You Belong Here:

What a Nottingham Soccer Coach Taught Me About Community

A Syracuse soccer coach’s story sparked my memories of growing up at Ed Smith, Levy, and Nottingham High School. You Belong Here. This is where friendships from around the world taught lessons about belonging, respect, and community.

The sign outside our church reads, “You Belong Here.” As I read a recent story about Nottingham High School soccer coach Claude Tuyishimire, those three words kept coming to mind.

Tuyishimire, born in a refugee camp in Tanzania, has built one of Syracuse’s most successful high school soccer programs by creating something bigger than a winning team: a place where students from around the world feel they belong. One player from Cameroon described the team as his “second family.”

The story struck a personal chord.

Nottingham is my alma mater. Long before “diversity” became a corporate buzzword, the halls of Ed Smith, Levy, and Nottingham introduced me to classmates, teachers, and friends from around the globe. A walk through school felt like a walk through the United Nations. I learned about different cultures around dinner tables, in classrooms, and through friendships that expanded my view of the world.

Looking back,

I realized those experiences shaped who I became. They taught me that people may come from different places, speak different languages, or follow different traditions, but everyone wants the same thing: to be welcomed, respected, and given an opportunity.

That’s part of the United States celebration this year. We celebrated our diversity, our opportunities, our shared appreciation for our Country’s 250th Birthday. We are all so different, and yet, …We are America. In all her colors, traditions, beliefs, and strengths. We are.

Maybe that’s why this story resonated with me. Whether it’s a church, a classroom, a business, or a soccer team, the strongest communities are built on a simple message:

You belong here.