Happy Campers: New Brunswick Youth Hone Soccer and Life Skills

One group of city kids said they learned a lot this summer when they helped create a community garden – lessons that went beyond the need for rich soil and abundant sunlight to make plants grow.

“We learned it was important to give back to the community,” one girl with a blue shirt shyly said.

Giving back to the community - whether they were planting the seeds of a community garden, packing hygiene packs to give to homeless people, collecting donations for Elijah’s Promise, or creating community murals – was at the heart of the New Brunswick Tomorrow Bobadilla Summer Soccer Academy.

The enthusiastic accounts of their various community projects were the highlight of the graduation ceremony held at Memorial Stadium on Thursday, July 20.

Many of these 150 or so students ranging from elementary to high school may have signed up for the camp with the intention of sharpening their soccer skills. But on their way to learning how to dribble past a defender and volley a ball past a goalkeeper, they picked up some life skills - like the importance of teamwork.

“It’s true in soccer and it’s also true in our community team,” Mayor Jim Cahill said at the graduation ceremony. “A community that works together is a better community. It is stronger and more successful. Simply put, it becomes a better place to live.”

City Council President Rebecca Escobar, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Aubrey Johnson, and many other officials, civic leaders, volunteers, and parents were on hand as each camper had a medal placed around his or her neck in recognition of their participation and their community projects.

Representatives of Saint Peter’s University Hospital and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital were also present to accept donations collected by the campers through events such as car washes.

The community projects seemed to hit home for students such as Rey, a student at the Greater Brunswick Charter School.

“He came home yesterday and said they had been making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the homeless,” said his mom, Elsy Ramos. “So, that was something that stuck with him.”

Michael Bobadilla, a captain in the New Brunswick Police Department, has watched the camp grow from humble beginnings in 2008 when he started with a $20,000 grant from New Brunswick Tomorrow and the help of a few friends.

Through the years, Bobadilla has come to understand that the city’s youth are not unlike those seeds in the community garden – they just need some love and nurturing to grow and flourish.

Bobadilla’s greatest contribution to the camp that bears his name is cultivating a network of generous people from all corners of the community.

“They’ve always just jumped in to help, whether providing a donation, food or just help,” he said.

Members of the Rutgers women’s soccer team came to Memorial Stadium one day to help put the kids through their soccer drills and came back to play the camp all-stars in a charity match that raised $400 - enough to buy more than 3,000 bottles of water for Elijah's Promise. The New Brunswick Development Corporation (DEVCO) donated funds to buy meals for the campers. Capelli Sports provided 100 soccer balls and 56 pairs of sneakers. Gus Sleiman of Barca City on Easton Avenue has provided delicious food.

Coach USA provided buses when a rainstorm broke out while the campers were inside State Theatre New Jersey watching “Minions.” Damaris Sanchez Rivera and some of her stylists at D Styles Beauty and Barber Shop in Franklin gave the campers free haircuts. Goya provided Bobadilla with 150 bags of food that were given to the campers’ families.

And, it was the New Brunswick Cultural Center, under the direction of Tracey O’Reggio, who created a fun sendoff for the campers. There was a DJ, a dunk tank, and a food truck giving out bags of freshly made zeppoles to celebrate their graduation.

“While we teach the campers soccer skills to strengthen them as players, we also teach them skills to take with them off the field,” said Jessica Viscuso, the director of youth services at New Brunswick Tomorrow. “The past couple of years, it really has had a strong emphasis on community impact, empowering our youth to be change-makers in the community that they live.”

 Story & Photo By: Chuck O'Donnell