Angel City Football Club, the National Women’s Soccer League team in Los Angeles, is already making an impact in the community.
Angel City FC joined the United Kingdom-based nonprofit Twinning Project, which works to reduce recidivism by “twinning” or pairing soccer teams with correctional facilities.
While the Twinning Project has worked with more than 70 clubs, this is the first time a women’s facility in the U.S. was chosen. The only other U.S. facility to participate was Rikers Island in New York.
And what better club to start than Angel City FC, the first majority woman-owned major professional sports team in the U.S.
In Los Angeles, the Twinning Project helped partner Angel City FC with the Century Regional Detention Facility Lynwood to help 12 female inmates better their soccer skills and, in turn, their soft skills like communication and teamwork.
“The kinds of things they’ll learn are really about a better sense of self,” said Hilton Freund, CEO of the Twinning Project. “Character-building traits, leadership, teamworking, anger management, all kinds of things that will ultimately make them better people both whilst they still serve their sentences but also when they get out into the community.”
One participant, Reyna Salgado, noted that she enjoyed working up a sweat as part of the program, as well as the morale boost the participants have gained.
“It’s such a huge honor and a blessing. Out of the whole facility, 12 women were allowed to facilitate in this sport, so it’s amazing,” she said.