Outcasts United
Adapted by Warren St. John
The Story of a Refugee Soccer Team That Changed a Town
As soon as you read the introduction (and be
sure you do) you will be eager to read this story
and annotate your thoughts and favorite parts.
The next 10 slides will briefly note things that
could be considered in the reading groups or on
your own if you read this as an additional book.
I imagine you’ll have other things or more ideas to
write and talk about, and I’m eager to both hear
and read them.
And by the way, feel free to make an artistic or written project
that expresses something from the book if you’d like some extra
credit and want to make your mind (and teacher) happy.
Outcasts United Project Summary by Jillian Clary
When I was reading Outcasts United, there was one particular theme that grabbed my attention and touched
my heart: the theme of doing things for others even when they can’t do anything in return. To represent this
theme, I chose to use quotes from other sources to form a soccer ball, the main medium used in the book to
give to others. The grass behind the soccer ball is a quote from the book that I thought exemplified my theme
accurately.
Part One Changes
1 Luma: What kind of person do you think Luma is and why do you think it? Let’s
think about choices she (and we) make.. .
2 Beatrice and Her Boys Horrific things happened in Monrovia, Liberia, but
Clarkston, GA was far from safe too. How do you feel when you read such things
especially when you know they are non-fiction?
3 Small Town...Big Heart This chapter reflects so much on feelings represented
in parts of America today. Make a T-chart of positives and negatives you see in
Clarkston. Or make a timeline of events/people/situations that brought feelings to
a boil by March 31, 2003.
Knowing our stories, hearing about the lives of others is vital to civilization. Let’s talk about
this...how can we learn? How can we share? Let’s revisit the short piece from first semester, “The
Person Sitting Next to You” on the next slide and talk about the questions it raises.
4 Alone Down South
This whole chapter illustrated what we just
thought/wrote/talked about concerning the importance of knowing our stories.
5 The Fugees Are Born
Discuss/annotate the real and symbolic meaning of
“one shoe.” What are the main challenges of starting the team? What positive
things were happening as she “was on the hook to succeed”?
6 Coach Says It’s Not Good
Let’s talk about what’s uniting them in this
part...challenges, hostility, determination, skill...
7 Get Lost
How does all the unfairness directed
to the kids and their coach make you feel?
Which disadvantages seemed the worst and why?
Discuss the importance of Tracy coming on board.
Part Two A New Season
8 I Want to Be Part of the Fugees! Recall the positives and negatives of each
team...sorta like teams and classes today, huh? Review the contract on p 76-7.
Is it a good one? How do you feel about the hair issue?
9 Figure It Out So You Can Fix It Read p 79. Does that inform the hair rule at
all? How do you feel about Luma’s coaching methods (pros and cons)? Think
and write about the importance of remembering (Beatrice: “The life we passed
through...You forgot. As for me, I didn’t forget.”)
10 Meltdown Did you guess the outcome? Why? Cite details from the chapter to
back up your guess. How did you feel after the game?
11 How Am I Going to Start All Over? Choices are so often difficult, especially
when pros and cons for decisions seem equally important. Are you able to
imagine these kids such as Kanue as real? Why are they able to start over?
12 Alex, Bien,and Ive “We thought America would be...soda...food” (Alex) “No worry, no worry,”
Generose said in her sparse English, raising her hands. “God very,very good.” Is her statement
sad, ironic, hopeful, inspiring…? Every family I “meet” I love more and feel humbled by.
13 Trying Again Let’s look at the poem, “Victory in Defeat,” and think how it is applying to this
story.
Victory in Defeat
by Edwin Markham
Defeat may serve as well as victory
To shake the soul and let the glory out.
When the great oak is straining in the wind,
The boughs drink in new beauty, and the trunk
Sends down a deeper root on the windward side.
Only the soul that knows the mighty grief
Can know the mighty rapture.
Sorrows come
To stretch out spaces in the heart for joy.
14 The Fifteens Fight It’s about persevering through problems, “Truth be told, she was growing tired
of the whole scene at Indian Creek--the chaos on the field as well as the menacing crowd in the parking
lot...She resolved to do something about it…” How are you feeling about Luma and her Fugees at this
point? Who are you most like?
15 Go Fugees! Man alive; so exciting! I don’t think I could have handled reading about a loss.
(“Victory in Defeat” notwithstanding) I love Luma’s praise on p 134. Honest, well-deserved praise really
means something!
