change lives
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Three sets of teens from three corners of the globe – war-torn Israel and Palestine, AIDS-ravaged South Africa, and inner-city Philadelphia – are bound by the fight to survive and a love of soccer. Separated by language, culture, and thousands of miles, they learn to use tools honed on the field – sportsmanship and fair play – to fight life's battles.
CHANGING THE GAME follows their journey to the 2010 World Cup, where competition and the drive to win threatens to tear everything apart. |
PEACE TEAM
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15-year old Ron recalls the sound of rockets from Gaza striking his backyard as he hid in his family’s “safe room.” 16-year old Abed pulls his mother from the window as Israeli army jeeps, with rifles erect, tear through his neighborhood. Everything in their lives breeds them to hate. But now they play together – beyond the wall that separates them – on the Peace Team.
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TEAM USA
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In Philadelphia, 16-year old Mustapha, a Sierra Leonean refugee, works everyday to fight the lure of the streets. With a 60% high-school dropout rate, the city’s rampant gang violence leads boys like him to jail by the time they are 30. Meanwhile, Nury, a 15-year old Colombian immigrant, resists her classmates’ texts to join mob fights during their lunch break. Can that same determination and resilience clinch them aTeam USA victory?
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TEAM SOUTH AFRICA
Zime and Sphume, 16-year old girls, live amongst a silent killer in their township: AIDS. In Lamontville, South Africa, HIV claims the lives of 60% of women – the single highest rate in the world. Roving gangs steal anything to buy AIDS medications, which they crush and smoke to get high. The girls arm themselves with tools to survive through playing the sport they love, but the disease strikes close to home when their coach falls victim to its deadly grasp. Will the girls’ hopes die along with their beloved coach, or will they rise above as Team South Africa?
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