Since June of 2009 the Ithaca Housing Authority (IHA) has been able to offer soccer to youths living in the northside community and northside public housing development. The club meets each Tuesday at 3:30PM at Conway Park across from the development. This was all made possible when Lamarr Peters, a professional soccer player and coach of youth soccer programs decided to donate his own time to teach soccer to these kids. Peters had always dreamed of bringing soccer to children with lesser opportunity to play on their own.
Peters has been playing soccer for over 26 years and was voted ‘Mr. Soccer, 1988’ for Greater Michigan when he was in high school. He played soccer during his years at Oakland University in Oakland Michigan. After college he played professionally for the Mid-Michigan Bucks of the United Soccer League (division 4), where they earned Central Region Championship victories in 1998 and 1999. Peters played for several other teams and is currently playing for the Windsor Borderstars of the Canadian Professional Soccer League.
Peters has been teaching youth soccer for almost 10 years and works mostly with the Waza FLO soccer league. Waza FLO is an upstate New York soccer league for youths that brings a new approach to teaching soccer utilizing a balanced way of living. They use martial arts; skill training, positive thinking and knowledge of the game which greatly enhance their training. Waza in Japanese means technique and FLO stands for Fulfillment, Liberation and Oneness
IHA Executive Director Brenda C. Westfall jumped at the opportunity to bring such a program to the youths of IHA’s largest family development. When speaking of the program Westfall said “It’s great to see these kids go out there, playing with so much heart and ambition for a game they’d never played before, they’re very competitive but most importantly they play with good sportsmanship and respect for one another.” The plan for the soccer club is to teach the fundamentals and basics of the game and eventually expose them to the Waza FLO leagues. Peters is currently researching grant opportunities from private foundations to enable children to play at the Waza level.
Every Tuesday at practice, Westfall brings the children water and popsicles for their great work and to help them cool off after running around. Recently the kids have mixed in with Waza players for a few scrimmage games that bring about spectators from the housing development and surrounding neighborhoods. Westfall said that “Residents come out on their porches or group around the field to watch the kids play which really encourages and brings some live sports entertainment to the area.” Peters has brought a great service to the youths at Northside by volunteering his time and his generosity is well benefiting the community. The group will also play an exhibition game at National Night Out 2009 at Conway Park on August 4th.
