The Story Behind Soccer Prom

"Let me make sure I've got this right - it's a soccer match... but the players are wearing dresses?"

"And tuxedos, yes sir. It's proper soccer match but with formal wear."

"Well, alright then. That sounds good."

And that with that first "well, alright then" from Stuarts Draft High School athletic director, Steve Hartley, we had our first vote of support from the community and a venue to host Soccer Prom.

We wanted to create a tentpole fundraiser that would serve two purposes: raise money and connect with the community. There are plenty of fundraising events that would satisfy those two requirements. But I had two additional requirements:

1. Let it be fun. Not all fundraisers are fun. Some of them are a real snooze-fest and often use the same bland formula over and over. That doesn't have to be the case. Let's put the fun in fundraiser.

2. Make a statement. Let's use this opportunity, however large a stage or small a voice we have, to say something with our event to illustrate our intentions. Let this be an expression.

Soccer Prom was designed with all of those in mind. 

As I was going through the process of planning and developing Soccer Prom, it became more like writing an open love letter to the village that raised me and the next generation that was in its care. The same generation that I had returned to this village to help serve through my post as director of development at the Boys & Girls Club.

Everyone on the staff and board at the BGC cares deeply about the club's mission and serving every kid who comes through our doors. But each of us have certain threads of that mission that we are especially passionate about. One of my "threads" is working to help this community raise healthy, smart, passionate girls to be healthy, smart, passionate women. Since I was once one of this community's healthy, smart, passionate girls I feel like it's my turn to do my young sister friends a solid and help them cross the threshold.

Soccer played a big role in my evolution as a both an athlete and a woman. Soccer provides a rare freedom for girls. It's a game that rewards tenacity, assertion, and resilience. Creativity and innovation are essential to the game's free-form design. Dirt, bruises, and the occasional blood or grass stain come with the territory. This game is gender-blind by design. It is one of the only sports where the rules and regulations are identical for men and women.  And it is SO MUCH FUN. 

It's also the place where I felt most beautiful. Yes, beautiful. And it had absolutely nothing do with how I looked or what I was wearing. It was all about what I was doing together with the others on my team. Beating someone to the ball. Catching a clutch cross to the center. Fighting through a gaggle of defenders to fire a shot off. Toughness applauded. Precision rewarded. Hustle demanded. I felt most beautiful when playing The Beautiful Game. 

I want all girls to feel beautiful because of what they are capable of doing. 

Not because of how they look, what they wear, or how other people value their appearance. 

(the same also goes for boys)

So I reached out and asked other adults to help send this message and support the cause. And they stepped up. Big time. Friends that were married just weeks ago (a couple returning from their honeymoon just days before the event) signed up for the showdown. People that were running a 5k the night before still registered to get in on the action. Ashton, goalie for Team White, is expecting his first child with his wife and still pushed to be an all-star on the field and in fundraising. Several former varsity players from the area (including 4 that I played with personally almost a decade ago) stepped up to be drafted for the cause. Over 7 staff members volunteered to get in the game including Eddie, Team Blue goalie, and our top fundraiser. All in all we had over 30 people who thought Soccer Prom sounded just crazy, fun, and important enough for them to put on dresses, bow ties, suspenders, and satin sashes... and play in a soccer match.

The community stepped up too. We had ten local businesses step up as well. I'm going to name every one of them because it's important to acknowledge when businesses (especially local ones) are good stewards of their community. Smooth Athletics, Reo Distribution, Valley Family Medicine, Sam's Hot Dogs, Buffalo Wild Wings, Mill Street Grill, Clocktower, Lingo Networks, John's Computer Service, and Zeus Digital Theaters. 

Our promotional campaign also got an unbelievable response. Our YouTube trailers (which we shot in the backyard of our friend Lisa's house, who played on Team Blue and works at Project Grows, one of our partner organizations) collectively logged over 650 views in 2 weeks. Here they are if you haven't seen them all yet:

We had an OUTSTANDING response to our Facebook campaign with our Soccer Prom posts racking up over 300 likes and 120 shares. Our Facebook page itself accumulated over 80 new likes in the process. All together you helped us reach over 15,000 people on Facebook.

