A changing sports scene

NY Cosmos transforming an Elmont basketball court

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The New York Cosmos will be transforming an underused basketball court on the grounds of Clara H. Carlson Elementary School in Elmont into a soccer pitch. With charity partner Street Soccer USA and through a sports fundraising platform called Sponsorise.me, the court will be made into an all-weather mini soccer field.

Street Soccer USA works with the Cosmos and other organizations to combat childhood homelessness and obesity through youth activities and programs. The charity has two other locations where they installed a mini pitch, one in San Francisco and the other in East New York, Brooklyn.

According to Cosmos COO Erik Stover, the court was an ideal location for the project due to the lack of use by the students and children in the neighborhood.

“The idea for Elmont is that it’s part of a larger plan of programs that Street Soccer is doing throughout the New York Metropolitan area,” said Stover. “It’s a really good close-knit community filled with good people.”

Nearly 30 percent of households in Elmont are single-family, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. According to Stover, that can lead to children not engaging in physical activities, as parents are usually working multiple jobs in order to provide for their families.

“There are a lot of families and kids that are on that cusp of homelessness,” said Stover. “The kids don’t necessarily have organized programs to keep them off the streets.”

The court will be built and maintained through crowd funding on Sponsorise.me. The Cosmos organization has made donations to the project as well, Stover said. In addition, according to Stover, members of the Cosmos will participate in athletics programs with the children. Stover hopes to complete the project by the summer of 2016.

“Unfortunately in this region, there aren’t a lot of programs that are funded by school districts anymore,” said Stover. “The kids are not having access to these programs like they did 20 years ago. It’s incumbent on us as community leaders to find a way to get that back for the kids.”

The mini pitch program has the backing of the Elmont Union FreeSchool District and school board president Michael Jaime.

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