This fall, Backyard Sports Cares launched the Backyard Sports Soccer Club (BYS SC). Cooperating schools and organizations included: Trinity and Jefferson Elementary Schools (New Rochelle), Mamaroneck Avenue School (White Plains and Mamaroneck), Mt. Vernon Boys and Girls Club, Mt. Vernon Recreation Department, and the Port Chester Carver Center.
More than 150 youngsters in 2nd and 3rd grades were provided weekly instruction and game play as part of an after school program.
In addition to the activities the children received leadership and mentoring from coaches Carlos Aguire and Alyssa Rosado (Purchase College), Gabriel and Valeria Toro (Greenwich), and our “three amigos”: Vinnie Milan, Luis Torres, and Alexis Cisneros, current varsity players on the New Rochelle High School Soccer Team.
To culminate their first season, BYSC held a holiday soccer festival at the Mt. Vernon Underdome for all the players and had guest teams from Edgemont and Rye Brook. The club addresses a need in our underserved communities to provide enriching on site after school programming that does not require transportation to other venues. The children see their membership in the club as larger than the game itself. The practices, exposure to appropriate role models, and social engagements which take place during the club meetings are all meant to transfer to their lives outside of the club.
The club will resume activities in the spring with plans to grow and engage other schools and communities.
