Lamar High School soccer coach Jeremy Davison (top row, second from right) is raising funds to send his team on a trip abroad (Photo courtesy of Jeremy Davison).
Coming to Great Britain
In the classic film “Coming to America,” Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) needed to escape the opulence of royalty and experience real life in order to appreciate real love and real people.
He needed to see that the world consisted of more than what surrounded him in order for him to gain a true perspective on how the world worked.
Likewise, many children who grow up struggling with economic hardships need to see that life is more than just poverty, violence and dysfunction.
For some, exposure to the finer things in life comes from being exposed to different cultures at school.
However, others like members of the soccer team at Lamar High School in Houston get the opportunity to experience those cultures firsthand in a foreign country like Great Britain thanks to the help of individual sponsors and corporate donors who opt to give back to those less fortunate.
According to an official statement from the Lamar men’s soccer team, “The Lamar Men’s Varsity Soccer Team will be traveling abroad over the winter of 2014 to study, train and compete in England. We are very excited about our upcoming soccer season and tour. We have teamed up with Challenger Tours to design an experience, which exposes the student athletes and coaches to the international soccer community by immersing them in training with professional club teams, such as Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea. The Tour combines visiting the local, historical, and cultural sites with a friendly playing environment for the traveling team. This tour will provide an exciting educational opportunity for our students to travel abroad as a team and help build a lifetime of memories to share.”
The young athletes will also get an opportunity to experience a guided tour of Oxford University, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace among other destinations.
In order to raise funds for the trip, the Lamar soccer team is hosting a fundraising golf tournament on Sept. 20 at 8 am at Hermann Park Golf Course in Houston.
The fundraising goal is $2,500 per player, which will cover ground package, airfare and insurance. Each player is required to make a $365 deposit for the trip. The total cost of the trip for each member is approximately $2,865.
The European trip will not only affect the students going forward, but it will also affect the foreigners that they come in contact with as each individual learns from the cultures of other individuals.
Soccer coach Jeremy Davison said, “You’re gonna be a part of an environment. You’re gonna change that environment. And then down the line, that environment itself is going to affect you somehow.”
And now members of the community can positively affect the perspective of a young person by donating money to the Lamar High School soccer team for their trip abroad.
All checks can be made payable to Lamar High School. For more information on how to donate contact Davison at jdavison@houstonisd.org (CC: bweber@houstonisd.org).
The sponsorship notification deadline is Sept. 8.
In Eddie Murphy’s classic 1988 movie “Coming to America,” Prince Akeem’s trip not only affected him in the short term, but in the long run as well.
He found his purpose in life, which was his future princess and changed the fate of two families forever.
Likewise, the trip to Great Britain could possibly alter the fate of the young men of Lamar High School forever.
