The tunnel lights come up at Boston Stadium. The anthem is about to play. And walking out together with the world’s best soccer players are 21 kids from Providence and Central Falls, Rhode Island. The moment is real-time proof that showing up for practice and homework can lead somewhere extraordinary. 

On Friday, June 19, seven student athletes from Alfred Lima Sr. Elementary School in Providence and 14 from Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls stepped onto the pitch in Foxborough, MA, as official Player Escorts for the Morocco vs. Scotland World Cup match — one of the most-watched sporting events on the planet. For these students, all members of Project GOAL, it was the payoff for a season of balancing books and the ball. 

“My dreams have come true because of Project GOAL,” Joseph Bonilla of Central Falls told WPRI 12. Bonilla is one of the 21 Rhode Island children chosen for the honor. 

“Watching our Project GOAL kids walk out onto that World Cup pitch at Boston Stadium was an overwhelmingly emotional, surreal moment that brought tears to my eyes,” said Project GOAL Co-Founder Darius Shirzadi. “The kids have been absolutely buzzing, and their reactions remind me exactly why we do this work. Before the match, they were a mix of pure adrenaline and nerves, recognizing that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After walking off the pitch, they couldn’t stop talking about how loud the crowd was, how enormous the stadium felt, and what it felt like looking up into the stands while the countries’ national anthems were playing. I understand many of the kids wore their match kits from FIFA in school for a few days afterward, each day, to show them off.” 

More than just the thrill of the game, Shirzadi said the students shared a deep sense of pride. “They realized that they earned this spot by committing to their nutrition programs, their attendance, and their schoolwork. One of our students mentioned feeling like they were part of history, and that shift in perspective is everything. It has given them a massive boost of confidence that they are carrying right back into the classroom and onto our local pitches.” 

The opportunity came through Quaker, which runs the official World Cup 26 Player Escort Program, in partnership with Common Goal, a global network of soccer-based community organizations. Together, they identified more than 1,400 youth across all 11-U.S. FIFA World Cup host cities, and Project GOAL’s students were among them. 

To be nominated, students first had to complete a 10-week course with Quaker Foods focused on nutrition and well-being, on top of meeting Project GOAL’s own standards for grades and attendance. They learned they’d been selected back in the spring and have spent the months since getting ready for their moment on the world’s biggest stage. 

Founded in 2004, Project GOAL is a nonprofit built on a simple idea: pair academic enrichment with soccer training, and watch young people rise to meet both. POC is proud to support the co-educational after-school program that serves Rhode Island elementary and middle school youth, helping them meet and exceed grade-level standards while building teamwork, leadership, and social responsibility on and off the field. 

Twice a week, students spend 90 minutes with certified teachers in academic mentoring, paired with 90 minutes of soccer training that reinforces the same values of discipline and teamwork. 

“This is our 22nd year of operation,” Shirzadi said. “When Javier Centeno, Peter Whealton, and I founded Project GOAL, we literally started with just 20 kids in a single school, trying to convince people that soccer could be the hook to keep inner-city youth academically accountable. Our acronym, GOAL, stands for Greater Opportunity for Athletes to Learn, and we have always focused on expanding their horizons — whether that meant taking them to an MLS match or to a university campus to encourage them to think about college.” 

Shirzadi said this World Cup milestone fits into their 22-year journey as the ultimate proof of concept.  

“It signals an inflection point for where we are headed next. We are no longer just a localized after-school program; we are building a legacy that connects local youth directly to global movements. By partnering with organizations like the U.S. Soccer Foundation and Rhode Island FC to launch brand-new urban mini pitches, we are ensuring that the enthusiasm from this World Cup translates into long-term infrastructure for our communities. The future of Project GOAL is about taking this global momentum and cementing it here in Rhode Island’s neighborhoods and to other states, and even countries, to inspire the next generation.” 

That growth came from removing the two biggest barriers to participation — cost and transportation — by making the program fully free and providing transportation to and from sessions. That model has now reached more than 2,000 young people across Providence, Central Falls, and Woonsocket. The demand has outpaced capacity, with waiting lists across current program sites and expansion requests coming in from communities across the U.S. and internationally. 

Meeting that demand means growing on two fronts at once: expanding national and international visibility to build the partnerships and funding needed to scale, while diversifying revenue through federal and state grants, corporate sponsors, fundraising events, and individual donors — support Shirzadi says has been essential. 

“Receiving funding from Papitto has helped us sustain the programming that we’ve had here in Providence but also allowed us to expand to different locations like Woonsocket,” he said. “Knowing that they’ve helped us over the last couple of years allows us to maintain those programs but also look to expansion.” 

The case for that investment is written in Project GOAL’s alumni: graduates who’ve gone on to Ivy League admissions, Air Force pilot training, and in some of the most meaningful full-circle moments, returning as coaches and mentors to the same program that shaped them. 

“When I look at these kids’ faces, I see myself in a lot of ways,” said Mitchel Tiah, coach and Project GOAL alum. “I see a lot of potential, a lot of hopes, a lot of dreams… kids who are just looking for a little bit of an opportunity, a little bit of a coach or individual to just support them and believe in them and kind of walk with them a little bit, so they can be able to take off and do the things that they want to and imagine doing in life.” 

Tiah describes watching shy kids with zero soccer experience transform week by week: “After a week, two weeks, three weeks of installing trust… you start to see them believe in themselves. ‘Oh, maybe I can score that goal. Maybe I can do this.’ And then when they score their first goal, how their face lights up. For me, it’s just again a reminder of when I was in the program and how so many people installed belief and trust in me, and the fact that I get to do that for them is just incredible.” 

As Project GOAL scales, the north star hasn’t changed: keep students on track toward high school graduation and college pathways. Twenty-two years after its founding, Project GOAL’s impact is proof of a simple truth: when kids are given the chance to dream big, both in the classroom and on the field, they rise to meet it. 

“For over two decades, my co-founders and I have told these kids that their circumstances don’t define their boundaries but seeing them stand on the world’s biggest stage made that truth absolute,” Shirzadi said. “The global sport of soccer, which is so profoundly beautiful, has an unmatched power to bring people from entirely different backgrounds together. Seeing children from Providence and Central Falls holding hands with international players, standing in front of a packed stadium of fans from Scotland and Morocco, was a validation of every single late night, tutoring session, and practice we’ve poured into this organization. It proved that our kids belong in the same rooms, stadiums, and conversations as the rest of the world.”