EHS Grads Will Dribble Across Minnesota on Awareness Mission

In 2011, a friend posed a question to Eagan High School graduate and soccer enthusiast Alex Daley.

Is it possible to dribble a soccer ball across the United States, the friend asked.

It's a question Daley intends to answer. This summer, he and fellow EHS grad Matt Scott plan to dribble more than 400 miles across the length of Minnesota, from International Falls through Duluth and Minneapolis, ending south of Albert Lea.

Daley and Scott, both longtime soccer players, are staging the run to raise awareness for their fledgling nonprofit, Dribble Daily, and their mission to bring soccer fields, social change and sustainable living to disadvantaged communities across the U.S. and in developing nations.

But their trans-Minnesota jaunt is just the opening act, Daley said. The pair hopes to follow that journey up with a much longer run across the U.S.

Watch the video above to hear Alex and Matt describe their mission.

United by Soccer

Core to Scott and Daley's vision is the idea that soccer—a sport played across the world—can serve as the 'common ground' that bring together people of diverse backgrounds. It's a concept that Daley first witnessed at the University of St. Thomas, where he founded a soccer club that brought together a group of international students.

Fascinated by the idea, Daley recruited Scott, a videographer and environmental science student at St. Thomas, to travel across several Asian countries in 2012 filming a soccer documentary focused on using the sport to break ethnic barriers.

The following year, Daley and Scott traveled to Pohkara, Nepal, where—thanks to a generous donation—they built a soccer field for the students of a local boarding school. It was the first project completed under the auspices of Dribble Daily, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization Scott and Daley formed.

Fighting Urban Blight

Inspired by their impact in Pohkara, the two returned to Minnesota this spring and plotted out their next steps. The goal of the nonprofit, the two decided, should be to transform decaying urban areas in the U.S. with the construction of soccer fields with adjacent community gardens on rooftops and in abandoned parking lots.

Once built, these 'village greens,' could simultaneously promote sustainability, tackle obesity and cement communities together by allowing local residents to grow food and gather for recreation, Scott and Daley said.

"We really feel like by going into urban areas and putting in soccer fields … that can be the common ground to break down those barriers," Scott said.

Dribble Daily set its sights on St. Paul, and entered the Forever St. Paul Challenge—a contest organized by the St. Paul Foundation, which will give a winner $1 million to spend on a project to improve the city.

But Daley and Scott aren't waiting to see the outcome of the challenge, which will be decided later this year. They plan to begin their three-week-long run across the state on May 15, weather permitting. They'll average 20 miles a day, and hope to sleep with host families along the way.

They hope donations and sponsorships generated by the run will help them raise money to develop urban soccer fields and community gardens.

"Growing up in Eagan, you don’t realize what sort of privilege it is to have green space in your backyard, access to parks, access to fields to play," Scott said. "Once I left and traveled abroad … I’ve just seen this disparity we have, I was really motivated to use the gifts and talents we had."

Follow Alex and Matt on Twitter, or 'like' Dribble Daily on Facebook.