Women's Soccer Teams Up with the Center for Visually Impaired
Daytona Beach, FL (dscfalcons.com)- The Daytona State Women's Soccer team hosted another Youth Soccer Clinic for Daytona Beach's Center for the Visually Impaired Teen Transition Program, Saturday March 4th.
The Center for the Visually Impaired (CVI), which is located on Dunn road directly behind Daytona State College serves over 400 individuals each year ranging from 6 to 100 years old, offering Children's services, Teen Transition Services, Daily Independent Living Skills for non-vocational students, and Vocational Rehabilitation Services for blind and visually impaired individuals who are seeking higher education or employment.
CVI's Teen Transition Program serves youth between the ages of 14 and 22 as they transition from adolescence to adulthood focusing on future academic and vocational goals, IT and adaptive technology, orientation and mobility, social skills, healthy living, and independent living.
"I want to thank Adrianna Mattei for affording us the opportunity to work with the students within their program. This clinic served as a great reminder for how sport can quickly connect diverse groups of people. I was truly inspired by the courage and adventurous spirit her students displayed in the face of a new challenge. Further, in working with these students our team was able to gain an invaluable experience and more self-awareness. I look forward to continue working with this group in the future," said Head Coach Brittany Jones.
The clinic focused on introducing individual technical skills such as dribbling, passing, and shooting through a fun game or activity. The games including a dribbling relay, a shooting station, soccer bowling, and soccer golf.
When asking the captains of the women's squad to reflect on the camp Saturday, Katelin Comer (Daytona Beach, FL) said "I feel truly blessed to have had the chance to help with the clinic today. There are so many things we take for granted every single day and this experience was truly humbling in that aspect. I can't wait to volunteer more time to our community and reach out to more people and spread the love of the game."
Freshman captain Megan Warner (Watford, England) helped run the passing station where they played soccer bowling; soccer balls are set up on top of cones and the object is to kick a ball to try to knock as many balls down as possible. "We taught the students how to kick the ball with the inside of the foot and how to make it accurate. It was challenging at first as you have to be extremely clear and specific, but as we got better at the explanations, the students picked it up easier. It was so rewarding hearing their excitement as we celebrated with them for knocking the soccer balls off of the cones!" said Warner.
"The students were so filled with joy and happiness that it was almost impossible not to have fun. I had such a great time teaching them some things about soccer, but an even better time listening and learning from them," freshman captain Naomi Gurrola (Broomfield, CO) who also worked with Warner at the soccer bowling station.
"It was one of my favorite things I've done with the team so far. I loved talking to the students and finding out how excited they were to try soccer, as most had never kicked a ball before. It was an amazing experience to see how much we could teach them in just a morning and it gave me a different perspective on everything I have," said Warner.
For more information on the Center for the Visually Impaired and find out how you can get involved, please visit www.cvicentralflorida.org.