The trailers, Facebook traffic, and poster campaign...

all led to TREMENDOUS fundraising success on our online fundraising platform CrowdRise.

Even after upping our player fundraising goal TWICE we still exceeded expectations. With over 200 donations Team Blue and Team White raised over $8200 (over %110 of our goal). 

Our Soccer Prom King was Eddie Santiago (one of our amazing Staunton staff members who was our top fundraiser) and our Soccer Prom Queen was Sue Krzastek (who has been an outstanding volunteer and supporter of the club and even ran a 5k the night before the event. Our top fundraising lady!) 

On the day of the event we had fans lining up well before the gates opened. Our board members and staff teamed up to get our photo walls and concessions set up while our players, donning their blue and white sashes took to the field for warm-ups. The whistle blew and the match kicked off. Fans watched as the players wrecked their fancy clothes playing The Beautiful Game. The whole night was beautiful imperfection. A couple of the stadium lights glitched out but it didn't slow anyone down. When the national anthem that was cued up didn't play, Joe, our emcee and one of our site directors on staff, grabbed the mic and sang it a cappella (AMERICA!). When the zipper on my dress broke right before I was about to take the field, our Director of Healthy Lifestyles, Pat, didn't blink before saving the day by giving me the dress she was wearing and changing into a t-shirt and shorts (Bless you, Pat!)

When all was said and done we had a tie game (2-2) and raised over $10,100. Amazing.

It was such an incredibly humbling experience to see this community rally behind a rather experimental idea in its first year with such enthusiasm. We have all been beside ourselves, totally overwhelmed by the extraordinary show of support. For the event. For our cause. For our club. For the kids. It's a gift we are treasuring and celebrating. 

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

We also received a fabulous amount of press!

Party On The Pitch by Roger Gonzalez at The News Virginian

Soccer Prom on NBC29

Soccer Prom Benefits Boys & Girls Club by Jeremiah Knupp at The News Leader

Can You Play Soccer In Prom Attire? on WHSV-TV3

and we made the front page of The News Virginian on Monday!

Follow us on Facebook, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and this blog, and check out our BGC CrowdRise page to watch how the money you donated is invested in the youth that we serve. We believe we have to earn every donor dollar just like any business has to earn every consumer dollar. We don't believe in "black hole giving". We want you to see your contribution at work, daily, across our 7 sites.

So there you have it. The inside scoop on Soccer Prom.

Once again, thank you. So much.

Susan Caroline Artz, Director of Development

sartz@augustabgclub.org

photo courtesy of English Jackson

photo courtesy of English Jackson

Bright Lights, Bigger City

"You gotta go where things happen."
A League of Their Own (1992)

The 1992 hit "A League of Their Own" tells a fictionalized story of the short-lived All American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. It specifically focuses on one team, the Rockford Peaches, and its roster that was composed of athletic young women, mostly from rural towns across America. There's a scene in the first third of the movie (during the recruiting phase) where Marla, one of the most talented recruits, (whose gentle demeanor and rough tomboy exterior make her, perhaps, one of the most endearing characters among a thoroughly charismatic and colorful cast) is hesitant to leave her father, a widower, and their small Colorado town to go play in the league. He stands next to her at the train station and hands her a baseball glove and says tenderly, "Nothing's ever gonna happen here. You gotta go where things happen."

It's an incredibly touching scene of fatherly love and, of course, we want Marla to get on the train and bat her way to baseball glory. However, there's also a sentiment in the message of that scene that has managed to remain a common cornerstone of the small town mentality: "You gotta go where things happen." Bright lights, bigger city.

As a result, children in small towns all across the nation have been the targets of rhetoric that suggests the road to success begins with heading to a larger metropolis (typically by way of college) where their dreams will be fulfilled (Glinda described it to Dorothy as the "yellow brick road" to a land called OZ.) High schoolers and even college students are typically conditioned to believe that if they're really talented, bright, or have a hunger for success, they'll need to find a bigger stage to shine. Bigger cities mean the big time, and it's time to "go big or go home." So they follow the bright lights to the bigger city. Because they want to go big, so they rarely go home. In fact, the 2010 census revealed that urban population growth increased 12.1 percent from 2000 meaning that now over 80 percent of the American population lives in an "urban area."

