Daily News | U.S. keeper Zack Steffen has a goal beyond 2022 World Cup success: To give back
Zack Steffen stood Wednesday afternoon in the gym at the Caring People Alliance R.W. Brown Boys and Girls Club, surrounded by a pack of summer campers at the North Philadelphia facility.
His journey has taken him around the world and it could lead to his standing in goal in November as the United States plays its first World Cup match in eight years. It would be quite the journey from Downingtown to Qatar, and perhaps it may have been easier years ago for a Black kid in Chester County to dream about reaching soccer’s biggest stage if he had the representation in his life that he provided to the kids at R.W. Brown.
“I think that was a trigger for him,” his mother said. “He’s always been extremely humble and concerned about giving back, but I think that was a trigger. When that happened, a switch flipped for him that he wanted to use the success he had, the celebrity, and to transform it into something other than just mindless tweets and posts. I think that was a defining moment that led him to getting involved.
Steffen was too young then to understand the challenges his mother faced, but he has grown to appreciate how she overcame them. His mother, Steffen said, is his biggest fan. And Steffen said he feels the same way about her. “She’s very active and attentive to learning about the Black culture,” Steffen said. “She sends me links and books all the time. ... She’s part of VoyceNow and wants to do the same thing that I’m doing, which means the world to me.”‘Do something about it’