SAN JOSE, Calif. - San Jose Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez, defender Mike Zaher and forward Cam Weaver made appearances for the Verizon Wireless Adopt-a-Team program on Tuesday, May 12 and Wednesday, May 13.
Hernandez visited Miller Middle School Tuesday, May 12, where he acted as the celebrity coach for the WSJ Crossfire, a U16 youth male soccer team. The defender interacted with kids and throughout practice, coached and encouraged the boys where he saw fit.
"Getting involved with youth soccer in our community is such an important part of being a professional athlete," said Hernandez. "It's not only fun for the kids, it's fun for us, to help aspiring youth soccer players and encourage the kids to work hard to reach their goals."
Zaher and Weaver also visited youth soccer teams on Wednesday, May 13. Weaver headed out to Chadbourne Elementary School in Fremont where he took over the coaching reigns for the Zombies, a 7 & under youth team. Helping to facilitate play, Weaver jumped into practice and passed with the kids and participated in a few ball control drills. Weaver also showed off some of his footwork by performing a few soccer tricks and juggling for the kids. Zaher visited with the Palmaceia Panthers, an under 12 youth girls team located at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Hayward. The defender jumped into the action with the kids, organizing drills to teach footwork and how to utilize the different sides of their feet during play.
The coaches of the participating teams also got involved in the program by attending a domestic violence information session hosted in the San Jose Earthquakes locker room on Tuesday May 12. 21 coaches and parents from the 16 teams involved were in attendance and were all given Earthquakes bags filled with informational sheets and pamphlets. The session focused on the impact the coaches are able to have on their children to inform and help prevent domestic violence. Earthquakes coaches and staff were also in attendance including Earthquakes Executive Vice President, David Alioto.
"This is the first year of the Verizon Wireless Adopt-a-Team Program and we can't be more excited to be able to offer this program to Bay Area youth soccer teams," said Alioto. "We hope to grow this program in the future and look forward to working with Verizon to expand upon the tremendous launch of the program."
The Verizon Wireless Adopt-A-Team program is a program created by both the San Jose Earthquakes and Verizon Wireless to reach out to Bay Area youth soccer teams. This year, 16 local teams will be adopted by an Earthquakes Soccer player. The player will stand in as the celebrity coach and mentor for the team, and participate in at least one practice or game for their adopted team.
The Adopt-A-Team program is also an effort to prevent relationship abuse by engaging coaches to talk with their athletes about respect and non-violence. Coaches are poised to help their athletes build healthy relationships by positively influencing how they think and behave both on and off the field. The head coach of each team selected will participate in a one-hour informational class, led by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, that will address the prevalence of domestic violence and the many opportunities coaches have to impart their philosophies of respect, integrity, and non violence upon their athletes.
The program is an extension of Verizon Wireless' HopeLine® program. Through HopeLine, Verizon Wireless collects no-longer used wireless phones, batteries and accessories from any wireless service provider at Verizon Wireless Communications Stores nationwide. HopeLine puts the nation's most reliable wireless network to work in our communities by turning these unused wireless phones into support for domestic violence survivors.
