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Inti Soccer Academy of Manchester, Ltd., is a non-profit corporation chartered on January 30, 2009 under the non-profit laws of the State of New Hampshire. As a public charity under sec. 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, Inti Soccer Academy is exempt from federal income tax, and all contributions to the Academy are deductible under section 170 of the Code. Inti Soccer Academy is also qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under section 2055, 2106 or 2522 of the Code.
The name “inti” reflects the Bolivian heritage of several of the Academy’s founders, one of whom founded the famed inner-city Tahuichi Academy in Santa Cruz. The Tahuichi Academy achieved world-wide renown for giving the underprivileged youth of Bolivia the opportunity to be successful in life through soccer and life-skill training. The name Inti is the Incan word for the sun or, more specifically, for the Incan deity that is the source of light, life, understanding, vitality and growth. Inti Soccer Academy intends to brighten the lives of the children of the inner-city families that are suffering hardship. The name reflects the fact that Inti Soccer is not just “another” soccer program, but is a program designed to bring light to the darkest, most forgotten corners of the inner-city, and to enable the growth of the mind, body and spirit of Manchester’s most disadvantaged youth.
While many sports might benefit the inner-city youth, soccer has been chosen not only because it is a passion of all of the Academy’s founding members, but it is the sport best suited to the racial and ethnic make-up of the city and can serve as an appropriate vehicle for the growth and development of both troubled and well-adjusted youth. As noted below, Manchester has experienced a wave of immigrants from Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa, as well as from a great many other parts of the world, and most of these ethic peoples have a native passion for soccer. Whether originally from Liberia or Bosnia, Vietnam or Mexico, these inner-city Manchester families can understand and enjoy the game of soccer together. Soccer is, one might say, the lingua franca of the entire world.
As an Academy, Inti treats soccer not simply as a recreational sport, or a source of community strength, but as an art. Like piano, ballet, pottery, sculpting, archery, and any other art, soccer requires intense commitment, discipline, concentration, and practice under the tutelage of a master. In this way, Inti Soccer Academy uses the soccer field as a crucible in order to transform children into successful adults. The fire of determination, hard-work, and self-sacrifice that is required to master the game of soccer, in combination with a sense of teamwork and fair play, can strengthen the energy, mental focus, and character of children in such a way as to enable them to be successful in whatever endeavor they choose. Inti Soccer Academy requires its academy-level players to practice five days a week under professional soccer trainers (with one hour per day in the classroom for academic work), achieve satisfactory marks in school, practice good hygiene and diet, and demonstrate good behavior. Club-level, and apprentice participants train at a slightly less vigorous schedule, but one that is appropriate for their age and skill-level. Coaches, trainers, and educators involved in the program look after the whole person of all Inti players, as is consistent with the Academy’s mission.
Why the City of Manchester, NH?
Inti Soccer Academy intends to establish its facility and permanent base of operation within the most economically disadvantaged region of the City of Manchester, an area experiencing unusually high poverty rates, crime rates, housing problems, and serious health needs. In the school year 2007-08, there were 16,309 school-age children in the City of Manchester, of which a full 36% were documented as economically disadvantaged (5,920 were enrolled in free/reduced cost school lunch programs). Many of these children are immigrants and refugees in need of structured programming to assist them in their integration into the Manchester community. Indeed, according to the U.S. Census, the foreign-born population in the City of Manchester had grown to 9.4% in year 2000, and that percentage has almost certainly increased over the last nine years. As well, many of these disadvantaged youth are children whose diet and exercise habits are extremely poor, leading to disturbingly high obesity rates (e.g., a 2005 report by the City of Manchester Department of Health found that an astonishing 39% of Manchester’s first graders were overweight, and 19% were obese). These statistics, as well as others such as high-school drop out rates, college acceptance rates, juvenile delinquency, and others, point to a desperate need for quality athletic programs that develop skill, discipline, and confidence. Unfortunately, the current state of organizational soccer in the City of Manchester is woeful. Due to their expensive fees and location outside the city, many competitive youth soccer clubs and academies in the Southern New Hampshire region remain unaffordable to and unreachable by the poor. In short, Manchester’s underprivileged children, many of them immigrants or ethnicities that love the game of soccer, have virtually no access to any organized soccer, much less a program that will help them develop talent, healthy exercise habits, self-esteem, and the ability to be successful in life.
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