Dozens of preschoolers and kindergarteners are playing soccer in the field behind St. Paul Church in St. Cloud. It’s a brand-new program for some of the youngest students enrolled in Catholic Community Schools (CCS).
Kim Murphy and Erik Ellingboe, parents of a preschooler at All Saints Academy in St. Cloud — one of nine schools that comprise CCS — envisioned the program as a way to build community for young CCS children.
“We felt that offering an activity through the school system provides an opportunity to further strengthen relationships with classmates and, hopefully, develop new relationships,” Murphy said. “This community-building makes our system stronger.”
Over the summer, Ellingboe and Murphy, who has previous experience in parks and recreation and currently works with youth at the early childhood level, met with Paula Leider, principal of All Saints, and received the go-ahead to plan a soccer program from Sept. 14 through Oct. 12.
Murphy hoped for 20 youth, but has been pleasantly surprised with the interest — 42 children.
“The high participation rate shows an interest in opportunities for youth within our community,” she said.
Coaches include a combination of parent volunteers and high school soccer players; Emmett Keenan, Cathedral High School activities director, helped organize teens from his girls’ and boys’ soccer teams.
“Having real soccer players gives the young children someone to look up to,” Murphy said.
Lena Coe, volunteer athletic director at All Saints, agreed. “I love the fact that we have players from Cathedral joining us each Saturday morning and running drills!” she said. “How many teenagers get up early on a Saturday to volunteer?”
Coe noted other options for this age group in St. Cloud. But, she said, “I can’t tell you how many times we have shown up and not known a single person. This is our school, our community, our family.”
Pre-K/Kindergarten Soccer splits participants into six smaller groups based on age, Murphy said, with each group learning and practicing skills. “For the last part of the time, teams match up to utilize the skills they just worked on and play [against] each other for a game.”
Not only do youngsters build skills and learn the game — it strengthens their future connections.
“Given our open invitation for participants to come from any school within the CCS system,” Murphy said, “children playing on the field now could meet again as they form junior high and high school teams. We hope a few connections are made between families that otherwise wouldn’t have been formed.”
“This is a great opportunity to build our Catholic Community Schools as well as the Area Catholic Community,” Coe said. “I lost track of how many different parishes our players are with, but that doesn’t matter. We are all here for the kids. Isn’t that what community is about, needing a village to raise a child? Let’s have a little fun while we do it!”
The Catholic Community Schools system is comprised of All Saints Academy; Holy Cross School, Pearl Lake/Marty; St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School, St. Cloud; St. Francis Xavier School, Sartell; St. Joseph Catholic School, St. Joseph; St. Katharine Drexel School, St. Cloud; St. Mary Help of Christians School, St. Augusta; St. Wendelin School, Luxemburg; Cathedral High School, St. Cloud.