Lutheran South News
Lutheran South boys soccer team volunteers with SPENSA
The Lutheran South boys soccer team volunteered with the Special Needs Soccer Association (SPENSA) for the ninth year on Oct. 12.
SPENSA is a non-profit St. Louis-based soccer program for young people with disabilities. It is open to anyone ages five through 21 with a disability, and is “designed to bring the excitement and fun of playing soccer to players who traditionally have not had a place in the youth soccer system,” per the organization’s website.
Lutheran South has been involved with SPENSA for quite some time as the school’s head soccer coach, Kirk Halveland, coaches at SPENSA as well.
“I’ve been a (basketball and soccer) Special Olympics coach for about 18 years. I wanted to get more involved with just soccer, because that’s my passion,” Halveland said. “I don’t recall exactly how I found out about SPENSA, but I knew they were around. I just showed up and started volunteering, and then next thing you know, I was asked to be a coach. I’ve been a coach ever since.”
The recent volunteer event was held at World Wide Technology Soccer Park, 1 Soccer Park Road, in Fenton. As both the JV and varsity teams participated, there were enough volunteers to separate participants into three groups based on skill level, allowing everyone involved to feel comfortable and confident.
“The first (group) is kids that haven’t really played before or kids that have a disability that cannot really play a game. They are able to kick a ball through a hula hoop or through a small Pugg goal or something similar to that. We even have bowling pins set up and they knock the cones over, that kind of thing,” Halveland said. “The middle of the field is more beginners. They do skills, different kinds of drills and then they’ll finish with a game.”
“The other third is more of intermediate or advanced – kids that have played before,” Halveland continued. “Some can play in a game and some cannot. Those kids that can play a game do. They play a full-out game after some drills. And then the others, they do more of a basic skills competition.”
At the end of the session, all three groups came together to dance the Hokey Pokey in celebration.
As this organization is near and dear to Halveland’s heart, it is extra special to watch the connections between his Lutheran South and SPENSA athletes form each year.
“I just love watching them realize what they’re doing for these individuals,” Halveland said. “Just being with them, just being their friends and kicking the ball around, it’s just so exciting to see them kind of realize that these kids are just like them. The (SPENSA athletes) just have one thing that prevents them from going on to being like them, but they don’t realize that, they just realize that these kids are just like them. Seeing that realization, which you can totally see by the end of the session, is what I really love about it.”
The Lutheran South girls soccer team will also volunteer with SPENSA during its season in the spring.
“I love to see how (the SPENSA athletes) grow from when they’re younger, or first starting to play soccer. You see them from not being able to even kick a ball, to actually scoring goals, dribbling, passing with their teammates, being a teammate. That’s another thing that I really like, is that they learn how to be teammates. I don’t know if they’d get that opportunity otherwise,” Halveland said.
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