For two hours, there were endless high fives, cheers and laughter as members of the Libertyville soccer community came together for a clinic put on by local coach Russ Benton. Rivals laid down their differences this Saturday as the girls united for a singular cause to raise money for the Make-A-Wish foundation.
Benton, who has done the event for three years, said 50 local organizations contributed gift cards and vouchers to the cause. The most notable being the Chicago Sky, Fire and Red Stars, who offered vouchers for games this season.
At the end of it all, Benton handed Make-A-Wish a $1,250 check from all the donations the clinic received.
“This is just a way to give back to the community,” Benton, 50, said. “It’s a thank you for all of the work all the girls do. …It just dawned on me, this is such a giving community, I am sure if we could find a program we could work with them. I talked to Make-A-Wish, and they were very excited.”
Approximately 50 girls participated in the two-part clinic at the Libertyville Sports and Fitness Complex. One hour was spent scrimmaging, while the other was spent going through drills with the Fire’s Chris Solomons.
The community ambassador said the girls confidence levels were very high as they ran through exercises that focused on compliment skills, while building awareness of space. The girls played a box game, where they had to anticipate where the ball was going, and the point of this was to build skills that they’d use in game-time situations.
A former footballer himself, Solomons emphasized the importance of actually going out and working with the community as opposed to just giving things away.
“It’s easy sometimes, I feel, just to hand out some tickets for a game,” the 25-year-old said. “It’s important for us to really come out and show our contributions and put a face to the brand. We believe it has more value to put some enjoyment into an activity, where they can really remember it, have a great experience and certainly be inspired to continue playing soccer by having the Chicago Fire show the effort and show the contribution to coming out rather than just giving some tickets to a raffle.”
For Erin and Rebekah Benton, Nicolette Kavathas and Delaney and Sally Grace Rogers the opportunity to play soccer and help other kids in the process was the best part of the day. Working with a member of the Fire wasn’t too shabby, either, or possibly winning tickets to see their favorite Red Stars players.
But they understood the gravity of working for something bigger than themselves and that’s what meant the most to each of them.
“I felt great because I knew that I was playing for other kids, and I was helping other people.” Sally Grace said.
“I’m used to playing against my friends, so this was a really fun experience to play with them,” Kavathas said.
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