Sidelines

Field of dreams

By Allison Gorman

On a warm evening in 2007, while most teenagers were relishing their new-found summer freedom, Sara Kluttz was dodging anthills and picking up litter in an overgrown baseball field in the Westside public housing community. Armed with trash bags and a lawnmower, she and a small group of volunteers were determined to turn the field into something it hadn’t been in a long time: a kid-friendly place.

A rising senior and soccer standout at Ooltewah High School, Sara had decided to devote a chunk of her summer to what began, she says, as “a crazy idea.” She wanted to start a soccer camp for the kids at Westside, to introduce them to the sport that had shaped her youth. But, unlike many kids with big dreams, Sara acted on hers. She asked teammates from Ooltewah High and the Redoubt Generals soccer club to help her run the camp. She called and visited local businesses to find funding. She contacted the Department of Parks and Recreation about signing kids up and securing a place to play.

Of the 75 campers who showed up on the baseball-turned-soccer field, most had never played soccer before, Sara says. But while she made sure they finished the camp with a basic understanding of the sport, her real goal was to give them something fun and active to do every day for a week. Judging from the campers’ enthusiasm, she succeeded.

Her success was made apparent again last summer. The soccer players who helped Sara the first time signed up again—and brought more soccer players. Cleveland Grimes, southeastern district director of the Tennessee State Soccer Association, arranged to move the camp to the new North River soccer complex off Access Road. He then put Sara’s project on the radar of Dale Burke, TSSA’s executive director, and Andy Bolt, president of the board, who promised a new soccer ball and t-shirt for each camper. With the expanded space and unlimited gear, Sara could host 175 campers, bused from various city recreation centers.

Now a freshman and center defender at Austin Peay University, Sara thinks it was Burke who nominated her for the 2008 US Youth Soccer Volunteer of the Year. Considering her seasoned competition, she didn’t expect to win the award and hadn’t even prepared a speech when she got the nod at the March awards ceremony in San Jose, Calif. “I was so nervous I don’t really remember what I said,” she admits. But with summer fast approaching, Sara hasn’t had time for much reflection. She has a camp to run.

Q.
How and when did you get the idea for Chattanooga Soccer Camp?

A.
It was my junior year, and my mom and I were talking about all the camps that I’ve gotten to go to growing up, and how everyone should have that chance. There’s a man who works with my mom, Bobby Paris, who grew up in the Westside housing development, and he said that there hasn’t been any outside activity for those kids in a number of years in the summertime. So we figured that was the best place to start.

Q.
So how did you find funding? Did you just get on the horn and start calling people?

A.
Pretty much. I visited and called. That first year we just found enough sponsors to break even; the main goal was to provide each kid with a ball and t-shirt no matter what. The sponsors for the first year were Conditionaire Heating and Air Conditioning, Chattanooga Shooting Supply and Kelly Cadillac. Then last year Benton Oil, Made-Rite Sandwiches and the Chattanooga Neighborhood Association supplied lunches.

Q.
So lunch is included?

A.
Yes, and lunch is the craziest time. Once one group gets to go to lunch, they all want to go. We try to stagger it, but they all just want to run in and eat lunch. It ranged around $500 a day to feed the campers and volunteers. That’s what we need sponsors for this year—we have balls and t-shirts taken care of.

Q.
In 2007 you had 75 kids participate, and in 2008 you had 175. Did you feel a little nervous about handling all those kids?

A.
It made me very nervous. But all the volunteers are so good with kids, we just had a little bit bigger groups. We had about two volunteers to a group and about 10 or 15 per group.

Q.
How do you organize the day?

A.
Last year I met with all the volunteers the day before, and we went over what the day would look like. We just write out a plan of games and little drills—mostly fun games and stuff that they can do throughout the day. The leaders will just go through it as they can, what they feel the kids can do or want to do, and they can change it or stop and play tag or whatever. So there’s a little bit of structure, but it’s mainly what you think they want to do and can do.

Q.
What age kids are invited to participate?

A.
It was 6 to 12, but the centers pretty much brought all their kids, so we also had 4- and 5-year-olds.

Q.
What level of exposure have these kids had to soccer?

A. It’s pretty close to none. And we tried to teach basic soccer skills, but for some kids, a piggyback ride could be the highlight of the whole thing, you know? So we played a lot of good soccer, but the best part was just playing with the kids. On the last day, the older kids scrimmaged pretty much all day, and the younger kids scrimmaged in the morning, and then we turned the sprinklers on. It’s like it was the best thing they’d ever done, running through the sprinklers after lunch.

Q.
And as of last year, the camp is not just for Westside kids, right?

A.
Since we had unlimited balls and t-shirts, we opened it up to the whole Chattanooga area, and sign-ups were at all the Parks and Rec centers and neighborhood associations. Parks and Rec bused all their kids in, and then there were a few people who were just independent and their moms brought them.

Q.
Who are your volunteer counselors, and are they on board for this year, too?

A. Most of the volunteers are people my age, people I’ve played with, my friends, my teammates—that was the first year. The second year, a lot of those people invited more people. There were players from a lot of the high schools in the area—Ooltewah, Notre Dame, GPS, Baylor, Cleveland, CSAS…. I’ve sent most of them the new dates (June 8–11), and I think most people are still interested.

Q.
Was there anything that surprised you after you started Chattanooga Soccer Camp, anything unexpected about the experience or about the kids?

A.
The first thing that surprised me was all the people in the community who stepped up. I mean, I honestly didn’t know if it would work, it was such a crazy idea. But there are a lot of big people in the community who were willing to help.

Q.
What do you think soccer did for you as a kid?

A.
First of all, all my best friends growing up have been a part of my soccer team. I have great friends, but I don’t think you can beat soccer people. It’s taught me how to work hard and everything. There’ve been crazy coaches, but you’ve just got to keep going.