Demiranda has continued to be a passionate supporter of the game in Chester, cofounding the William Trippley Youth Development Foundation in 2008 and the Chester City United youth soccer league a year later. Trippley, who starred at FC Delco and played college soccer at Widener, was murdered on Easter Sunday in 2004 a few blocks from his home. “I used to walk past this field and pray about kids playing soccer here.” “My son would be so happy,” Demiranda said, referring to her late son William Trippley. The significance of Monday’s game, the first the team has played in Chester after playing their first game away, wasn’t lost on Patricia Demiranda, who was roaming the sidelines on Monday cheering the team on and yelling out soccer terms like “show for him” and “send him.” “Now that we’re able to get this underway, we know the goods and the bads and the things we need to improve,” Jacquette said. Adding the sport at the high school level is also a goal for the district. The middle school team formed this fall as an outgrowth of the organization, which runs after school and weekend programs at sites across the Chester Upland School District.Įxecutive Director Brent Jacquette, who is the head men’s soccer coach at Widener, said this year’s team was a way to get the ball rolling and that the plan for next year is to bring the number of teams to four with seventh and eighth grade teams for both boys and girls. The program was initially launched in 2012 through a collaboration between Widener University, Crozer Keystone Health System and the Philadelphia Union but has since become its own separate nonprofit organization. Like a lot of his teammates, Najdek started playing soccer five years ago when he brought home a flier from school for a program called Chester Upland Soccer for Success. “A lot of people don’t think too positively of Chester so we’re trying to set a good example,” midfielder Damien Najdek said after the game, a 4-3 loss to Academy Park. Played at STEM Academy on 10th Avenue just over a mile from Talen Energy Stadium, the game was the first at home for the newly formed Chester Clippers middle school team. In a city where crime all too often dominates headlines, a group of seventh and eighth graders did their part to generate some feel-good news Monday when they stepped onto a field in Chester to play a soccer game.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |