Sign Ups Underway For Casino Road Futbol Academy in Everett

We’ve covered this event as its grown over the years and with the recent violence on Casino Road in south Everett its a good reminder that there’s a lot of positive on that street as well. Everett Police today announced that sign ups are now open for the 2014 Casino Road Futbol Academy. It’s for boys and girls ages 6 – 14 and will again be held at Walter Hall park from June 23rd through June 27th. Space is limited to the first 500 children and it almost always fills up quickly. Click here for an application. Cost is just $20 per child and includes a soccer ball and a t-shirt.

To give you an idea of what the academy is about, here’s an excerpt from the first story I wrote about it back on June 29th, 2011…

Dozens of volunteers are taking vacation, helping here on their time off before and after work or donating personal time, money and energy to teach positive life lessons thru soccer to kids ages six to fourteen at Walter E. Hall Park on Casino Road. They are teachers, parents, police officers and soccer coaches, each with their own reasons for donating their time and feeding off the energy and excitement generated by nearly 500 young participants. The idea for the week-long program came from Everett PD’s Manuel Garcia, back when he was working the Casino road area. A former professional soccer player in Mexico City, Garcia knew from personal experience how playing the game can keep you out of trouble. The vast majority of the kids at the academy live on Casino road and come from families living at or below the poverty level. While the cost is only $20 for the week-long camp, many of the kids attend for free thanks to scholarships made possible by donations from the general public, sponsors and community groups. In addition to soccer, the academy teaches positive life lessons. After breakfast, today’s lesson started with a presentation and demonstrations of respect, teamwork and communication by several Everett police officers and then the volunteer soccer coaches took those lessons onto the field. Every day a different set of life lessons is taught, followed by lots and lots of soccer.

You can also get more information on the Everett Police Department Facebook page.

[ad#Google 4]