September 8, 2005

PLYMOUTH, MI -

Columbus Crew goalkeeper Jonny Walker lead Kicks '95 players in a clinic Monday at Lake Pointe Soccer Park. As a reward for their efforts as the top fund raising team in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Soccer Kicks for Cancer find raising event, the team earned this great event.

After a brief presentation by coach, and club Secretary, Glenn Liguori, Laurie and Jillian Lundblad spoke to the players about Jillian's survival from Leukemia. Diagnosed with the disease two years ago, 10-year-old Jillian has endured so much. Laurie even told a story about Kicks player Sean Yanik hanging paper hearts in Jillian's room and his efforts to help her through tough times.

Once on the field, Jonny took each of the boys through some ball control skills then jumped in to World Cup games and other shooting games. After one of the games, he gave away his gloves and in another, his shoes, to lucky winners Derek Heitman, Robert Costanza and Josh Priebe after they got balls past the professional keeper. He later signed those items for the players!

Throughout it all, Jonny encouraged the boys, praised them for their efforts and gave them high marks for their skills. He also gave them praise for reaching out to help other people. At the end of the program, he answered questions from the players and posed for pictures with the team.

For more on this story, see the article in the Plymouth Observer here. Another article will follow in the Detroit Free Press on Thursday, September 15.

As a follow up to this event, the Plymouth Soccer Club announced recently that all Kicks and Lightning teams will be participating in a coordinated effort to raise additional funds for the Soccer Kicks For Cancer on October 5th. Watch the site for more information on this upcoming event.

Detroit Free Press article link