Athletes Teach Kids Writing, Soccer

Waiting for the last remaining buses of elementary schoolers to arrive, the Harvard men’s soccer team breaks out in an impromptu soccer ball juggling display. It seems impressive enough—until an elementary school student moves to the front of the awestruck crowd and shows the varsity athletes how it’s done, besting the Harvard players with over 20 touches.

The team spent its Thursday afternoon at the IM soccer fields with over 240 third, fourth, and fifth graders who were participating in New England SCORES, a program that aims to bridge the gap between athletics and academics by teaching a combination of soccer and creative writing skills.

“It’s nice to be able to give back, especially from a school like Harvard,” said team captain William W. Craig ’06, who has participated in this annual event, called “College Kicks,” for three years. “Just seeing the smiles on their faces makes it worth it.”

Program organizers said soccer and writing were a fruitful venues for learning about other life skills.

“They use the writing as a way of expression, and they work on teamwork, leadership, commitment, and overall sportsmanship,” said Ally Kuzin, education director for the program. “Sometimes, [the students] might write about these things after soccer practices.”

While New England SCORES focuses on soccer and creative writing, Kuzin said, its ultimate goal is to help its young participants start to think about college. She said playing sports is a fun way to attract students who might not otherwise be interested in a purely academic program, and soccer in particular holds an international appeal that engages Boston’s high population of immigrant students.

“It’s good because of the experience that college players have,” said ten-year-old Elizabeth Puerta, a fourth grader at Jackson/Mann Elementary School. “You get to run around and be different positions and actually have fun while running; it helps you to improve.”

“As we get better, we can play at college,” added classmate Olivia Piñeyro.

The students were bused to the Harvard fields from various elementary schools in Boston, participating in one of two such “College Kicks” that are held every year in the Boston area; the other occurs at UMass.

New England SCORES originally came to Harvard about four years ago because of a friendship between John Kerr, head coach of the Harvard soccer team, and the program’s athletic director, Geoff Walker.

“Geoff called me up and asked me if we wanted to participate, and I said ‘absolutely,’” said Kerr. “It’s a fantastic opportunity both for our kids to relate to the younger kids and give them something to aim for, and it’s great for them to come out and see real, live, Harvard student athletes to help them aim for college.”

“They’ve always been very nice to our organization and our kids,” Kuzin said. “We’ve built a great relationship.”

Reflecting the diverse goals of the program, the event featured a variety of different stations for the students. The stations ranged from soccer-oriented activities such as drills and full-fledged games (refereed by Harvard students) to a discussion group on what it takes to be a student athlete in college.

“It’s a great deal,” Craig said. “The kids love it, and the guys get to come out here and have a good time teaching them what they’ve learned in eighteen years. I hope the tradition continues.”

Despite the program’s lofty educational and athletic goals, having fun was still a major objective of the afternoon. When asked if he had any words to open the festivities, Kerr simply responded, “Have a blast!”

Piñeyro, for one, jokingly recognized that the afternoon’s games were not too competitive.

“We don’t come out here to win,” she said. “We come out here to have fun...and win.”