Soccer Class

Thanks to Bret Harte Middle School Booster Club’s donation of four solid core soccer balls, West Valley students Jacob Bryan and Shantik Azima-Taylor taught students soccer basics. The donation was made possible by the sacrifice of Bret Harte’s 6th & 7th grade boys basketball teams. Their coach, Henry Ben Rapp, asked them if they would sacrifice receiving a basketball sweatshirt that they would outgrow in a year or two that was budgeted by the Booster Club or “make a real difference by helping some other kids whose family could never afford a fancy sweatshirt.” Both teams voted unanimously to fund the soccer balls for students at their sister school.

The indestructible solid core soccer balls are made by a social enterprise called the One World Play Project whose founder watched kids in Darfur playing soccer with a ball made of scraps and rags tied together. The One World Play project was founded to help kids like these all over the world. Rock legend Sting helped get the enterprise off the ground, even writing a song “One World (Not Three)” dedicated to the effort.

The West Valley team rounded up donated uniforms to hand carry to our school. Check out the photos below:

(Left) Jacob Bryan teaches soccer basics to students in donated uniforms. (Right) Jacob and Shantik Azima-Taylor pose with girls in their donated soccer uniforms.