Kids 'kicking for cancer'

The instructions ringing out across the athletics field were simple enough.

“Inside-outside. Singles-doubles.”

It was a ball control drill intended to improve soccer skills, and the several dozen youngsters assembled at the University of South Carolina Indoor Fieldhouse were giving it their best shots Sunday afternoon. These kids were “kicking for cancer” — better yet they were kicking it for those dealing with the disease.

As they have the past nine years, members of the University of South Carolina Men’s Varsity Soccer team and coaches joined the Columbia YMCA to present a child and parent soccer clinic to benefit Children’s Chance. The nonprofit agency aims to help meet the financial, psychological and emotional need of South Carolina children and families affected by pediatric cancer.

For several hours Saturday and Sunday, the USC players ran drills with the aspiring young stars, covering a variety of foot skills including passing, shooting and receiving.

“I like playing with them because they teach me a lot of skills,” said 9-year-old Rex Oliver of Columbia, one of nearly 40 participants on Sunday.

Columbia’s Jim Koutrakos brought his 5-year-old son, Phillip, to the clinic for the second year. Koutrakos, a former high school player himself, said the USC team members had a special way of modeling the proper techniques.

“I think it’s a big influence on them,” he said. “I played, but I think it’s difficult for parents to teach some of these skills.”

Sunday marked the second time in recent weeks athletes from a major USC sports program have extended a helping hand to young people facing cancer. Last month, members of the USC football team gathered with young cancer patients and their families at Anchor Lanes in Irmo for the seventh annual Evening with the USC Football Team.

Earlier this week, members of the USC soccer team visited the pediatric cancer ward at Palmetto Health Richland, and USC assistant soccer coach Bert Molinary said the trip provided a welcome motivator to the players.

“It’s a little bit of a an eye-opener when you go in there and you see how real that really is,” Molinary said.

USC junior midfielder Brennan Williams said the hospital visit had reinforced the greater impact of the team’s efforts.

“Coming out and working with kids is fun, but we got a feel for who we are helping out,” Williams said. “Now we have a greater appreciation for it.”

It’s an appreciation that runs two ways.

“They’re really good role models,” Samantha Higgins of Children’s Chance said. “They interact with the kids so well and the kids just have a ball.”

Since it began nine years ago, the child-parent clinic has raised nearly $30,000 for Children’s Chance.

“It’s a great opportunity to give something back to the game and give something back to the community,” USC head soccer coach Mark Berson said.

The USC players got a helping hand this weekend from members of the Brookland-Cayce High School soccer team, who have helped out the past three years as part of their own community service outreach.