The Westerville North High School’s boys soccer team had been hitting their practices hard with only one break in 14 days. The last Saturday in August gave them another chance to rest.
Then came the message from Coach Nate Hartnell just before the weekend:
“Hey boys, can you come help out Saturday?”
Senior Alex Lowery didn’t hesitate in his response.
“Sure.”
Five other teammates quickly followed — all of them agreeing to volunteer without any details on what was needed except that they’d have to be up early.
They discovered that morning that neighborhood bridges needed help transporting furniture and appliances that were being donated to a family in need. The players loaded the donated items into a moving van and helped deliver them into their new home.
For Lowery, volunteering with his teammates offers another opportunity to deepen the bond they’ve built on the soccer field and do some good together.
“This year, there’s a lot more chemistry with the team,” he said. “We’re excited to hang out with each other… It’s even better to hang out with people when you are helping others.”
In addition to transporting furniture for neighborhood bridges, players helped Robert Frost Elementary’s PTA clear up the school’s garden beds and clean up the playground area.
When WNHS’ Cross Country Boosters reached out to Hartnell with a last-minute request for volunteers at the school’s Cross Country Invitational earlier this month, at least 20 players offered to help. The booster group only needed 8 volunteers.
“What’s cool about this is it’s them deciding to do it,” Hartnell said. “We can talk about it and recommend it and say we’d like you to do it, but at the end of the day, they have to decide that they want to do it.”
Hartnell said he and the coaching staff talk to the players about what it means to be a student-athlete and the importance of wearing the “N.”
“You represent all of Westerville North,” he said. “Since the doors opened in 1975 until those doors close, you represent every staff and student who has been there, who goes there and who’s going to be there.”
That includes how players behave off the field, in the classroom and in the community.
“With the service part, you are young, healthy men — if you have an opportunity to go out and to better something, why wouldn’t you?” he said.
And their efforts are catching attention. Mayor Kathy Cocuzzi and Neighbor2Neighbor, a grassroots initiative focused on fostering communication and building trust and relationships within the Westerville community, recognized Lowery, Ian McDonald, Carlo Ceckitti, Carson Crawford, Eric Vargo and Zeien Chase.
Senior Andrew Cooper said helping the community is a way to give back to all the support they’ve provided to the soccer program.
“Every time we do something to make money for our program, it’s mostly the community helping us,” he said.
The volunteer efforts not only show their support of the community but their support of each other.
“It brings us all together,” he said. “It’s not fun to wake up early in the morning but we’ll get it done to make sure we can help everyone.”