Kent kids get kick out of after-school soccer program

Ask and you shall receive.

That’s the adage Kent Elementary teacher Sara Sweetser could harken to, as of late.

Sweetser, who teaches P.E., got fired up earlier this year at a teaching conference, which promoted a program getting youth-soccer coaches into public schools.

With buy-in from the Washington State Youth Soccer Association and the local Kent Youth Soccer Association, both of which agreed to send some volunteers to help and to speak to kids during P.E. class, Sweetser put the call out to her students, to see if anyone would be interested in an after-school soccer program.

She was expecting about 30 kids. But 130 enthusiastically signed up. So she went ahead and expanded the program.

“I just couldn’t say no,” Sweetser said during a Monday skills drill March 1, surrounded by a bouncing group of grade-schoolers.

“It’s just basically that our kids love soccer,” she said, of the reason for the mob scene that unfolds every Monday after school on the play fields. “A lot of kids aren’t on teams – they don’t have access to it (recreational programs outside of school.)”

Sweetser said the point of Kent Elementary’s program isn’t so much to be competitive as to enjoy the time romping outside and to teach the all-important lesson of teamwork.

“It’s to learn some basic skills and just have fun,” she said. “We really try to make it as fun as possible.”

During last week’s session, Dan Drew, who coaches in KYSA’s Dos Premier Football Club, led his charges through a succession of drills. And it wasn’t about winning, so much as ball-handling, and following directions.

The kids caught on quickly, running and weaving their soccer balls through hoops lined up along the field. And those who were waiting for their turns hopped up and down excitedly. Everybody seemed focused on just learning new skills, as opposed to beating someone else at it.

Daniel Emedi, 7, was one of those players.

Emedi said he was in the program because he’s always liked the sport, and his friends are here, too.

“I want to play soccer with my friends,” he said, when asked why he turned out for the program.

He watches soccer on television, too, in addition to playing it at recess, where he’s usually the goalie.

Sweetser said soccer permeates a lot of youngsters’ lives at school, and her after-school program connects to that.

“They play at recess – they love it,” she said, noting the after-school program has got kids writing about it for class assignments, too.

“We just knew there was a really big interest in it,” she said.

The eight-week program, which ends March 29, includes students in the full range of ages at Kent Elementary, divided into age-range groups. Sweetser said that makes it possible for siblings from the same households to do the program, so that nobody gets left out.

“It allows brothers and sisters to be here,” she said.

She also realizes that not all parents can be there to pick their youngsters up – so for those who live nearby the school, she’ll walk them home, too.

“I have 50 kids I walk to various places,” she said.

While the youngsters see it as a way to unwind and have fun after being in school all day, Sweetser sees the program as a way to better her students’ lives.

While they may start out being physically active, by the fifth and sixth grades, “activity starts to decline,” she said. The program, with its focus on skill-building and teamwork – especially with kids who have school and friendships in common already – is one way to help offset that trend, she noted.