One Goal by Amy Bass

Author:Amy Bass
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2018-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Saints, Martyrs,

and Summer Soccer

Denis Wing is usually too busy pricing Cup Noodles to care what anyone has to say about the soccer team’s Booster Club. The hours that he and wife, Kathy—they are always a “we” and never an “I”—commit to raising money for the team is a labor of love, a way of supporting not just their two sons but also these kids they’ve known since middle school. During their fourteen years of supporting Little League, he points out, there are always just a handful of parents who chip in. Five baseball teams, twelve kids per team, sixty-some parents; it’s always the same five or ten who roll up their sleeves.

If anyone wants to take a shot at the parents of Somali soccer players, says Wing, they won’t get far with him. He knows they are easy targets, painted with the same broad brush no matter what they do, under constant scrutiny with critics ready to pounce. But he refuses to let anyone say that just because they aren’t at the Snack Shack on game night, they’re lazy or unsupportive.

“They’ve got one parent working, and the other with three or four or more kids at home,” he says, although he notes that attendance has improved in recent years. “I understand that. I mean, it doesn’t make it easier at times, but if Kathy and I, and the parents that are involved, didn’t like what we were doing, we wouldn’t do it. We know that’s the demographic of the team—it’s just how it is.”

McGraw, too, knows that the combination of large families, multiple jobs, and little money—very little money—contribute to the relatively low attendance at most soccer games.

“When you think about it, if a parent comes in, it’s five bucks; if a kid comes in, it’s three bucks,” observes McGraw about tickets for soccer games. “They might have enough money for one to come.”

Some people wait in the parking lot until halftime, when the ticket booth closes. Others wait for big games, like the “Battle of the Bridge” match-up against Edward Little or the annual Senior Night game. McGraw knows to expect the unexpected on Senior Night, when players tend to show off for the bigger crowd. In 2014, defender Biwe Mohamed weaved all the way down the field to score a goal. When McGraw asked him about it later, Biwe apologized but said he’d had to do it: his mom was in the stands, and she had never seen him play before.

McGraw calls the Booster Club parents his saints and martyrs, knowing it can be a full-time job. Kathy Wing starts prepping the Snack Shack, the team’s largest source of revenue, months in advance of the first game. She has a working list in the back of her mind at all times, especially when she is at the grocery store. She combs the aisles for bargains, items that will turn the biggest profit, stocking up when the price is right. Whenever she sees a case of twenty-four Cup Noodles for less than $10, she snaps it up, knowing she can sell them for a buck each on game night.

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