Soccer for Success Program Paying Benefits in Chester

Chester, Pa.—In Chester, where basketball is king, if you ask elementary school students what their favorite sport is, you might get an unexpected answer. That was the question put to Aniyah Burton-Fairfax on Tuesdayat Stetser Elementary School. The nine-year-old fourth grader thought for a moment, and then replied emphatically, “soccer.”

Buton-Fairfax is one of a growing number of elementary school students in Chester involved in the Chester Upland Soccer for Success program, an after-school youth development program that uses soccer as a tool to combat childhood obesity and promote healthy lifestyles for underserved students. Student participants and parents gathered at Stetser Elementary School on Wednesday for the Second Annual Soccer for Success Sweet Potato Dinner.

The program, which is operated by Widener University through a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Soccer Foundation, started last year at three schools in Chester with 300 participants. So far this year, the program is at seven schools in Chester and Upland with more than 400 participants.

Brent Jacquette, head men’s soccer coach at Widener University and coordinator of the program, said that he is seeing the benefits of the program in only its second year. “The data we’ve collected has shown positive evidence that the physical activity and nutrition is making a difference,” Jacquette said.

Chester City Blog intern Cheyenne interviews coach Brent Jacquette.
Don't miss the professional soccer athletes in the background

 Of the students participating in the program during the 2012-13 year, 72 percent improved or maintained their BMI (body mass index) percentile, 57 percent improved or maintained their aerobic capacity, and 68 percent decreased or maintained waist circumference, Jacquette said.

The nutrition aspect of the program was the focus of Wednesday’s event, with participants and their parents partaking in a healthy dinner of shepherd’s pie with sweet potatoes, salad and sweet potato cookies. The meal was prepared by Aramark food service and served by brothers of the Alpha Tao Omega fraternity at Widener. A representative from Crozer-Chester Medical Center, a partner in the Soccer for Success program, was on hand with information for parents on healthy lifestyles.

The sweet potatoes used in the meal were harvested less than two weeks ago from the garden Soccer for Success participants planted last May. Stetser students delivered 70 pounds of sweet potatoes to the Aramark kitchen at Widener on Monday where the children were given a tour of the kitchen and treated to lunch.

Janet Baldwin, principal of Stetser Elementary School, said the benefits of Soccer for Success go well beyond the physical activity and nutrition lessons that the children receive through the program. She sees increases school attendance by students involved in the program, and more self confidence.

“It has also provides kids with a safe place to be after school,” Baldwin said. “That’s a really big piece, especially in Chester.”

For more information on the Chester Upland Soccer for Success program, visit http://chesteruplandsoccerforsuccess.org.