Goal4theGoal was a Success!

NVYSL thanks everyone who participated in our inaugural Go4theGoal Day on October 13^th.  Hundreds of Players throughout our league laced up for Pediatric Cancer Awareness, and together we raised $11,600 to support families in need.

We all appreciate the severe emotional toll that a diagnosis of pediatric cancer can exert on a family, but few people realize that almost half of these families are forced to declare bankruptcy under the crippling financial burden associated with managing the disease.  Nearly 1 in 3 elementary schools in Massachusetts is home to a child diagnosed with cancer, and our local pediatric & cancer hospitals do some of the best work in the country to attack these diseases.  These are battles we are fighting close to home, so NVYSL is inspired and humbled by the way our member Clubs embraced the Go4theGoal project.

Players were educated about the ways a pediatric cancer diagnosis can impact their friends, family, neighbors, and teammates.  We learned that several of our Clubs have Players playing soccer through the course of their cancer treatment.  Several Clubs purchased gold laces for every player in their program, and two of our affiliated Varsity & JV High School Teams laced up for their matches on October 12^th.  Our kids made posters, collected additional donations, and proudly wore their gold laces on October 13^th as a powerful reminder that being part of a youth sports community teaches lessons far beyond those learned on the field.

Special thanks to Clinton Youth Soccer, who was our first Club to purchase laces for every Player, Coach and Referee in their program.  And special commendation goes to our Berlin Girls Grade56 Team, who not only suited up with Go4theGoal laces, socks, head/wrist bands, but also made posters and communicated to their community what Go4theGoal was all about.