Most of Team Ghana’s time at Bryant University over the next month will involve the hard work of preparing for the Black Stars FIFA World Cup 2026™ matches. On FIFA Community Day, however, the team came to play.
The June 13 event, arranged by Bryant, the official training camp for Team Ghana, welcomed nearly 2,500 people to campus, including members of the New England Ghanaian community, more than 200 local youth soccer players and their families, and Bryant leaders, faculty, staff, and alumni. Fans got to watch a live Black Stars practice on Bryant’s newly improved grass field, interact with players, and share their love of the world’s most popular sport.
“Knowledge is like a baobab tree; no one can encompass it with their hands,” according to an ancient Ghanaian proverb. That’s especially true in soccer, as local youth players learned as members of Ghana’s FIFA World Cup 2026™ team helped lead a skills clinic, signed autographs, and met with fans during a day devoted to celebrating the "beautiful game" and its role in bringing people together.
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For soccer player and avid fan Ezra Lord, 14, the day was a chance to meet some of his favorite players. "[Black Stars and Manchester City winger] Antoine Semenyo is one of the best in the world," said Lord, also calling out forward Iñaki Williams, who is captain of his club team, Athletic Bilbao, in Spain.
"They seem so special but when you meet them they just seem like people, which is kind of cool," Lord noted between taking pictures with his idols.
Youth soccer players from across New England were invited to take part in the skills training session, which included instruction from Black Stars players as well as coaches and players from Bryant's nationally ranked men's soccer team.
"Meeting the best players in the world is a great experience. They seem so special but when you meet them they just seem like people, which is kind of cool."
Ezra's mother, Monica Lord, said that her family had previously been to Bryant to watch the Rhode Island Football Club during its inaugural season in 2024.
"To host Ghana, and for our youth to have direct access to these world-class athletes, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," she said. "We're thrilled as parents to let them witness and marvel in all of these experiences."
Wrapped in the red, yellow, and green of the Ghanaian flag, Elizabeth Bucha of Brockton, Massachusetts, was among a group of Community Day attendees organized by the Ghana Association of Rhode Island.
"It's great to see the team but also all of these Ghana people," she said. "Everyone we have met has been very welcoming and inclusive. It's great for us all to be connected and feel like we are at home."
Alex and Comfort Danso, both involved in the Ghana Association, arrived early to bask in the Community Day excitement. Asked about Team Ghana's chances in the tournament, Comfort said, "We've got our fingers crossed; we're praying.”
Among the luminaries drawn to Smithfield by the Black Stars was Andromeda Osam-Peters, a Ghanaian-American native of Springfield, Massachusetts, who was crowned Miss United States in 2018 and is the current Miss Universe Ghana.
"I always felt like I was balancing two different worlds, with my household being my culture and then also being an American," she said, "but this feels like an amalgamation, with everyone here for the sole purpose of celebrating the Black Stars. It's so nice to be a part of."
For Rhode Island General Treasurer James Diossa, the day was both a celebration of a sport he loves and an acknowledgement of the effort that went into bringing Team Ghana to Rhode Island.
"We wouldn't have this World Cup experience right in our backyard without Bryant University stepping up," said Diossa while watching the Black Stars run through some light practice drills. "We have a long history of soccer in this state, and it's going to continue growing."
"We wouldn't have this World Cup experience right in our backyard without Bryant University stepping up."
Liz Tanner, executive director of Ocean State 2026, Rhode Island's World Cup organizing committee, agreed that the day was indeed one to celebrate.
"All of the work that we've done, all of those question marks, now they're all exclamation points," she said, crediting Bryant President Ross Gittell, Ph.D.'s "bold vision" in undertaking the hosting of Team Ghana.
For the last few years, Bryant has been the home-away-from-home for Ghanaian Augustine Boadi '26, '27MBA, who played soccer for the Bulldogs and was instrumental in the university’s preparation for hosting Team Ghana.
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"You see the Ghana community here, you see the Bryant community here, you see a lot of different people here. That's what soccer does," said Boadi, the founder of Sankofa Vision, which raises money to build wells for villages in Ghana.
"I'm very fortunate to be in the middle of it all, to help organize this event and be a part of it as much as I can,” Boadi, who also helped coach the youth players during Community Day, added. “Representing Ghana at the highest level is the dream of every kid, so having them here, interacting with them, and being able to help with their preparation, that's something I'm so grateful for."
"You see the Ghana community here, you see the Bryant community here, you see a lot of different people here. That's what soccer does."
Bryant Men's Soccer Head Coach Ruben Resendes, who worked side by side with Black Stars players as well as some of his own coaches and players to run nearly two dozen skill stations on the stadium turf, said the event exceeded all of his expectations.
"It's not easy to run around with 250 kids, but we were able to get it done. And we wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of the players from Ghana," said Resendes. "The community came out and showed unbelievable support for Ghana, and these players and staff are fantastic. Coming out here, playing with the kids, getting stuff signed — they gave a lot of themselves."