Soccer Clubs' Community Spirit in Brick Is Best Part Of Youth Sports

The crowd chanting, waving signs and raising their arms to form a human tunnel was like the atmosphere greeting a prizefighter at a boxing match when little Irelyn stepped out of her police cruiser escort on Tuesday night.

And when Liam Marino walked onto the soccer field at Pinewood Park last Saturday, the applause he received from the players and spectators was like that greeting the winning golfer walking up to the 18th green at the Masters.

“I’ve never seen so many people get behind a little kid like this,” said Marty Marino, Liam’s grandfather, wiping away tears as he looked across the fields at Pinewood Park on Saturday.

“I cried for 15 minutes,” said Shannon, Irelyn’s mother, on Tuesday evening, as Irelyn posed for photo after photo with players and adults who had come out to be her fans for a night.

This is the side of youth sports that so often gets lost amid the headlines of adults punching umpires and parents screaming about playing time and the unending pursuit of scholarships and stardom.

Organized youth sports and activities -- regardless of the type -- create a community. A tightknit, very giving community that takes someone facing a crisis under its wing and helps them, whether it’s a family who has lost all its belongings in a fire to a child or an adult battling a horrible disease.

That is why it’s no surprise that so many people turned out to help these two children. Liam Marino, 8, is battling a brain tumor discovered in July. Irelyn, 5, is battling a genetic disorder that has compromised her immune system.

And people turned out even as they mourned the loss of a man whose roots in the Brick soccer community ran deep and spanned the town: Darren Downs, who played at Brick High School (in the years before Brick Memorial opened) as well as numerous men’s leagues, and who gave untold hours of his time coaching the next generations of soccer players, emphasizing the game itself over wins and losses. Downs, 54, died Friday after a battle with cancer.

There are two leagues in Brick: the Bricktown Soccer Association, which has been in existence since 1971, and the Twin County Soccer Association, founded in 1978. And while there have been rivalries between the two clubs over the years, those rivalries fade into the grass like old field markings at times like these.

Last weekend, at the Bricktown Soccer Association fundraiser at Pinewood Park for Liam, teams from Twin County and Point Pleasant Soccer Club lent their support, with players of all ages chipping in $20 apiece to play in charity scrimmages, all to benefit Liam and his family. Families lined up to watch the games, purchase raffle tickets for gift baskets, and buy T-shirts while just enjoying the games for what they were: games.

And Tuesday, players and parents from the Bricktown Soccer Association joined those from Twin County, helping to fill the field at the Drum Point complex for Twin County’s efforts to make Irelyn’s first soccer game a day to remember. They chanted “I-RE-LYN! I-RE-LYN!” as she climbed out of the police cruiser, as Brick Township Patrolmen John Ziobro and Michael Miller gave Irelyn and her mother a police escort past a row of firetrucks from the Pioneer Fire Company lined up at the edge of the parking lot and onto the field for the game.

Downs was not forgotten either. Word of his death spread throughout Pinewood Park on Saturday, sparking impromptu trips down memory lane among those who knew him. On Tuesday, his presence was felt at Drum Point as well. As players prepared to take the field with Irelyn for her first soccer game, Brick High School girls soccer coach Mike Berardinelli presented her with her own Brick Dragons warmup shirt, which he said he was presenting on behalf of his team -- many of whom played for or were trained by Downs at some point.

“The girls wanted to be here but they also wanted to be at Darren’s service,” Berardinelli said, the emotion of the day visible in the careworn look on his face. “It’s been a tough day.”

But he smiled as he watched the little girl dart across the field to give her mother the jersey, so she could get to the business of playing the game.

The games played on Saturday and the game played Tuesday were the very essence of what is good about youth sports: played competitively, but with nothing more than a desire to play the game -- something Downs was passionate about, according to some.

“Darren was a person who did not judge his soccer success by the number of ‘plastic trophies’ or ‘cheap ribbons’ (his words) that the teams he worked may or may not have won,” was written in a post on the Twin County Soccer Association Facebook page in noting Downs’ death. “Darren cared intensely about how the game was played, focusing on development over a ‘winning at all costs’ mentality. He took pride in watching many of his players go on to play at higher levels in College and even in some pro leagues internationally...testament to the success of his approach to the game.”

You can bet Downs was smiling Saturday and Tuesday as he watched his soccer community come together. Scores weren’t important. Trophies weren’t awarded to the “winning” teams and the only MVPs were Liam and Irelyn (who did receive a trophy honoring her toughness throughout her illness).

And the smiles that Liam and Irelyn wore spoke volumes. She skipped around the field after scoring her first goal, the very embodiment of joy. Liam, who has been undergoing chemotherapy, was quieter, but he smiled when he was given a T-shirt emblazoned with “Liam’s Lady Warriors,” matching those worn by one of the teams participating in the fundraiser. He patiently accepted hugs from supporters of all ages, and kept flashing a smile every time a camera was nearby.

The impact of both children on those who came out to support them was clear in the teary eyes of the grown men flanking the fields, playing in the games and posing for the camera.

“To see her out there running, it was just awesome,” Shannon, Irelyn’s mother, said as she held balloons for her daughter. “It’s everything I dreamed it would be.”

“I’m absolutely floored by community spirit of something like this,” Marty Marino said.

And that community -- its love, its generosity, its willingness to take care of those in need and its ability to draw the greater community around it to the cause -- is one of the very best reasons that youth sports and activities exist.

Liam and Irelyn both face difficult battles, but they and their families know they are not alone.

(PHOTO: The Brick soccer community has rallied around Liam and Irelyn as the two children face fierce battles for their health. Credit: Karen Wall)

See more photos from the two events on the Brick Patch page on Facebook.

Warriors For Liam-- Charity Soccer Games -- click here.

Irelyn Gets Her Soccer Wish -- click here.