ASAPH's SOCCER "RESTORATION" PROGRAM

In spite of long hours of teaching kids about the importance of sportsmanship and self-control on and off the field, several AAF soccer players embarrassed the team with unacceptable behavior during two successive tournaments. WEC and I met with the team leaders, and they agreed to select four players who they thought needed help. 

I met with each one individually and spent a good amount of time listening to them talk about how they had managed to lose control even after so many sessions about being a good sport. Each case was unique. My psychology courses in school coupled with my own temper issues as a kid provided me with tools to help them. 

Then, I gave them an assignment that I had given myself years ago : find passages in the book of Proverbs that address anger. The conversations we had were frank and practical...like the book of Proverbs. There was laughter at how some passages could be so relevant to a teenager in 2025. There were a few moments of head hanging as well. 

The four players in our restoration program have played about four games each since then. There was only one yellow card, and it was not an emotion foul that he committed. It is a proud moment to see this kind of progress. I smile at players as they leave the field, but there is an extra smile with these four young men. 

They aren't angels on the field. They are growing in good ways.  This is part of what AAF (Asaph's soccer program) is all about...building character in young men. 

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