Helm’s Egyptian Football Team Visits NASA Ahead of the Genuine Cup

As they prepared to take the pitch in Houston, the Egyptian team of Helm participating in the Genuine Cup Tournament made their first pit stop at the Space Center Houston – the Official Visitor Center for the NASA Johnson Space Center. The boots made way for spacecraft as the team got the chance to visit one of the world's most famous places of space history and exploration.

It is but the first step of a long journey. From July 27th to August 1st, the team will represent Egypt in the Genuine Cup – an international tournament in the world of football for players with intellectual and developmental disabilities and autism, taking place in Rice University. The tournament will involve more than 1,000 players and more than 50 countries.

"For Helm, it is not only about having an Egyptian team playing in an international pitch. It is about creating opportunities for people with disabilities to have experiences that they are often expected to only watch from the sideline." Amena El-Saie, co-founder and CEO of Helm, tells SceneSports.

This approach has guided Helm's work across Egypt as the organization is fighting to eliminate environmental, technological and social barriers keeping people with disabilities away from the public space, education and jobs. They are working together with institutions, companies and communities to design spaces and systems that would allow for inclusion of people with disabilities from the very start.

Football has increasingly become part of that work. Through initiatives including the Unity Cup in Egypt, Helm has used sport to bring people with and without disabilities onto the same field.