Humanitarian award given to local youth

By Maren Fawkes
For the Beacon

Playing for the Springfield High School junior varsity indoor soccer team, Liberty Siegle takes the field with just under five minutes left in the first half. Crossing center field, she dribbles past two South Eugene defenders and hooks the ball deep into the low far corner of the net to score the third goal of the game making it 2-3.
Displaying the same quiet confidence and determination off the soccer field, Siegle has spearheaded an effort to raise funds and to enlist volunteers to support TOPSoccer, a program that makes soccer possible for disabled children.
Siegle has been playing soccer since she was five and has learned a lot about the sport from her father, Jonathan, who both referees and coaches soccer. Siegle plays on a club team for the Eugene Metro Futbol Club as well as for the Springfield High School junior varsity indoor team. She is also the youngest United States Soccer Federation certified referee in the state.
“I like soccer because it really is a team sport, where everybody has to work together,” said Siegle.
This 13-year-old home-schooled eighth grader first became involved in the TOPSoccer program last summer as a part of her bat mitzvah. She studied a passage in the Torah that talked about honest weights and measures and applied it to how people view others.
“I view this passage as giving us guidance about the way we judge people,” said Siegle in her d’var last August. “We assume that disabled people can’t do things like soccer and other sports, but we’re wrong and TOPSoccer proves that.”
To that end, Siegle asked how she could make a donation. Instead of having people give her money at her bat mitzvah, she asked them make a donation to TOPSoccer.
“I wanted to make it a community thing so they felt like they contributed and made a difference,” said Siegle.
Combining a family tradition of charity and her passion for soccer, Siegle raised and donated over $550 for TOPSoccer.
Mac Wilson, the coaching director for the Eugene Metro Futbol Club and area TOPSoccer started the program in the Eugene/Springfield area ten years ago. The program is designed to bring the opportunity of learning and playing soccer to any boy or girl between the ages of four and 19 who has a mental or physical disability. People who participate in this program work with buddies who teach them the fundamentals through shooting, passing and dribbling exercises. Wilson nominated Siegle because “it’s impressive for a 13-year-old to not be self-centered and be that giving.”
“Even if I don’t get an award I think that there is a reward in doing TOPSoccer,” said Siegle, who enjoys working with the kids and watching them learn something new. “It gives me that warm feeling.”
Siegle continues working with the organization as co-coordinator of the volunteers. She recruits other members on her soccer team and through the soccer club to volunteer as buddies.
“Liberty is very genuine and good with the kids,” said Wilson “She really enjoys herself on the field and it shows.”
As a result of her efforts she has been awarded the state wide TOPSoccer Buddy of the Year Award. She will receive her award at the Oregon Youth Soccer Association Annual Awards Dinner in Portland on Jan. 26.
For more information on the TOPSoccer program or club soccer please visit the Eugene Metro Futbol Club website at http://www.eugenemetrofc.org.