Youth Players Benefitting From The At
Home Learning Program
One coach may not realize the impact he or she has on a kid. A coach who has now turned into a male role model to a young boy, helps him navigate how to stay positive during this time. Vine City youth player, Hasan Aziz, has seen just that from his coach, Justin McCarroll, as he is navigating through this difficult time in life as a ten-year-old boy in Castleberry Hill neighborhood.
After two weeks of being involved in the At-Home Skills project, Aziz has seen much improvement in his skills and confidence. The players and coaches set up weekly calls to discuss how their writing and soccer activities are going. And the coach is there throughout the process to provide support and help the kids stay on track.
“I enjoy being able to chat with each player one-on-one over video chat”, said McCarroll. “I am able to walk them through writing activities and soccer skills with no distraction so they are staying motivated.”
Coach Justin demonstrating soccer activities via video chat to youth players
The writing activities which are new for the youth players seem to be helping the kids think outside the box. For example, the first writing assignment was to write what their community meant to them and create a poem about their community. Aziz has a niche for writing and saw this activity as something fun.
“I have always enjoyed writing in my spare time,” said Aziz. “Just like soccer, I am able to express myself in a way that gives me confidence and helps me be creative.”
As the project has benefited the kids, it has also given the parents a sense of encouragement. Aziz’s mom, Halimah Aziz, is a single mother of two kids and is also having to work from home during this time. With the kid’s schoolwork and trying to keep organized, the At Home Skills project has been the most beneficial for her and the kids.
“I know each week when he is on the phone with Coach Justin, he gets a sense of excitement and motivation,” said Ms. Aziz. “I can count on him to be focused and attentive when he is working on his writing and soccer skills.”
Soccer in the Streets is responding and adapting to the current pandemic so we can continue providing value to the communities we serve. While shifting our programming to new At-Home Activities comes with challenges, we've been able to adapt. For example, some of our players lack access to the internet so we worked closely with our coaches to ensure they can provide the same lessons to our kids with no more than a simple phone call.
This project has been a blessing in disguise for the youth players as they try to keep positive while not being able to be on the fields with their coaches. Each week we are working on making the soccer and writing skills that much better for the kids. During the first week, we worked with 40 kids. By week two, we were working with 72 kids. Our goal is to impact over 200 kids as we continue to grow our at-home skills program
