Paul Mata and CSUSB alumni think about how many miles one ...

pack tracksBall toursCoyote teams take it to S.B. city schoolsBy Ken DillardTwenty pairs of smiling eyes followedthe soccer ball as Jorge Aguirre sent itbouncing from foot to foot, left to right,never touching the ground, now fromknee to knee, now back to a foot, nowarcing over his head to rest at the napeof his neck. The eyes belong to studentsat San Bernardino’s Chavez MiddleSchool.Aguirre, a member of the Cal StateSan Bernardino men’s soccer team, ispart of a new partnership being forgedbetween CSUSB and elementary andmiddle schools across the San BernardinoCity Unified School District, thanksto the Coyote Athletics Mentoring Partnership.Known as CAMP, it sends membersof CSUSB’s 11 NCAA sports teamsand their coaches on monthly mentoringvisits to middle and elementaryschools throughout the San BernardinoCity Unified School District.On April 15, Aguirre, his teammateArath De La Rocha and men’s soccercoach Noah Kooiman visited ChavezMiddle School to talk with the kidsabout the importance of hard work,dedication and a commitment to successin the classroom before success onthe field.“You have to take it seriously,” Kooimantold the students. “You have tostudy hard. You have to be focused inthe classroom. We want kids who canplay the game, but you have to be ableto back it up in the classroom, too.”Aguirre stressed the amount of workthat goes into being a successful student-athlete.“It’s a lot harder than I thought itwould be,” he told the students. “It’shard on your body. You have to get upin the morning and go to class and thenyou have to go to practice. Maybe youhave to go back to class after practice. Itcan be tough.”Kooiman, Aguirre and de la Rochatalked to the students for about 15 minutesbefore they put on a ball-controlexhibition and a penalty kick contest.Chavez Middle School physical educationteacher Mike Murphy praisedthe CAMP program.“I think it will open (the student’s)minds,” Murphy said. “It will show themthat there’s life after high school, possiblyin soccer if they keep their gradesright.”CAMP is the brainchild of KevinHatcher, director of athletics for CSUSB.“When I accepted the position here, Ihad a talk with my wife,” he said. “We decidedthat we weren’t just coming herefor a job. We wanted to be part of thecommunity. We decided that the bestthing we had to offer the communitywas our student-athletes.”Beyond the positive impact CAMPwill have on children’s lives, Hatcherhopes it will generate some recognitionfor CSUSB’s student-athletes. As a(Continued on next page)Cal State San Bernardino sophomore Jorge Aguirre demonstrates ball control methods forstudents at Cesar Chavez Middle School in the Verdemont area of San Bernardino as part of theCoyote Athletics Mentoring Partnership begun this year by CSUSB Athletic Director Kevin Hatcher.Photo by Lori Krueger.csusb magazine | 23