Violence erupts randomly on the streets of Crown Heights. What has remained consistent is the need for children to get out and play.
The violence has been a subject of recent community board and precinct meetings. Nancie Katz, however, seeks to remind people about the good things that also happen in the neighborhood. One of them is the participation by local kids in her soccer program.
This fall, four afternoons a week, just past the gates of Hamilton Metz Field between Albany and Lefferts Avenue, children between the ages of 5 and 11 can be found practicing as part of Brooklyn Crown Heights Soccer Eagles. Homework is put off as the kids focus on teamwork and discipline.
Katz founded the sports program two years ago after seeing how soccer benefited her own children as they went to school in Manhattan.
“I have two daughters, and they both played soccer since they were very young,” said Katz. “It was an important part of [their] life.”
One recent afternoon at Hamilton Metz Field, the kids begin with a running exercise to get their adrenaline up under the direction of a trainer. Next, they are partnered with another kid, and begin passing the ball back and forth. Then they graduate to learning ball control as they run and kick the ball. These activities change weekly to help make the kids become better players. Practice ends each day with a scrimmage.
Katz looks on in satisfaction as she takes pictures. From being a reporter to now running a soccer program, Katz has had a long journey.
Katz worked for 11 years as an investigative reporter for the New York Daily News. It was not until Katz started covering schools in Crown Heights that she realized how different it was for children there compared to what her daughters had. There was a “devastating lack for arts and recreation” in Crown Heights, she said.
Upon leaving the Daily News in 2008, Katz formed a program called Seeds in The Middle, which its goal is to inspire social change through sustainable health in low-income areas in New York. One of the programs Katz wanted to emphasize was the soccer program because it would bring kids from around the neighborhood together. Since then, the program has been a hit, as parents from throughout the area bring their children to play soccer.
“When I found out they had this, I said I had to sign up,” said parent Nigel Shallow, 37, who was cheering for his daughter Taylor, 7, a second grader from P.S. 241 on a weekend afternoon. “It’s in the community, and it’s convenient for me. When she’s at home, she busy. But at the same time, she needs to be outside.”
“I was so excited that they were offering soccer, because my daughter wanted to do it,” said Colleen Galy, 39, parent of Allycia Austin, 7, from P.S. 22. “She’s a fan of Dora [The Explorer], and she’s always playing soccer, so she took a liking to it. They have another program [like this], but that one is too far.”
With success has come a problem for Katz: finding the funds to pay coaches. She charges the children between $50 and $75 each for the season and some come for free. She must pay for coaches, uniforms, and equipment and insurance. Volunteers have stepped up to help back up the coaches, including a new lead soccer director.
“I see some great potential in them (children). They have a passion for the game and it is crucial to succeed,” said new lead coach Joseph Cabral, who has played professionally in Portugal.
Another season of soccer will begin in December, but indoors. Overall, she wants the soccer program to be fun for both parents and kids—an outlet that was not available before, she said.
“Parents want kids to be healthy,” Katz said. “There were no options for kids. I’m providing options for kids that were never there.”
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This story was amended 12/1/2011 to correct a discrepancy concerning the hiring of coaches.
Read more stories involving Crown Heights, such as uninsured patients who endure difficulties at Interfaith Medical Center or the latest trends in the Brooklyn’s real estate market
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