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“Beautiful game for a reason:” High Country Soccer Association gives spunk to adults struggling with COVID-19 stress, sense of community

Rahman Tashakkori, a professor in the High Country of North Carolina, looks forward to every Sunday. Not to rest, but to play a game that taught him the trick of life as a 5-year-old Iranian.

“I grew up in a very poor neighborhood. Soccer was school for us. No coaching, no nothing. Just friends,” Tashakkori said. “We had so many problems as (children). We were involved with wars – a war that lasted eight years. There was not a place that was safe, but that soccer field was a safe place for us.”

This safe place exists for Tashakkori today through Boone’s High Country Soccer Association’s adult league.