A global program teaches soccer and leadership to those incarcerated at Juvenile Hall.

On a sunny Monday afternoon, a group of young men are warming up on the grass at Monterey County Juvenile Hall in Salinas, jogging and stretching before touching a soccer ball.

They are part of the Twinning Project, an intervention program aimed to improve inmate rehabilitation through sports. It pairs professional sports teams with correctional services to provide training, coaching and mentoring to incarcerated individuals.

Juvenile Hall staff learned about the program through the California Department of Corrections’ partnership with the Golden State Warriors, a professional basketball team.

But basketball isn’t as popular in the region as soccer is.

“Soccer is a big part of the community here, and so we asked if there would be the possibility of teaming with a soccer program,” says Michael Palmer, Juvenile Hall division director. “Soccer is such a low barrier to entry. You just need a ball.”

Juvenile Hall partnered with the San Jose Earthquakes to bring the Twinning Project to Salinas, which began in January.

Josue Salgado, a coach at Christopher High School and Gavilan College in Gilroy, partnered with the Earthquakes to bring structured soccer instruction inside Juvenile Hall.

“I’ve added a little bit of a twist showing these boys how to be leaders,” he says.

Salgado adds he wants to share “soccer fever,” since the World Cup takes place this year and the U.S. is one of the hosting countries.

For Salgado, coaching at the high school level and at Juvenile Hall has made for a special soccer season.

“They’ve helped me with my breakdown of film and game planning for certain teams,” Salgado says of the players. “They’ve been able to see firsthand behind the scenes of what it takes to be a coach and how you approach your season, your games and your practices.”

Palmer says enrollment priority was given to those in the Secure Track Program, a program focused on rehabilitating high-risk youth, who will be at Juvenile Hall for the duration of the program and are interested in coaching and mentorship. In total, there are 14 young men and teens participating with ages ranging from 16-25; all of them committed violent crimes.

RG, 22, has been at Juvenile Hall since he was 16. (The Weekly agreed to keep the participants’ identities confidential, consistent with the juvenile justice system.) He grew up in Salinas and says he never played soccer formally, seeing the program as a chance to improve his skill with the ball.

“I’m always down to try something new and see what we can learn,” he says.

RG says the team helped him gain leadership skills and learn more about himself and his character.

Not all participants were into soccer in the beginning. IS, 25, says he played football and rugby. Soccer, he adds, is challenging.

“I’m very tall, big, so it helps me keep my balance on my feet,” he says. “The part that I like the most is the team bonding. It’s good to see my peers grow themselves and just continue to challenge each other in a positive way.”

The Twinning Project began in the United Kingdom in 2018 and has since expanded across the globe. This is the first time Juvenile Hall has had a structured sports program. Palmer notes Palma High School basketball players come in occasionally and have matches with detainees.

“We do sports tournaments on our own, but there hasn’t been this kind of curriculum, drill play,” he says.

The goal of the program is to use a sport as a common ground where inmates can collaborate, despite their backgrounds or gang affiliation, obtain skills, be mentored and gain confidence. Palmer says an important act was “giving them the uniforms, giving them this sense of identity outside of just being inside of the facility,” he says.

“You take for granted the fact that sports keeps a lot of people out of trouble and that access to sports isn’t available to everybody,” Palmer says.

The program ended on Monday, April 6.

“Everybody’s been out there on the field playing together,” Palmer says. “The youth that really wanted to be mentors and coaches are really getting more insight on how to lead.”