Soccer, Service, and South Africa: Law Grad Carries on Garvin Legacy
-(28).png)
Matt Suzor, JD, was nervous about making connections when he arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, in spring 2025 for his final semester of law school. On his first full night in the eclectic Observatory neighborhood, he ventured into a local bar for a burger and beer, overhearing a group of men his age discussing soccer.
“I kind of sheepishly flagged them down, put down my book, and said, ‘Hey guys, I’m sorry, I started to overhear your conversation, but I just moved here. I don’t know anybody yet, but I do love soccer,’ ” Suzor recalled. And so every Sunday for the remainder of his stay, he played soccer with those men, who became his core social network in a foreign country.
Suzor, who graduated from the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law in May 2025, spent that final semester working at the Legal Resources Centre in Cape Town as a recipient of the Eric E. Garvin ’10 Student Exploration Fellowship. That fellowship carries a profound legacy — honoring the life of Eric Garvin and continuing the spirit of global engagement, service, and justice that he modeled.