At soccer camp, character abounds

The pain is gone and the rehab is over. Kirby Anderson is ready to run again.

A broken leg ended her junior girls’ soccer season at Sage Hill School, but she’s looking forward to her senior year. She’s also ready to share her story — the challenges that come from dealing with a major injury — with fourth- and fifth-grade girls at Wilson Elementary.

For the second straight summer, Anderson and her friend and teammate Carolyn Witte are conducting a soccer camp for Wilson girls, starting Monday and ending Friday.

This year, 25 girls will be learning from Anderson, Witte and other volunteers.

Anderson said she saw that the majority of the girls did not play soccer, while most of the boys did.

“We are so used to it, that all girls can play soccer,” said Anderson, who broke her left tibia and fibula last October while playing for the Newport-Mesa soccer club. “We didn’t think it was right, so we started this for them.”

But the camp isn’t just about soccer. The Wilson girls will also learn about life skills and leadership.

“It’s not really for us and it’s not about playing soccer,” said Witte, who will be a senior in the fall. “It’s more about self-esteem and leadership … it’s more about the idea of empowering the kids.”

To acquire financial aid for the soccer camp, the girls went to the Women’s Sports Foundation and were among 200 other groups trying to gain a grant. The Sage Hill soccer camp volunteers were one of 20 who received a grant. Theirs was for $2,500.

Because of this year’s Virginia Tech Massacre, public schools have applied stricter rules dealing with these type of camps. Last year, the Wilson soccer camp was at Sage Hill. The rules didn’t allow for that this year.

Also, the Sage Hill volunteers had to pay a substitute teacher $100 a day to be at the camp each day for supervision.

But Anderson and Witte don’t mind the hassle so much.

“It’s an amazing feeling to see the change in them during the week,” Witte said. “You really connect with the girls.”

— Steve Virgen