This is somewhat problematic.

What happens to small towns as each class of newly minted high school grads sets sail for college and those bigger cities? It drains them of some of their most promising offspring. It means fewer of the children who grew up in small towns return to rural areas like the ones that raised them after they've completed their higher education, study abroad trips, and internships. It means less tech-savvy, pragmatic, and imaginative post grads coming back to build bridges that would enable small towns to more easily transition into the future and become more sustainable.

Why is this such a problem? Because it's predicated on a falsehood. Zip codes and city limits do not have magical powers. Big city air is not purer (we know the opposite to be true in most cases) nor is the big city water a magical elixir (again... big city tap water = Brita filter). Small towns and rural villages in America produce children that are just as capable, just as worthy, and just as imaginative as the big cities and "urban areas" in America. They are born with the same rights and freedoms. Sometimes they have cows as neighbors. Which is awesome. Sometimes their second car is a tractor. Which is practical. They may not have as many bright lights, yet that doesn't mean they don't have equally bright futures.

AMAZING things can happen in small towns. INCREDIBLY SMART people live in small towns. INNOVATION and CREATIVITY can thrive in small towns. OPEN MINDS and OUTRAGEOUS COMPASSION can exist in small towns.

We must stop qualifying people, problems, potential, and communities by zip code or population numbers. Nor by the number of sky scrapers or cattle per capita. We must encourage outrageous compassion, bold entrepreneurship, and dedicated problem solving right here, in our town. We must promote smaller cities and rural villages as exciting challenges and blank canvases that promise opportunity and bear need just like their big city counterparts.

Small towns do not have to be small-time, nor small-minded, sleepy, or static. 

Small towns are ALIVE. 

They are full of bright people with big hearts and hardworking hands. Small towns have great strength and mighty voices. They are a vibrant pattern in the American tapestry. They are capable of greatness and breeding grounds for ingenuity.

So let's revise our message to the kids of small town America. Let's stop telling them "You gotta go where things happen" and start telling them "You gotta go make things happen."

Everyday, at all seven sites our organization operates, our staff works to inspire our kids to dream and achieve without any specific parameters.  We encourage creativity, problem solving, and teamwork. The programs we lead are designed to develop our bright young kids into bright young adults who will become bright capable leaders. Our staff will not venture to dictate where they might take their bright minds and capable leadership. We do not value one problem or issue over another because of its location or scale. Because they all need solving. Likewise, we will not value one problem-solver over another because they are all greatly needed. Our staff enters our sites each day, knowing that we are training, teaching, and counseling future adults. The same future adults that we'll elect to city councils. The same future adults that will go on to teach in our schools. The same future adults that will become parents of the next generation of kids. We are playing a role in what both our small towns and big cities will look like in the future because we play a role in the development of their future citizens and leaders. So we discuss all problems, big and small, with great concern just as we help this community raise its future leaders, big and small, with a sense of great purpose.

We are the Boys and Girls Club of magnificent "small town" communities of Waynesboro, Staunton, and Augusta County. And we believe "Great Futures Start Here."

Smart People

In the episode "Election Night" of the White House drama, The West Wing, fictional President Josiah "Jed" Bartlett, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has just been elected to a second term. After delivering his victory speech, he steps down from the stage and has a very candid exchange with his physician wife, First Lady Abbey Bartlett -

• Abbey: "You were off the prompter."
• Jed: "Just for a minute at the end. I couldn't see it."
• Abbey: "It's all right. There are going to be more days like this. It starts now. It's going to be harder this time."
• Jed: "Yeah, I know. We can still have tonight, though, right?"
• Abbey: "You've got lots of nights. Smart people who love you are going to have your back."

"Smart people who love you are going to have your back." 
And just like that, one sentence can magically assuage doubt or fear and dissolve loneliness. How empowering to know that you have a team of bright people who care about you and want to support you.

Many of us have been fortunate enough to know what it's like to feel this way. Our "smart people" may be different for each of us, but somehow we've managed to find other human beings who care about what happens to us and want us to live the very best life we can. It's a powerful thing to feel that your life is a real team effort. When you're lacking courage, wisdom, or strength you can call upon your "smart people" to share some of theirs. 

