As the season for the boys freshman soccer team came to a close, the boys ended their season with a strong five win, nine loss, and two tie record. But, in the end, they left with customized CRLS soccer warm-up jackets.

At the beginning of each soccer season, the boys freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams are offered a chance to earn fundraising money by cleaning up the home soccer field facility known as Danehy Park, which used to be a landfill. Given that the turf and much of the park is covering decomposed trash, and the large number of events that the park hosts, there are bound to be pieces of trash lying around areas of the park.

The park is used by many members of the Cambridge community, not just for teams using it for practice. Since no one wants trash in their parks, the CRLS teams collect the trash to earn money for equipment. In the past, only the boys varsity team earns enough savings to buy gear such as bags, sweaters, and jogger pants while the freshmen team is left with nothing but a few dollars and a handful of useless trash. However, this year, the freshmen were able to rise up and earn over one thousand dollars.

Freshman captain Krish Dhanda says, “The Danehy clean up was a good idea because it combined community work with personal gain.” Dhanda explained, “[It] gave a sense of working together to get something done to benefit the team.” The captain connected this experience with playing a soccer game; working hard as a group benefits the program and players in the end.

Occasionally, the JV boys team is able to earn enough money to buy CRLS soccer long sleeve t-shirts alongside varsity’s nice equipment, but this year the freshmen team was able to earn training jackets with their assigned number and last name printed onto them.

By collecting large amounts of trash at Danehy on a weekend morning, the freshman team persevered, making enough money for the apparel. The more trash that is collected, the greater the possibility to gain more money for warm-ups, which the freshman team was able to do.  

The center midfield player on the freshman team, Aidan Davis, states, “The jackets look nice and are very comfortable. [They] also show that you are part of a closely knit, well put-together team.” The freshman team not only worked together to get gear, but they also demonstrated strong team skills in doing so.

Freshman soccer team member Nathan Yewendwossen exclaims, “Without the jackets, the team wouldn’t be official.”

This piece also appears in our November 2018 print edition.