Lauren Walls and Ava Thigpen demonstrate their soccer skills PHOTO BY CAN TüRKYILMAZ
Transitioning from child to awkward pre-teen is hard enough. So why then are the sixth-graders at J.L. Long Middle School forced to do it without the much-needed release of team sports?
The Dallas ISD’s Sixth Grade Transition Program brochure states: “Based on UIL rules and regulations, sixth-grade students will not be able to participate in UIL athletic events.”
To parents Victor Aves and Marshall Carbajal, this just isn’t good enough. These super dads have teamed up with the White Rock YMCA to create a sixth-grade soccer league this fall.
“We want the kids to have something for the mind and body,” Aves says. “The idea has been on the table for years, and we finally decided to take the initiative.”
According to Chelsea Stanford, the White Rock YMCA youth sports director, the league will start in September and run until a couple weeks before Thanksgiving.
“I’m working on an eight-game season,” Stanford says, specifying that games will take place mostly on Saturdays with a few weeknights. “There will most likely be at least two teams from J.L. Long, a Lakehill team and a Spence team, and we can make it either co-ed or split, depending on the kind of interest we get.”
In the meantime, Aves is working on a presentation for the Long PTA this month in which he’s hoping to discuss the option of scholarships for uniforms and other costs. He and Carbajal also are continuing their effort to recruit parent volunteers and companies or individuals who would be willing to sponsor the soccer teams, or even just a single uniform. Fliers about the program will be sent out in enrollment packets this month, and interested parents can contact the YMCA for more information.
“If the program is successful, we’d love to expand it to basketball and flag football,” says Aves.
“When children have spent time playing sports together, it makes for an easier transition from grade to grade,” Stanford says. “We are really lucky to have this community … it’s great to see the parents interact and everyone in the area coming together to let the kids have fun, play and be social.”
Any parents interested in the sixth-grade soccer league should contact the YMCA at White Rock, 214.328.3489.
