Good Sport

Sacramento is the first city in the United States to host the STREET SOCCER HOMELESS WORLD CUP. More than 100,000 people are expected to participate or watch the event, which takes place July 8–15 at Sacramento State.

Sixty-four teams from 51 nations are expected to come, and more than 200 volunteers will staff the event, the first since 2019 and the 20th anniversary of the event. Entry is free. Food trucks and live music will round out the event.

Street Soccer is a 4-on-4 version of the sport, and is played on courts roughly the size of a tennis court—with walls. Scoring often reaches into the double digits because of the small court size and fewer players, despite games being just 14 minutes long.

To be eligible, players must not have played in previous Homeless World Cups, must have been homeless within the past 12 months and must be in a drug or alcohol rehabilitation program.

“We’ve taken about 20 men and women to Homeless World Cups over the past 12 years,” says Lisa Wrightsman, the managing director of Street Soccer USA: Sacramento. “The majority of the adults we have taken are now not only housed and employed, but living very fulfilled lives, engaged in the community and their families. We have had a few players attend Sacramento State and graduate.”

Wrightsman herself was homeless for a few years after a stellar career playing for the Sac State Hornets. After a pro career failed to materialize, Wrightsman says she was ill-prepared for life off the pitch and found solace in drugs and alcohol. Early in her sobriety, she says, she found out about Street Soccer USA while in a sober-living program run through Volunteers of America. She competed in a national tourney in 2009 and the Homeless World Cup in 2010 in Brazil. She coached the United States at the 2011 tournament in Paris and has attended every World Cup since, she says.

“The tournament changed my life,” Wrightsman says.

Her wife, Tiffany Fraser, also is a former Sac State soccer player and is now chief of staff for Street Soccer USA.

“We don’t expect (Homeless World Cup) to change everything, though we hope it will spur discussion and change negative perceptions of homeless individuals,” Wrightsman says. “At the end of the day, these players are people deserving of respect. Not because they have been homeless, but because of what they have overcome to be where they are today. We want everyone to see the possibilities of the human spirit.”—MARK

BILLINGSLEY

Sustainable Sac

We’re No. 9! We’re No. 9! Sustainability-wise, we’re worse than San Francisco and a lot better than Fresno.

BY REED PARSELL

OK, so corporate-generated city rankings are not going to get anybody too proud or riled up at this point. However, the rankings we shall discuss here this month refer specifically to sustainability, which is what this editorial space is all about.

In April, the grass-advocating LawnStarter company published “2023’s Most Sustainable Cities,” by writer Sav Maive, and Sacramento ranked No. 9. The methodology was described thus:

“To come up with our ranking, we compared the 200 biggest U.S. cities based on five sustainability categories. We looked at the number of zero-energy buildings, alternative fuel stations, and greenhouse-gas emissions, among 26 total metrics.”

Among California cities, the capital does not fully reign. It is judged sustainably superior to Los Angeles (ranked 10th), Sunnyvale (yes, Sunnyvale makes an appear- ance, at 22nd), and Fresno (not intuitively a formidable competitor in any best-cities list, 128th). The Bay Area bests us, however, with San Jose (sixth), Oakland (perhaps last in the American League, but fourth here) and—a city not known for its front yards, LawnStarter—San Francisco (first). San Diego squeezes in at fifth, with Boston (second), New York (third), Seattle (seventh) and Baltimore (eighth) completing the Top 10.

Here’s where the grass company placed Sacramento among some of the rankings’ other metrics:

• Number of incentives and policies supporting renewables and energy efficiency: 47th

• Thrift shopper-friendliness: 16th

• Biking-friendliness: 20th

• Number of green restaurants: 27th

Our fair city especially excelled in state waste management performance, collecting the silver medal by coming in second place. Take that, Bay Area!

The LawnStarter story fertilized our curiosity about other online lists that attempt to compare cities’ sustainability cre - dentials. AllTransit, which claims to be “the largest source of transit connectivity, access, and frequency data in America,” currently deems we have the nation’s 34th best public-transportation system among U.S. towns with at least 250,000 residents. We are placed between Aurora, Colorado (32nd) and Phoenix (34th). At No. 1, king of the hill, top of the list? New York.

Sacramento scores much higher in a less-flattering study by the American Lung Association: its Most Polluted Cities list. Paired with Roseville, the capital city is judged seventh in ozone (Los Angeles-Long Beach, at No. 1, is the worst), sixth in year-round particle pollution (Bakersfield) and eighth in short-term particle pollution (sorry, Bakersfield, but you are No. 1 here, too).

Being dinged for our air quality is depressing, but take a deep breath because here comes a refreshing splash of retribution: Tapsafe ranks our water quality as the best in the nation, topping 405 other cities that contain at least 100,000 residents. We’re No. 1! We’re No. 1!

Land and Sea

At a magical spot north of Fort Bragg, visitors can rejoice in the landscape, whether they’re wandering alongside the ocean or deep in a fairytale forest.