Former USWNTer Lindsay Tarpley takes Community Kicks clinics virtual
From an early age, athletes learn to overcome adversity. The skills they learn on the pitch, field, court, etc., help prepare them for the real world. Overcoming adversity may very well be the theme for the year 2020. And for former U.S. women’s national team player Lindsay Tarpley, she found a way to overcome canceled clinics and still help the local youth.
Tarpley teamed with the United Dairy Industry of Michigan and AFC Ann Arbor in 2018 to create Community Kicks soccer clinics. The free clinics supply children with four basic soccer skills, four life skills and four nutritional skills. They met once a week for four weeks in multiple locations from Grand Rapids to Flint. But this year, the clinics are on hold. Well, they were on hold until Tarpley and team found another way.
“We’ve switched to a virtual program,” Tarpley said. “Each week we launch a soccer skills video. We supply the link on lunch sacks. So far our numbers are great. It’s different, but the concepts are the same. Right now with so many things on hold, this gives the kids a chance to be a part of something.”
The mission of the clinics is “to positively impact the youth in under resourced communities by introducing them to basic soccer, nutrition and life skills.”
The first two lessons of this year’s soccer drills are dribbling and passing. Tarpley combines with other soccer coaches and players to demonstrate activities to do at home. To play the game of soccer you need a ball. To do the drills you need cones or something to substitute as cones and a wall or a partner. The goal is to keep the kids active.
“We want kids to realize the importance of staying active with the nutritional aspect of fueling your body,” Tarpley said. “The first year we had 200 attendees. Last year we had 500, and this year, we’ve sent out 30,000 lunch sacks with a link to our program. We want kids to look at the link, have fun and learn something.”
The life skills vary from week to week. The skills are implemented in a lesson. The main goal is to keep kids active by challenging themselves.
“Each week is something different,” Tarpley said. “We teach them about hard work, being willing to sacrifice for what you want, believing in yourself, persevering, having confidence. We want them to learn but also be physically active.”
The clinics were held once a week for four weeks during summer in Ypsilanti, Detroit, Flint, Lansing and Grand Rapids. They were short and sweet and to the point.
“We combined everything in 30-45 minutes, an hour max,” Tarpley said. “We would end each session by making a smoothie and then everyone gets a lunch. I miss that aspect of it.”
Community kicks teamed up with a dietitian from Milk Means More to help give nutritional tips. While Meet Up and Eat Up supplied attendees with a free meal. Since there are no clinics this year, Meet Up and Eat Up, Food Gatherers and Gleaners have come together to provide youth with sack lunches throughout Washtenaw County, Metro Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids and Lansing.
Tarpley hopes that they will again return to the in-person clinics. But for now, the online platform will have to do. And as for whether they’ll continue to grow, Tarpley said she hopes so.
“That would be wonderful,” Tarpley said. “Our big focus now is to build our program and continue to give back.”
To find out more visit CommunityKicks.org.
Follow Kathryn on Twitter: @Katknapp99.
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