Top Notch TOPSoccer Program

From a young age, I have shown a huge passion for volunteering. Through programs I participated in from 6th-12th grade, I always went above and beyond the volunteering expectations. When this project in my CIS 112 class came up, I was overjoyed. Choosing the program I wanted to be apart of at first seemed challenging, then I came across LYSA's TOPSoccer program. 

Since August of 2009, LYSA has offered the TOPSoccer program to disabled children and adults. For 7 years now, LYSA has helped these amazing souls learn the joy associated with the beautiful game of soccer. I've been on a soccer field since I was 7 years old. It's like my second home. If there's anything I could hope to do, it would be to share this love with someone else. The TOPSoccer buddy program helps me do just that. The programs website sums up what a buddy is perfectly:

"A Buddy is an invaluable volunteer. A Buddy is not a player and does not score goals. Buddies can be a caregiver, aide, family member, same-aged peer, a teenager or an adult. They can be a soccer player, someone who works with special needs children or someone who has no soccer experience."

What I love about this quote from the web page, is that it puts all the focus on the real stars of the program, the players. That's also what our job is as a buddy. We are there to cheer the kids on and make them feel like the most important people in the universe. The humility that comes with this job is overwhelming. We, as college students, for just one hour out of our week, get to volunteer our precious time for the bettering of our community, and even better, the improvement of another person's life.

This program is completely reliant on it's volunteers, which I also greatly value. Even the program's leader, Janice Birdwhistell, is a volunteer. Janice has a PhD in Psychology from The University of Kentucky, and she still chooses to volunteer her time with this amazing organization. The fact that the workers volunteer allows for greater passion in what they do. All the coaches and volunteers stand behind their work and take great pleasure in seeing their teams succeed, because that's all they receive back from the program. They're all already true inspirations to me.

This past weekend, September 13th, I got to attend my first practice. My player, Caleb is a pure ray of sunshine. According to the website, the main focus of the practice is to "..improve the overall fitness, self-esteem and social skills of your athlete." Caleb has already made amazing leaps and bounds. He's slowly learning the importance of working in groups with his fellow team members on The Blue Thunder. As his team scored goals in scrimmages, you could see his eyes light up in realization that even though he didn't score the goal, he was benefiting from his team's success.

I'm already in love with the LYSA TOPSoccer program and I cannot wait to see how the rest of the semester goes with this amazing group of people.

website APA citation:

 TOPSoccer. (2012, August 13). Retrieved September 15, 2015.