For the past few years, the Four Corners Upper School football team has hosted a Football Clinic in which the team members would go to Four Corners Charter School (the sister school of Four Corner Upper School) and teach the students who signed up how to play football.
The football team taught and ran plays with the children to show them what it takes to play the sport.
“We went over warmups, stretched, and did one-on-ones with the kids. We even played catch with the kids,” sophomore Joseph Delgado stated.
Due to the school having an elementary campus and a 6th-12th grade campus in separate locations, the schools make an effort to host events that can connect the schools together.
“The purpose of the Football Clinic is to try to get the lower campus more involved with the upper campus since it is always a good thing to have the little kids interact with the older kids to get them acclimated before they come over. It’s also just to see if anyone is interested in football to get them started early. It’s always nice to have a head start on those types of things,” junior Landyn Rayan said.
During this event, some players such as junior Adrian Mendoza were able to build a connection with the children that they mentored for a day.
“My teammate Landyn, his little sister is in the lower campus, and she was the kid I was taking care of. At the end of the practice we built a connection, she really liked me and she was really cool,” Mendoza said.
All of the players on the football team went to the lower campus to help with the clinic, but for some, it was an opportunity to go back through memory lane and re-visit their old school.
“I went to the lower campus, it’s nice to go back and visit. I didn’t have stuff like that, people to come down and help me play football. It’s nice to see how the kids now are doing,” junior Mekhi Flax stated.
Given the circumstances, not many schools have the opportunity to go to an elementary school and mentor the kids on how to play football. This is a big reason why students see the lower school as beneficial.
“I find that there is not a problem having the kids connected since it makes the change from elementary to middle school an easier flow. They are able to keep many of their friends and not feel like they need to start over again. It also gets them started on extracurricular activities earlier since they are constantly being exposed to these types of events,” junior Kamil Hernandez said.
The kids from the lower school had the opportunity to go to the upper campus to watch the homecoming game, and senior night, and even run onto the field alongside them.
“It feels good knowing that the little kids are going to be at the game since many of them look up to us and spent the day with us. It’s just an amazing thing overall having them be able to watch us play,” Delgado said.
