Verizon Wireless Adopt-A-Team Program

The Verizon Wireless Adopt-A-Team program is a program created by both the San Jose Earthquakes and Verizon Wireless to reach out to Bay Area youth soccer teams. This year, 16 local teams will be adopted by an Earthquakes Soccer player. The player will stand in as the celebrity coach and mentor for the team, and participate in at least one practice or game for their adopted team.

The Adopt-A-Team program is also an effort to prevent relationship abuse by engaging coaches to talk with their athletes about respect and non-violence. Coaches are poised to help their athletes build healthy relationships by positively influencing how they think and behave both on and off the field. The head coach of each team selected will participate in a one-hour informational class, led by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, that will address the prevalence of domestic violence and the many opportunities coaches have to impart their philosophies of respect, integrity, and non violence upon their athletes.

The program is an extension of Verizon Wireless' HopeLine® program. Through HopeLine, Verizon Wireless collects no-longer used wireless phones, batteries and accessories from any wireless service provider at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores nationwide. HopeLine puts the nation's most reliable wireless network to work in our communities by turning these unused wireless phones into support for domestic violence survivors.