WHITEFISH BAY, Wis. — A Whitefish Bay senior is turning his love of soccer into an opportunity for Milwaukee kids who might not otherwise have access to the sport.
Roman Grunbaum founded Building Bridge FC after recognizing the gap between his own upbringing and the resources available to kids in nearby communities.
"I've grown up in Whitefish Bay my whole life, and in just a few minutes' drive, are not as fortunate communities," Grunbaum said.
Watch: Whitefish Bay senior creates soccer camp to bring the game to Milwaukee's underserved kids
In partnership with St. Marcus Schools, Grunbaum launched the program to foster soccer within Milwaukee's underserved communities. What began as weekly open gyms over the winter expanded into a week-long summer camp. Grunbaum also raised money so every camper could leave with a soccer ball.
"These kids don't have the same opportunities that I did, and I feel like that's a very unfair situation and that somebody needed to make a change with that, and I've always loved soccer my whole life, so I thought there's no better way to do this through soccer," Grunbaum said.
The camp focuses on teaching fundamentals while also connecting campers with mentors.
"I think Roman is being that type of catalyst where he's giving these people of all different ages the soccer skills and accessibility to this sport now, or else they may never get it in their childhood," fellow Whitefish Bay senior Caleb Geigler said.
"We just want to teach them the fundamentals and try to like just get them engaged in the sport and learn the basics," Grunbaum said.
For the campers, the experience goes beyond drills and skills.
"My favorite part is like we can practice more and more, working up on our skills to like go into the big leagues," 8th grader David Joiner said.
Whitefish Bay senior Omar Alsaggaff, who volunteers with the program, said the camp could be a turning point for the kids involved.
"I see myself within them… and I think that's just really cool that even just like making a simple camp like this, it may bring them to have this be their moment where they spark and it might be something they do for the rest of their life," Alsaggaff said.
One camper summed up what the program means to him.
"Thank you, Roman, because I like soccer a lot and I want to play soccer," Josyah Joiner said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
