BENTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — Two women in Northwest Arkansas are going the extra mile to make sure every kid is included by starting a soccer team for children who are neurodiverse.
The women behind the Super Kickers are Sherese Grigg and Melissia Cartwright. The coaches saw a need in the community and filled it by creating an inclusive soccer program. One team is the Pea Ridge Thunder Soccer Club and the other is affiliated with the Gentry Youth organization but both teams are called Super Kickers for kids with different abilities.
"I spent a whole season doing research and developing the program games, activities, things like that. And then we had our first season and we've been posting about it on Facebook trying to get other towns to reach out and kind of start a similar program," Cartwright said.
Grigg said she was coaching a regular UA soccer team. "One of the parents came up to me and asked me if I knew of any places that would have accommodations for a soccer program. She said one of my players had a brother, who was on the autism spectrum and he loved watching his brother play soccer," Grigg said. "And I had to admit I didn't know of any. So I had told her, 'Well, he can come and play with us.'"
Their reason behind the soccer club is tied to a personal experience.
"I grew up with a special needs brother. I have watched my mom fight, still to this day, to make sure that he has every opportunity needed. And it's a lot of opportunities that we take for granted," Cartwright said.
A Super Kicker mom Rachel Fox drives an extra hour round trip commute every week for her daughter Eva who has Down Syndrome to provide a sense of normalcy for her.
"She absolutely loves soccer. It's a place where she could be unapologetically herself, she's in an inclusive environment with not only her intellectually disabled or neurodiverse peers but also a neurotypical peer group," Fox said. "She's got lots of support with buddies but also the kids in the community that play soccer here."
Fox says the soccer club offers affordable recreational options which financially helps her family. "We have very limited options when it comes to free and low-cost inclusive recreational opportunities. This just happens to be one opportunity that we especially like and that Eva really likes," Fox said.
The coaches say soccer is a sport that can be accommodated for so many different abilities and they have kids who are in wheelchairs, on the autism spectrum, and have Down Syndrome. Spring 2023 was the first season for Super Kickers and this fall was the second.
Grigg says this season was all about connecting with other kids. "Each of our Super Kickers has a buddy that comes with them on the field. And so when we have our games, they have buddies that come with them and they develop relationships ... but they're able to be out there just kickin', having fun," she said.
In the future, the two coaches hope other cities in the region will create similar low-cost programs for kids with all different types of abilities.
"It's very rewarding. It's beautiful to see in action. And I would love for somebody else to be able to say, 'Hey, I can do this too and make an impact,'" Grigg said.
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