Acclaimed ‘Soccer for Success’ program returns to Coatesville
By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times
During cleanup, J.T. Dorsey encourages a young soccer player to practice by kicking the ball into the bag.
The positive energy that a retired professional soccer player generated when he returned to his Coatesville roots for a summer program begged to be continued, participants said.
As a result, J.T. Dorsey, 36, a top mid-fielder when he attended Coatesville High, will return to Regency Park Apartments next week for an expanded program. The children will still come from the apartment complex where Dorsey once lived, but instead of just receiving instruction and doing drills, they will play in actual matches on Sundays at Millview Park, Dorsey said.
“It’s an absolutely wonderful program; we’re so happy to have it,” said Crystal Lowery, the Regency Park recreation director. “Not only do the kids have fun, but they learn about good health and nutrition.”
Lowery said of the 31 children who are signed up, seven are new to the 12-week program, which will be held after school on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The program will begin this Tuesday and run into December, she said. On Sundays, the kids, aged 5 to 10, will compete against children from the Hearts and Hands Community Center in Honey Brook, she said.
For those interested in getting involved, Dorsey said he will hold an information session at the Coatesville Farmers Market on Oct. 20 from 9 to 11 a.m.
Dorsey began the summer program when the U.S. Soccer Foundation wanted to expand its youth development “Soccer for Success” program around Philadelphia and sought his help. He said he agreed on the condition that one of the sites would be his hometown. As established by the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the grant-funded “Soccer for Success” program uses soccer as a tool to combat childhood obesity, promote healthy lifestyles for children in under-resourced urban communities, and provide them with free after-school programming.
Although Dorsey relocated to the state capital after he was picked up in 1998 by the Hershey Wildcats and ended up staying in that area after he retired in 2006 from the Harrisburg City Islanders, Coatesville remains close to his heart, he said.
Until she died in June, Dorsey’s mother, Robin M. Dorsey, a minister and community activist, lived in Coatesville. Dorsey said she helped inspire him to start the J.T. Dorsey Foundation, which is now running multiple soccer and leadership programs for children. Dorsey said other relatives, including a sister and her three children, still reside in Coatesville.
“We really want to do something special [for the children,]” he said. “They deserve it.”
