Cleats for Kids!

The Daily Pilot Cup is a 17-year-old soccer tournament tradition bringing Newport-Mesa area third through sixth grade boys and girls together in friendly competition. In his first year of competing in the Pilot Cup as a third grader, Henry Bartz noticed that some of the kids on opposing teams did not have cleats like he did. He realized that these students probably weren’t able to afford new cleats, and that really didn’t seem fair to him.

Now in fifth grade, Henry came up with the idea of collecting used cleats after watching a video in class of a girl who had collected shoes for children in Columbia. This gave Henry the idea that he could help in his own community by collecting cleats for kids! Henry shared his idea with his seventh grade friend, Alex Wainwright, who also had noticed the footwear discrepancy between teams. Alex recognized that this idea was something they really could do, and the two boys set out to make it happen. They devised a plan, and presented it to Head of School, Angi Evans, and Upper School Director, Susan Johnson. The school leaders thought it was a great idea and told the boys they wanted to help, giving the boys even more confidence that they could turn this vision into a reality.

After sending out announcements about their plan, the pile of cleats grew, and they ended up with over 40 pairs to donate. “When we gathered all of the cleats together to clean them up, it felt great seeing how many cleats people had donated!” says Henry.

They boys want to expand their project by having other schools lend a hand next year, eventually growing the program so that all kids who want to participate in the Daily Pilot Cup will have cleats of their own. "It was really cool how many people donated cleats to our cause," said Alex. For this year’s Pilot Cup, every student becomes a winner.