Beyond the glaring differences in pads, footwear, and playing surfaces, hockey and soccer share lots of similarities. Both require physical fitness, teamwork, and lots of practice, and both sports are way more fun when there are talented coaches to help with training. On October 2, Junior Board member Jay Wilson brought his players from the Latin School’s JV hockey team to coach Urban Initiatives participants from Claremont Academy, Davis Elementary, Marquette Elementary, and Pasteur Elementary.
The coaches and players got warmed up with a quick game of Junk Food Tag, and then the games started. The high school students cheered their teams on from the sidelines, and on more than one field, the friendly competition got turned up when coaches played with their teams. Between games, the Latin students encouraged their teams to spread out and find open space on the field and to look for open passes rather than trying to dribble around every defender.
After the final whistle, both sets of students posed for pictures with their new teammates, and as Urban Initiatives’ players boarded their buses, the high schoolers played one final game of soccer. It was a great afternoon, and Urban Initiatives would like to thank the Latin School’s JV hockey team and Jay Wilson for helping make an awesome game day.