Scoring Their Goals: New Brunswick's Bobadilla Summer Soccer Academy Wrapping Up Another Successful

Detective Virginia Lopez looked into the eyes of a little girl with pigtails and told her that she, too, could one day be a member of the New Brunswick Police Department. Then Lopez turned to the other 25 elementary school students sitting at the table.

“You can do anything you want in life,” Lopez said. “It won’t be easy, but if you want something bad enough, you can accomplish it.”

Moments of mentoring, messages of self-esteem, tips on life skills, lessons in community service and, of course, a lot of soccer are at the heart of the annual Bobadilla Summer Soccer Academy.

Named after its originator, Deputy Chief Michael Bobadilla, and helmed by New Brunswick Tomorrow, the free camp’s 160 or so students listened Wednesday morning to Lopez and nine other members of law enforcement talk about the ups and downs of their work.

They all posed for a photo on the bleachers inside the New Brunswick Middle School gym on what was the last full day of the camp.

Thursday’s graduation day festivities were scheduled to take place at Memorial Stadium, with fun and food for kids of all ages who see the camp as relief from a long, hot, boring summer in the city.

“For me, it’s a safe haven for them in summertime where they can come and just be kids,” Bobadilla said. “A lot of these kids live in houses where the whole family lives in one room. So, if they weren’t here and their parents are working, they might be stuck in a room not doing anything.”

Instead, for six hours a day, Monday through Thursday, for five weeks, kids 8-18 get a little bit of everything.

The Rutgers women’s soccer team – all 30 or so members – came to offer soccer tips and sign autographs. Representatives of OceanFirst Bank taught self-finance 101. Representatives of Rutgers came to speak about nutrition.

One of Thursday’s highlights will be the presentation of the various teams’ projects. The kids had been broken up into 10 teams, and each did a community project. One group painted a soccer mural at Memorial Stadium under the tutelage of New Brunswick High School art teacher David Lago. Another team held a car wash that raised about $1,200 for the pediatric units at Saint Peter’s University and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

The whole community has helped build this academy from humble beginnings in 2008. Sponsors such as OceanFirst Bank, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, Saint Peter's University Hospital, Parker Healthcare, the New Brunswick Cultural Center and Rutgers Community Health Foundation help fund this camp, in which the kids get new soccer cleats, socks and shin guards, and free breakfast and lunch each day. Meals were provided by Evelyn's on Easton Avenue, DHS Hospitality Group, Elijah's Promise, Wawa and Jersey Mike's.

Of course, at the end of the day, there’s soccer.

“This is a free program, so they can get the training here for free,” said New Brunswick Tomorrow’s Jessica Viscuso. “They can get the equipment here for free - things maybe they don’t have access to, or the money for. So, we were able to kind of give them those kinds of things, and they can take that with them and better their skills and kind of go on and take the sport.”

There’s no better example of that than Randy Arronis, who once upon a time was a little tyke kicking the ball around at the Bobadilla Academy. He grew up to become a star at New Brunswick High School before becoming a four-year standout midfielder for Rutgers. Most recently, he was playing professionally in Mexico before a hamstring injury cut his season short.

Arronis served this summer as the head trainer for the academy, watching a bunch of kids that reminded him of him.

“It makes me happy that I could change someone’s summer and possibly their life if I do a really good job, because they will remember this camp,” he said.

Story & Photo Credit: Chuck O'Donnell