Soccer is the hook at New Dimensions — but the real goal is teaching life skills
New Dimensions Soccer's co-founder and Executive Director Tom Michler was interviewed on St. Louis Public Radio's St. Louis on the Air. (Also featuring Patricia Thompson, and Nadia Soudani)
St. Louis Public Radio - by Emily Woodbury
May 12, 2022
For 17 years, New Dimensions has provided low-income kids in the St. Louis area something their affluent peers take for granted: access to soccer. The nonprofit has offered countless kids, including many refugees and immigrants, a high-quality soccer program — for free.
Tom Michler, co-founder of the organization, says the focus is soccer, but the game is an avenue to provide so much more.
Read the full article and listen to the podcast
Many parents at Saturday’s practice mentioned the diversity of New Dimensions participants as the top reason they stay involved. That’s music to the ears of Michler, who formed the group with that value in mind.
New Dimensions volunteers distribute prizes and hot dogs after practice. - Emily Woodbury
When Michler launched the program in 2005, he said he saw it as a way to not only expose his own kids to people from diverse backgrounds, “but also to give kids that were new to St. Louis, something to do as a way to assimilate into the culture.”