Footballers Unite!

NORTHFIELD — In the not-too-distant future, young children in Thailand may be seen playing a rousing game of soccer with uniforms from Northfield on their backs.

That’s the hope of local resident Amy Goerwitz, who is accepting uniforms used by the Northfield Soccer Association and plans to ship them to the southeast Asian nation.

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Goerwitz said she got the idea when her 5-year-old daughter Jariya began playing in-house soccer last year. Like all young players, Jariya received a bright new uniform as part of her team, which she got to keep at the end of the year. However, as kids grow and change teams each year, they receive all new uniforms, leaving the others hanging in
a closet.

“The kids get these beautiful uniforms,” Goerwitz said. “They use them for a couple of months, twice a week, and at the end of the season they’re still in great condition but they’re never used again.”

Instead, Goerwitz wants to see the uniforms get a new life with disadvantaged youth in Thailand, the nation from which Jariya was adopted.

Of course, that’s not Goerwitz’s only connection to Thailand. The true impetus for the donation plan was a tour guide she met while organizing a Carleton College Alumni Adventure, set to embark this fall.

As associate director of alumni affairs for the college, Goerwitz got in touch with Nick Ascot [Director, North by North East Travel], a guide in northeastern Thailand who was able to arrange for the arrival of the uniforms after the summer soccer season ends.

From that germ of an idea, Goerwitz has expanded the items she will ship to include soccer shorts, cleats, coach shirts and even somewhat dirty uniforms. She only asks that they be “wash ready,” that they’re from a youth soccer team (so she can provide Thailand youth with sets of jerseys that match) and that they’re in good condition.

With approximately 640 Northfield youth involved in the summer soccer program this year alone, Goerwitz is likely to find no shortage of donations. But according to her, there’s no such thing as too many donations.

“That’s the sort of problem I would love to have,” Goerwitz said. “Whatever people want to donate to me, I will make it happen. If it takes me three years to get everything to Thailand, then it takes me three years.”

While word of mouth is just beginning to spread about the uniform collection, the collection box set up at Olympus Health Club already contains more than a dozen donations.

Heather Suess, co-owner of Olympus and coordinator of the in-house soccer program, praised the collection as a smart, generous move.

“It’s a great program and, I think, a great idea,” Suess said.

In addition to the collection box at Olympus, uniforms also can be dropped off at Goerwitz’s house, 203 W. Woodley St., and at the soccer field concession stand.

Goerwitz also is looking for local residents who plan to travel to Thailand during the next year, in the hopes that they may be able to courier some uniforms to reduce shipping costs. For more information, call Amy Goerwitz at 645-7015.

— Reprinted with permission of the Northfield News.

Amy and Jariya

ADAM JOHNSON is a Staff Writer Northfield News.