EVERETT — Sandy Grant was looking for something fun to keep her daughters busy this summer.
She didn’t need to look far from her south Everett neighborhood. Shania, 8, and Shakayla, 12, are spending this week honing their soccer skills at Walter E. Hall Park.
The Grant sisters are among about 200 kids registered for the Casino Road Futbol Academy, a weeklong soccer camp set up by the Everett police and local community leaders.
“This is a magnet for the kids,” said Everett police Sgt. Manuel Garcia, one of the lead organizers of the academy. “It’s the most beautiful game.”
Current and former professional soccer players coach the kids, ages 8 to 15.
The camp provides a rare opportunity for kids to see police as friends and mentors, he said.
Soccer, a popular international sport, fits well with the diverse community of Casino Road, Garcia said. Many people who live there are Hispanic, and a passion for soccer runs across generations.
“I knew this was a soccer community,” he said.
Garcia first held the soccer camp a few years ago and saw a lot of interest. And he saw the need.
More activities are needed to keep kids on Casino Road and surrounding neighborhoods out of the house and out of trouble. “Kids need this to keep them from boredom,” Garcia said. He sees trouble as “a by-product of boredom.”
Garcia, who played soccer professionally in Mexico, believes there are parallels between what happens on the soccer pitch and life.
Chanting for your team? “That’s unity… that’s pride,” he said.
Scoring a goal? “That’s sportsmanship.”
Garcia hopes kids will walk away with a new experience, a new attitude and a sense of accomplishment. “I wish everybody saw themselves as trailblazers,” he said.
Several patrol cars lined up in the parking lot during practice on Tuesday. Officers were talking to the parents watching their kids practice. A mix of Spanish and English could be heard from the field.
The kids were broken into teams, and each group was told they were playing for a different country. The idea, organizers explained, was to sneak a little geography into learning about the game.
The groups were scattered around the field, working at their own pace. In one corner 5- and 6-year-olds practiced. Although the camp was supposed to be for older kids, the players showed up with older siblings who had registered for the camp. They pleaded with organizers to take them in, Garcia said. Coaches couldn’t turn them away.
The camp attracted many parents and others from the community who wanted to help. Volunteering gave Sandy Grant a chance to be close while her daughters Shania and Shakayla practiced.
“I like to see the girls have fun,” she said. “I love giving back to the community. They’ve done a lot for my family.”
Shania recently was diagnosed with diabetes. She needs to exercise, but Grant has to keep an eye on her.
Grant hopes her girls will learn teamwork and make new friends. She is meeting other parents and volunteers, too, and learning about their cultures.
“To see the community come together like this, it’s a blessing,” Grant said. “That’s how villages are built.”
Soccer camp
The camp runs through Friday at Walter E. Hall Park from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The cost is $50 per child.
To learn more, go to http://futbol. casinoroad.org.
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