Students in MA raise awareness with Soccerthon

Students in MA raise awareness with Soccerthon

digitalsportsnews | January 5, 2015
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  The goal was a big one and it had nothing to do with kicking a ball into a net. Nobody kept score as 27 high school students on rotating teams played a continuous 10-hour soccer game on a recent weekend overnight. Everyone was a winner. Students at Mashpee and Barnstable High Schools participated in the Sleepout Soccerthon last month to not only raise funds for homelessness but to also change attitudes and raise awareness. “The idea is to get high school kids involved in the community,” said Lee Docherty, founder of UK Soccer Development, a Cape Cod organization that tries to change the world through soccer. It’s one thing to talk about it, quite another to experience it. “Why not keep a soccer game going for 10 hours . . . get them boxes, and they have to build their own shelters,” Docherty said. The students played ten hours of continuous soccer but in an effort to simulate homeless conditions, had only houses in which to rest between games. In the last three years  Soccerthons have raised over $15,000 for food pantries and $5,000 to help fund soccer clinics so kids that need it can attend free of charge.