March 12, 2008

Rivals team up for good cause

Charity event raises money for STAR House Foundation

by Jason Boral

On Saturday, March 15, Centennial, in coordination with Chattahoochee High School, will host an interesting charity event to raise money for each school’s booster clubs and a local charity. The day will begin early with a 5K Run/Walk on the campus of Centennial High School. The activities will then move to Chattahoochee, where the two schools will challenge each other on the soccer field.

At this point you’re probably thinking to yourself, “That’s not very interesting; those two schools already play each other.” This game isn’t between the teams’ everyday rosters, however, but instead the game will consist of former players who graduated from the respective schools.

THE INSPIRATION …
The whole event began as an idea of the Centennial soccer program as a way to raise money for the booster clubs. Similar to minor league baseball teams who give away bobbleheads of Richard Nixon or “Seinfeld’s” infamous character George Costanza, high school booster clubs are always trying to come up with inventive and creative ways to raise money for their athletic programs.

“[It] was initially started to raise money for the soccer booster clubs,” said Centennial head soccer coach Phil Thomas about the idea. “But I also wanted to contribute some to the community in terms of a charity. That’s where STAR House of Roswell comes into the game.

After looking at viable options from around the area, the team decided to bring attention to a local charity that maybe was not as visible as others across the county, making the results of their contributions more significant. The event could not only get the schools some recognition, but tout the works of a less-heralded organization.

“There are a lot of big charities that get a lot of attention,” Thomas pointed out. “But we found a local charity called STAR House which is located in Roswell.”

Thomas described STAR House as “an after school program for children in adverse situations, which provides them tutoring and a safe place for them outside of the school.” Beginning in 1993, the STAR House has steadily grown since its inception and now hosts over 170 elementary and middle school children. The group provides an individualized program of academic tutoring and mentoring in order to insure success, by partnering with three Fulton County schools. The STAR House received even more good news as the organization was given a grant to develop a three-year program for high school students, something currently not offered by the non-profit organization.

A WORTHY OPPONENT …
While Thomas, Centennial and Chattahoochee will get most of the pub, two other local schools might be just as responsible for this exciting event.

“Last year I saw that Roswell and Milton had an alumni game, and noticed how successful it was, so we decided that weekend to host an alumni game,” Thomas said. “We decided to combine it with a 5K that same day … because of Centennial’s history with 5Ks.” This 5K will be different than all previous ones, as it will be held on Centennial’s actual campus, something that has never been done before.

Now, all that was left was to find an opponent to take on. Hoping to benefit from the recent success of their soccer programs and their intense rivalry on the field, Thomas chose the Chattahoochee Cougars. “I contacted Coach [Leslie] Meenan and told him about the idea of having our alumni against his alumni and he was all for it, and we’ve been meeting about once or twice a month ever since.”

Not only were the coaches excited about playing to raise money for charity, but so were the players, who relished the opportunity of getting one more chance to own bragging rights over their cross-town rival.

“On the boys side we have 24 guys signed up, with alumni ranging from the class of 1998 to 2007,” Thomas said. And as he pointed out, Centennial is still a young school, opening its doors in August 1997, making 24 an impressive number.

Although this event won’t have any tacky bobbleheads to give away, it will raise money for an important charity and help make memories for those involved. Everyone is eligible to enter in the run/walk for a $20 entrance fee, which also gets you a t-shirt. For more information, you can visit the Centennial soccer website (http://www.centennialsoccer.us/), or the STAR House homepage (http://starhousefoundation.org/).

Boral can be reached at jboral@scoreatl.com.

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Rivals team up for good cause

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