DC-Area Youth Players Rewarded for their Soccer Skills by the Berhanu Soccer Foundation

- By Joseph Schoenbauer, Wednesday, April 25, 2007

On Tuesday evening, 43 boys and girls from over 30 different youth club teams in the DC Metro area were rewarded with grants by the Berhanu Soccer Foundation for their talent and love for the sport of soccer in a ceremony held at the Women’s Club of Chevy Chase.

The Berhanu Soccer Foundation gives grants to players, through their club teams, that do not have the financial capabilities to play on competitive travel soccer teams.  Now in its third year, the Foundation has grown from giving five awards in its first year, to fifteen in its second, to now over forty different players.  On the growth of the program over the last three years, Board of Directors member Dave Mangan commented, “We’ve raised enough money to help these kids, but we want to take it to the next level.”  Certainly news that bodes well for the future stars that it will benefit.

In attendance on the night to speak to the children were a number of people with a great background in soccer and even greater stories to share.  First to speak was Meseret Berhanu, widow of Berhanu Ageze, who was the inspiration behind the Foundation because of his passion for the game, followed by Wendel Sandiford, father of Chante Sandiford, who is a Berhanu grant recipient and current member of the US Women’s U17 National Team.  Last but not least, Clyde Watson, current assistant coach of the Washington Freedom, who has had a storied playing career for the national team of Guyana and many club teams around the world, spoke to the kids before they were all individually and then collectively awarded with certificates for their achievement.

Clyde Watson, who has been involved with the Berhanu Soccer Foundation for a year now, may have said it best following the ceremony when he spoke of his greatest memory when thinking back on his soccer career, “Getting older allows you an opportunity to really focus on the big picture and I think the single greatest thing I got out of this game is the people that I met along the away, by far and away the biggest thing.”

Sitting in on the award ceremony, you certainly could feel that “some of the people along the way” could be found in the Women’s Club of Chevy Chase on that very night.

For more information on the Berhanu Soccer Foundation, please visit: http://www.berhanusoccer.org/

For more information on the upcoming Washington Freedom season, please visit: http://www.washingtonfreedom.com/