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BY APOLLINE BERTY

In print | February 15, 2007

On Sunday, Feb. 4, the men’s soccer team joined representatives of Swat Sudan to host its fifth annual youth clinic. The clinic, which was attended by 130 children and their parents, raised $2,100, all of which was contributed to the Genocide Intervention Network’s campaign to stop human rights abuses in Sudan.

The youth clinic was started by men’s soccer coach Eric Wagner five years ago to aid relief efforts in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia. “In 2003, I heard a story on the news about famine in Ethiopia. One of our players at the time, Antenah Tesfaye [’03], was from Ethiopia. So I talked over this idea I had with him about the clinic and he was very eager to help,” Wagner said.

After a couple of years elapsed, however, Tesfaye graduated and Wagner did not feel as intimately connected to the Ethiopian crises, although he said the region was still in urgent need of foreign aid. However, Wagner was aware of the college’s strong affiliation with the Genocide Intervention Network, a nonprofit founded by Swarthmore graduates in 2005, and felt that his team could make a contribution to the campaign. Last year, the men’s soccer team collaborated with Swat Sudan to raise over $2,500 for relief efforts in Darfur. “Before it was just us, so to be able to come out last year and connect it to a Swat-based charity made a lot of sense to us,” Wagner said.

Erin Heaney ‘09, a member of Swat Sudan, was appreciative of the soccer team’s initiative. “I’m really excited that other clubs, and specifically the athletic department, want to get involved with Swat Sudan. We get a lot of support from the administration and the political science department, so it’s cool that we’re also getting so much from the athletics department, and I don’t think they’re getting enough credit for all they’re doing,” Heaney said.

Although 80 children pre-registered for the clinic, an additional 50 showed up unannounced. “We were really surprised how many kids showed up,” soccer team member Ryan Sutcliffe ’08 said. In order to allow the large number of unanticipated participants to enroll, the clinic began at 1:30, half an hour later than the scheduled start time.

As an introduction to the clinic, four members of Swat Sudan presented a synopsis of the current situation in Darfur. Jesse Gottschalk ‘09, one of the Swat Sudan representatives who spoke to the children, said, "It’s hard to know what to say because we’re addressing parents and kids." But Gottschalk was surprised by how perceptive and concerned his audience was. “I heard a kid say ‘Oh, Darfur, we just learned about that in school,’” Gottschalk said. “There’s probably a limit to how much the kids can make a connection to people in other continents, but they can still grasp how serious the situation is,” he said.

After Swat Sudan’s presentation, the soccer team outlined the basics of the sport, explaining technical skills like trapping and passing. The children were then separated into teams of seven for small-sided games.

Although the clinic ended at 3:20 p.m., “the kids would’ve stayed longer if we let them, they were having such a great time,” Wagner said. Gottschalk said that the group was especially attentive to the presentation of an international crisis in the context of physical activity. “It’s a lot easier to make a connection when they’re already engaged on some level,” Gottschalk said.

“The advantage of doing this for the athletics department is to get more kids involved through their interest in sports and to, through that interest, plant a seed of social causes,” Sutcliffe said.

Wagner has made participation in the clinics required for inclusion on his team’s roster, with the exception of senior players. Even so, all of the current seniors were present at Sunday’s clinic, including Duncan Gromko ‘07 and Colton Bangs ’07. "We weren’t required to do it but I think that it’s a really cool thing that Wagner put together, and it’s a Sunday afternoon, so I might as well go and support it," Gromko said. “I think it’s the best thing the soccer team does. That’s why I went. I’m happy to be part of it because it’s a good thing,” he said.

“None of the guys have trouble taking time out of their day if it’s to raise money for Darfur,” Sutcliffe said. “I’m proud that Wagner is taking this initiative to bring the community together for this cause,” team member Pat Christmas ’08 said.

The clinic is also gaining a good reputation outside of Swarthmore College. The Friday prior to the clinic, Swarthmore’s Rotary Club invited Heaney, Wagner and two of the players, Jeff Kushner ‘09 and Ladule Lako Lo Sarah ’09, to speak about the soccer team’s support of Darfur. “They wouldn’t have asked us to come unless we were already doing something in the community,” Wagner said.

According to Wagner, the team’s cooperative work ethic was instrumental to the clinic’s success. “As individuals, we can only do so much. The power of our time and our efforts as a group are much more powerful then any of us alone,” Wagner emphasized.

Wagner said that the team will continue to support Swat Sudan next year.

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