Last Saturday, the Troy soccer team hosted what has become its annual event for Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Central Alabama.

“We were excited that this year’s event was a pretty day and it meant a lot for the Big Brother and Big Sister children to get out and have fun with the Troy University Soccer Team,” BB/BS Activities Coordinator Melinda Conner said. “It made for a good recruiting day as we had six potential volunteers.”

Little brothers and sisters, ages 6-16, were able to participate in a variety of games such as kickball, capture the soccer ball, soccer and others.

“It was great for our student-athletes to get out and set something like this up,” Troy soccer head coach Chris Bentley said. “Our philanthropy chair, Nicole Targa, did a great job coordinating this and the team ran with it. I did not think last year’s event could be topped but everything came together for an extraordinary day.

“A big thanks should go out to Delta Sigma Pi (Troy University business fraternity) as they provided food at the end of the event. We were also happy to have Miss Brundidge stop by and say hello.”

The Big Brothers Big Sisters’ mission is to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with mentors that have a measurable impact on youth. National research has shown that positive relationships between youth and their mentors have a direct and measurable impact on children’s lives.

By participating in youth mentoring programs, little brothers and sisters are:

– More confident in their schoolwork performance

– Able to get along better with their families

– 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs

– 27% less likely to begin using alcohol

– 52% less likely to skip school

“Big Brothers Big Sisters is always looking for new volunteers,” Conner said. “Volunteers come from the community, but most of our volunteers are students here at Troy University.”

If you are interested in volunteering, call BB/BS at 334-566-2454.