CEDARVILLE, Ohio - Each Tuesday in the fall, senior goalkeeper Eben Dewhurst and his team spend 45 minutes of their evening at a local soccer field. They are not training or practicing but teaching and coaching.

Amidst the rigorous in-season schedule - wake up early, attend classes, practice with the team, lift weights - the Cedarville men's soccer team teaches children ages 3 to 6 to to play soccer.

Little Dribblers is a program associated with the Cedarville Soccer Association youth system to introduce young kids to the game of soccer, and their teachers are the Cedarville men's soccer team.

The Yellow Jackets have worked with the Little Dribblers program since the early 2000s, taking the opportunity each session to run mini-games, teach basic ball skills and facilitate a match-up against another team.

The program doesn't just influence the young kids, but it reminds Cedarville's team of the joy behind their sport.

At the beginning of the academic year, men's soccer head coach Brett Faro runs his players through a session in a classroom to teach them the basics of working the program before the team hosts an all-day clinic.

But outside of the technical skills, the players get to experience both the internal and external impact of their work with the kids.

"Our guys just coach those teams and love on the kids and give them an opportunity to get involved," Faro said. "You know, sometimes that's teaching them the game. Sometimes it's literally just standing with a kid on the sideline because they don't want to play."

Dewhurst, in his fourth year with the program, has learned that working with young kids changes year to year - and even week to week. He laughed, explaining that working with that age can mean wrangling attitudes, emotions and nerves.

"You have to be able to kind of appeal to the more fun side of it, the emotion side of it, and being able to also just be more of a safe space as well to make a friend," Dewhurst said. "Because once you make a friend with them, they're so much more willing to just go out and play and have fun."

Dewhurst made friends with a girl on his team a couple of years ago, whose dad works with Dewhurst's dad at Cedarville.

"She wrote me a note one time, and that was really cool, and getting to talk with her about, like, she plays basketball and stuff too, and getting to kind of catch up, even though I didn't get to coach her again," Dewhurst said.
 

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In his nine years as head coach, Faro has had many encounters with families who are impacted by the team's service of the community. Parents are thankful that their kids have the opportunity to plug into the community through soccer, and they get to see their kids' faces light up each week when the team interacts with them.

"Being able to see older players who they probably really look up to and admire get down on their level and play with them…I think it just instills the love of the game for them," Faro said.

The players love to see this kind of joy from the little dribblers and learn a thing or two themselves. In his own busyness of the fall schedule, Dewhurst knows joy in playing soccer can be lost for a lot of players.

"It's really fun to see those kids who, this is what they're looking forward to all week for seven days straight," Dewhurst said. "They're like, 'I can't wait until we're back again,' and it's just cool to see that joy of getting to play a sport."

He is reminded that the fun of soccer doesn't have to get in the way of working hard or competing against teammates. Faro sees the program as an opportunity for his players to reset and understand that there is much more going on outside of themselves.

The players are paired up with teammates that they may not spend a lot of time with off the field, and it gives them a chance to see each other in a different setting. Dewhurst sees his teammates, who may be serious on the field or in the locker room, able to fall on the ground and giggle goofily with a child.

"It takes away a little bit of the stress and the seriousness of our sport here at Cedarville," Dewhurst said. "We are competing for a spot, and you know we have a great culture, but also that you are competing against the guys next to you, and it just lets you be a little bit more free."

The team emphasizes this growth not just in the Little Dribblers program, but in many things that they do. They look to grow their relationships with one another through shared activities, whether it be practice, a missions trip or Little Dribblers.

Faro sees the overarching influence on his team that serving others and serving in the community can have.

"It's a general growth space, both in terms of learning how to serve, learning how to get outside your comfort zone for those that aren't as comfortable coaching and working with little kids," Faro said. "I think through that there's a unity that's built in doing it together."