Elite Soccer Dishes out the Christmas Spirit
The players from Elite Soccer Development Academy are used to darting up and down a soccer pitch looking to blast a soccer ball into mesh, but the boys donned aprons instead of jerseys over the weekend.
To learn about giving back to the community, the Elite soccer players were peeling potatoes and working the soup kitchen as apart of the Out of the Cold Program, which is a host churches in partnership with other community groups to provide a hot meal, companionship and overnight shelter to those in need, at Christ Church in Niagara Falls.
Vittoria and Don Wikston organized the trip for the Academy, and worked with assistant manager Brian Brady at National Grocers Cash & Carry for food donations.
"Reaching out to the community is an important component of playing sports," said Vittoria Wikston, the Academy's administrator. "We have a chance here to really contribute to something special. We're hoping to continue this and reach out to the community in the future."
Academy director James McGillivray were in attendance, and the players were accompanied by their parents. The players who volunteered include: Greg Huffman, Brayden Irwin, Sean Hughes, Lucas Hamilton, Connor McGillivray, Colin O'Connor, Tonio Visca, Eddie Visca, Jorge Rodriguez, Kevin Rodriguez, Alberto Rodriguez, Sam Brown, Cam Philips and Justin Kuhn.
Elite Soccer is a sports development program that has kids, aged 10-17, from across the Niagara region, but aims to give its players experience outside of the region. ESD began in 2005 and has more than 60 players.
"Sports is much more than just kicking around a ball or shooting a hockey puck," said Academy president Clayton Rosario, who also attended with his wife Pam. "We wanted to teach our athletes what it means to give back to the community. I think some of them were shocked when they learned how other people live, but it was a humbling experience for all of the boys. It will definitely by an event we will continue to do. It teaches our students values."