Rewarding

The U19's won pretty handily this past weekend, 4-1. It was a strong win, with everybody on the roster contributing. Four goals, four different goalscorers, what more can you ask for?

That wasn't the best thing about the game though. One of the guys, a 16 year old, dropped out of high school last year. He's one who's been in and out of our programs in the community for years, he's really grown up in our soccer teams. When he dropped out, no one was really sure why, he wouldn't talk about it. We didn't have a team for his age group in the spring, so he wasn't always around.

Recently, he told me that he had dropped out because his mom got sick and couldn't work. I know he was working at one of the local grocery stores, and doing some construction when he could get it. He told me that she was doing better and working again, and that he might go back to school, but he wasn't sure.

On Saturday, after we had the game secured and I had pulled him out, he pulled me aside. He asked if I could help him find out how he can get back into school because he wants to go back. Now we have to figure out what to do, because his parents have to get involved...

You think that your gameday is spent making subs and changing the system of play, you don't expect to get involved with getting a kid back into school. But, that's what we do...