16 Gunshots I hate the scourge of hoodlums and gangs! How about you? Do you know any stories
that apply and feature issues with gangs? There’s a short story called “On the Sidewalk Bleeding” that I’d
love for you all to read and respond to. Please ask for a copy.
17 The “Soccer People”
Finally, they get a break!
18 Playing on Grass Some discussion about why people join gangs.
Did they cover it all? Then comes the beauty of the new field…finally.
”Nah, Hamdu,” said a lanky Sudanese midfielder named Kuur,
“We’re not in Africa anymore.”
Part Three Full Circle
19 Who Are the Kings? Even with the details about soccer (which I don’t play) I stay interested in the
story because of the myriad personalities involved--both good ones and not so nice. “...It was a small, silly
moment, but it also showed that boys from thirteen different countries and a wide array of ethnicities and
religions and who spoke different languages were creating their own inside jokes…” “It’s like they’re all
from my own country,” he said, “They’re my brothers.”
20 Showdown at Blue Springs
“I’d have paid money to see that game!” he said (I would have too!)
21 Coming Apart This was tough to read. How would you have
felt in the shoes of Mandela? Natnael? Luma? Would you have
been able to make Natnael’s choice?
22 Hanging on at Home Two scenes: Generose’s “home alone”
children and the fire. Beatrice’s home with Mandela’s old Fugees
uniform hanging on the wall over his pillow. How do you feel as
you catch a glimpse of each of these situations?
23 The Dikoris This chapter should broaden your mind about the horrors of genocides that are still
happening today. I remember seeing some of this reported on TV...it’s searing, awful! Can you imagine
yourself in such situations? I know I get a bit edgy when confronted with trying to get around in safe
American cities new to me. The past horrors and the steep learning curves these families endure makes
me ashamed of my silly fears and makes me want to help, reach out...never judge.
p 174 “We say that there are ninety-nine different mountains in Nuba and each has its own tribe, he
said.” Talk about what this means and the effects it produces.
p 178 This chapter ends with “It kept our minds from thinking about what happened, he said. We
made friends--kids from different cultures. It broadened our minds, and we weren’t the only ones going
through hard times. That’s why the team is so close. It became our family.”
Have you found anything that affects you in a similar way?
24 What are you doing here? Let’s share what makes you really mad in this chapter and why it does
and also if anything offers some hope.
25 Halloween Have you noticed that often in books some comic relief comes after something really bad?
That’s this short chapter. What made you laugh? Can you visualize the scenes? But then gunshots at
the end...oh my.
26 The Fifteen’s Final Game Share some lines from the chapter that show why you think they lost?
How did you feel about various boys during the game? About Luma? What lessons do you take away
from this chapter?
27 My Rules, My Way A happy, good win...whew! Why?
28 Tornado Cup Look at Luma’s comments about the game on p 209. Why do you think there is such
an up and down emotion? Is this usual in sports events? Have you had a coach like Luma? Would you
want one? Why or why not? What do you think makes the writing move so quickly during the recounting
of the game? This is sports commentary with an added bonus; we care about this team.
p 218-19 “There was plenty of open space in the...parks...outside
of Clarkston...out of reach for the Fugees...Pull back farther, and
...the gray ridges of the blue Ridge Mountains. Pull back again,
and the blue ocean came into view, then other continents and
countries--Congo, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Iraq--all looking
deceptively calm. Pull back farther still and the curved horizons
of the planet revealead themselves--a beautiful ball of green, white,
blue, slate, and brown. Someday, somewhere down there, the Fugees would find a home
Epilogue pp 220-226
The epilogue is so important in books like this because we can
find out what’s going on after this part of the story ends. Share things that
are positive (there are many), negative (such as the report card incident),
funny (such as “Indiana is in America!”). Spend some time Googling
(outcasts united book). Also visit some of the suggested sites and be sure
to find The New York Times front page article about the Fugees
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/21fugees.html?_r=0
and the Fugees Academy website:
http://www.fugeesfamily.org/#!educationfugees-academy/c20gp
This true story makes me believe that we can all do something important;
we all have a skill we can use to help and enrich others. What’s yours?
The introduction is worth rereading too. Let’s close with these lines from
pp 5-6, the referee speaking:
“Gentlemen,” he said, “I’d like to thank you. You played the ball the entire
game, and you didn’t take any cheap shots. They got frustrated and
started hacking, and you didn’t retaliate. So I’d like to commend you on
your sportsmanship.” The man paused and swallowed hard. “And that
was one of the most beautiful games of soccer I’ve ever seen.”