Sacramento Republic FC and defender Duke Lacroix have teamed up with Natomas Unified School District and the Sacramento Chinese Community Service Center to bring soccer to after school programs across the district.
“Just to introduce them to the sport that I love, I really relish those opportunities and enjoy them,” said Duke. “To show them how it can serve as a vehicle to find a passion that they can get involved in, where they can enjoy, and if it’s soccer, then it’s soccer.”
On Wednesday, Duke visited with students at American Lakes School, telling them about his experience growing up and playing soccer and how it helped him with his education as well, having played collegiately at the University of Pennsylvania. After answering questions from students, Duke and youth coach Ben Kamm led the students through some simple drills and skills before hitting the pitch with the students for small sided games.
“It’s one thing to be a part of a club that says they do these types of things, it’s another thing to be involved with the club that does these things. And this is a club of doers, “ said Duke. “I’m just glad to be a part of it, and I’m really looking forward to the other schools, the other kids that we can hopefully influence and be connected with, because at the end of the day, it’s about community. We have a community who supports us and we hope to support the community as well.”
Duke will visit several other schools throughout the summer in Natomas that have after school programs that are operated by The Center. The programs, serving students grades K-12, provides a place where they can participate in extracurricular activities that strengthen their relationship building skills, enhance their communication, and allow them to be critical thinkers.
“The mission of our expanded learning programs is to provide innovative, youth-driven, high quality out-of-school-time opportunities that include building school-community partnerships, engaging families to participate in their children’s learning, and learning through project-based enrichment that complements the school day,” said Gionovan Bean, The Center’s Expanded Learning Program Coordinator.
