Opinions & Stuff
Kick that ball – but with finesse
The Bluefield area has one very amazing activity in motion. It’s the game called soccer and is played at a spectacular soccer complex located on John Nash Boulevard near the interstate access ramp. Most of us are familiar with the installation. One of the most amazing facts about the complex is that it was built without any government grants. The people just built it.
One thing we need to keep in mind is that soccer is the world’s most popular game. It has grown by leaps and bounds here in our area. Literally hundreds of youngsters are participating, and the numbers are growing each year. As the center grows and serves the soccer community, it also contributes importantly to the economic growth and stability of our area. This is something big!
There are few things in our area that are growing our economy. Most of Rotary’s offerings belong in the simple gift category. There is nothing wrong with this except it’s not very challenging to recipients of our largess. We need to be doing things that will create current and future opportunity for the people of our area.
The East River Soccer Association has started a program that is tailor made for Rotary. The new offering is “The Academy.” This effort is directed toward budding soccer prospects as young as 4-5 yrs of age. These youngsters are being taught the basics of soccer, thus creating a greater supply of prospects for serious soccer. The more youngsters and families contacted and served, the wider the soccer base becomes. This expanding base will surely produce outstanding economic opportunity for many people of our area.
Rotary might well consider sponsoring The Academy. We would be helping to expand new and healthful recreational opportunities for our people as well as creating new economic opportunities. We would not be delivering goods and services as a handout, but we would be delivering opportunities for self-help and fulfillment. What could be better?
This project will cost approximately $10,000 annually. Sounds like a lot, but if we examine our current giving it would seem we could eliminate enough “handout” items to take care of more than half of the support that is needed. It should be no problem to raise the balance.
Can we do something big? I believe we can. To get some answers our board could appoint a committee to study the feasibility of sponsoring The Academy. A suggested group would be Rotarians John Shott, Quasir Raza, Sandee Cheynet, Denos Demopoulos and past president Don Rice. Most of this group are soccer fans and will be able to do a fine job of presenting the importance of The Academy to our board and club.
LET’S DO SOMETHING BIG!
JG