Of course, not everyone always feels this way. Unfortunately, there are many children who do not feel this way. 

We have an unprecedented number of children taking depression medication. Childhood obesity has doubled in the last 30 years (and yet the number of youth eating disorder cases is still on the rise). Low self-esteem is something both girls and boys are dealing with by engaging in radically unhealthy activities like cutting, bullying, smoking, and drinking. Finally, perhaps the most unspeakably sad fact of all...we have kids killing themselves. Because whatever it is that's plaguing them, it's left them drowning so deep in despair, so hopeless, that they feel as if they can't bear to live at all. 

It's 2013 in the first-world superpower country of the United States of America and we have 9 year-olds with diabetes and 14 year olds committing suicide. We have children in crisis. They may not be the children living in your house, on your street, or even in your neighborhood. But they exist nonetheless. They are in Waynesboro. They are in Staunton. They are in Augusta County. These children do not exist tucked away in some far corner of our community. We are not talking about "the poor children". We are not talking about the "children from bad family situations". We are talking about children of all family structures, of all neighborhoods, of all school districts, of all abilities. There are children in every type of household that are feeling challenged in some way. These children need smart people.

If we want a community of compassionate, engaged, conscientious adults then we must begin investing in raising compassionate, engaged, conscientious children. This effort must be city-wide. It must be daily. It must be genuine. It must extend beyond our own family tree or voting ward. We must share more with these children than a zip code. These are the sons and daughters of this community and we must treat them as such. We must do so knowing that whatever resources we invest in them, whether it's time, money, love, support, or attention, the reward will be far greater for all of us. We will have more human beings who respect themselves and others. They will treat their bodies with care. They will be creative problem solvers and team players. They will be smart people.

Every member of this community has something to contribute. All of us can be "smart people" for these children. 

The Boys and Girls Club is working with its own staff of "smart people" to support this mission.
We want to look every kid in the eye and say"Smart people that love you are going to have your back" --and mean it.

Let Us Begin.

In his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy famously challenged Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." That particular line has become arguably the most iconic quote from one of the most revered speeches in American presidential history. It is another passage from that 1961 speech, however, that is the focus of today's inaugural blog entry.

Throughout his address, President Kennedy highlighted many of the monumental challenges that faced not only the United States, but humanity. He committed himself and his administration to boldly begin to tackle that daunting series of threats and barriers, foreign and domestic. He also conceded that although he would work fiercely for real progress on these issues, they were part of a greater pursuit that would likely transcend the lifespan of not only his political tenure, but his life and the lives of his constituents.

"All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."

The sentiment of these words is especially apropos for our organization. This is an organization with a vision. Not a vague, generic idea of what we'd like to aim for. A real, living vision for how we want to impact the lives of kids and teens, and as a result, this entire community. It is the continuously evolving product of deeply compassionate, hard working people from every corner of Waynesboro, Staunton, and Augusta County.  This organization does not want to be a series of buildings that are staffed with individuals who just go through the motions to kill time with kids after school. We do not want to be passive. We do not want to be static. We do not want to be the bare minimum.

This organization wants to be alive. We want our staff to be wildly passionate. We want our energy and enthusiasm to be contagious. We want to empower kids to be brave and inclusive.  We want them to boldly say "no" to drugs and violence and "yes" to education and teamwork. We want kids to know that they are immensely valuable human beings whom this world desperately depends on. They need to eat right, exercise, and seize every opportunity to learn because they will, one day, inherit the power and responsibility that comes with being adults. We want to prove to them that learning is fun and reading is fundamental. We want them to understand that to serve others is noble and always, always worth their time. We want kids to feel whole, loved, and equal. We want this club to have expectations for every child that walks through our doors because we believe that every child has the capacity to achieve them. This organization wants to be a force of nature that unites a community with a common mission: Strengthen this community by strengthening this community's children.

We are ardent believers of our vision and we will continue to boldly pursue it every day. Certainly, it is ambitious. Certainly, it will require a great deal of hard work, late hours, and long weeks. Certainly, all this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.


To learn more about the Boys & Girls Club of Waynesboro, Staunton, and Augusta County click here!