BROOKSHIRE, Texas (Covering Katy News) — The Genuine Cup, an international soccer tournament for athletes with intellectual disabilities and autism, has received a $100,000 grant from the Grundfos Foundation. Grundfos, whose U.S. principal office is in Brookshire, announced the award Wednesday to help stage next week's tournament in Houston.
The tournament, now in its third year, will bring together athletes representing 50 teams from 50 countries. Houston is hosting the event for the second time.
Ignacio "Nacho" Torres, founder of Houston-based Tricon Energy, is the driving force behind the tournament. He accepted the check Wednesday from Ansell Sims, U.S. president for Grundfos.
Torres thanked Grundfos for its support.
"This is a very serious company," Torres said. "They have a great foundation, but the foundation is very serious when it comes into getting approvals. They don't give money to anyone. They really want to make sure that it's a very well-done mission. So that we have their support in front of their dollars is extremely important to know that we're on the right path."
Many of the athletes are traveling from low-income communities around the world, Torres said. In addition to competing in soccer, they will have an opportunity to experience the Houston area, including a visit to NASA.
"It's an amazing opportunity to provide not only a great experience in terms of soccer and sports practice, but also a great opportunity to experience American culture," Torres said.
Grundfos, a Denmark-based pump manufacturer, has both its U.S. principal office and a manufacturing plant in Brookshire. In January, the company's foundation awarded a $58,000 grant to Royal ISD for music equipment and other district programs
T.J. Howard, an electromechanical technician at Grundfos' U.S. principal office in Brookshire, partnered with colleague Rocio Sanchez Jolivette to prepare and resubmit the grant application to the Grundfos Foundation.
Howard said the neurodiverse community is often overlooked, and when he learned about the tournament, he and his colleagues became excited about supporting it.
"Inclusion is huge," Howard said, adding that one of his colleagues has a daughter he described as "a big-time" soccer player. They began learning more about the Genuine Cup and how they could get involved.
"We sent everybody the link and had meetings," Howard said. "First, we just thought we were going to volunteer, but then a few of them said, 'Hey, we should write a grant and really support thing,' and so that's what we ended up doing."
Participating with the athletes
Beyond providing financial support, Grundfos employees wanted to become directly involved, especially after watching the recently completed World Cup.
"Last Friday, we had a scrimmage between some Grundfos employees in Denmark against the team coming from Denmark, FC Copenhagen," Howard said. "That's how big this thing really is. It's like we are fully invested. We have our employees scrimmaging their team that they're sending over here for this. The goal for next year is to make this thing even bigger, and continue to support it."
The enthusiasm for soccer was evident throughout Grundfos' headquarters, Howard said.
"We had it on the big screen, every game, every match," Howard said. "People would take their lunch breaks and watch it."
Howard praised Torres for his leadership of the tournament and for creating opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities.
"When these young kids get to a certain age, and they're not able to go to school, what do they do?" Howard said, adding that Torres has hired people with intellectual disabilities.
"He's given them an opportunity to live a normal day-to-day life and have responsibilities," Howard said.
For more information about the tournament and its schedule, visit genuinecup.org.
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