PAL Kicks Off Soccer In Fair Haven

“What are we?” Fair Haven Patrol Officer and newly minted Police Activity League (PAL) Soccer Coach Frantzy Toussaint asked his 15 students.

Having braved drills, laps, and games in high-80 degree weather, they proudly responded, ​“Soccer players!”

The students-turned-soccer players are the first participants in a new recreational soccer program being piloted in Fair Haven by Ward 14 Alder Sarah Miller in collaboration with PAL, a police department program aimed at providing athletic opportunities to youth and building relationships between law enforcement and the New Haven community.

PAL’s recent involvement in Fair Haven was inspired in part by the Clifford Beers Community Care Center’s Community School Initiative, which places emphasis on expanding extracurricular opportunities for New Haven Public School (NHPS) students.

While the program is mainly targeted at 8- to 12-year-olds, PAL currently accepts students as young as five.

Currently, New Haven hosts one district soccer team for the entire city. While the city also offers basketball through the New Haven Heat Basketball Family, ​“they live and breathe soccer out here in Fair Haven, so we needed to create an outlet for them to play,” according to Miller.

The program, which started July 9, is set to run every Tuesday through July 30. This week’s practice was pushed to Thursday afternoon due to high temperatures earlier in the week. That did not stop a few kids from still turning up, which Toussaint had prepared for and waited in the parking lot to deliver the disappointing news.

Toussaint, who is Haitian, has been playing soccer for as long as he can remember. Growing up in Stamford, he played US-Youth 16 before moving on to compete with Brazil-Youth 16, one of the top international youth soccer teams.

“I started coaching at the Boys & Girls Club in Stamford. We started with three kids and grew to about 500. I want to get these kids busy and out of the house, so that’s why I worked with the alders to make this happen,” said Toussaint.

“Also, when I was on patrol out here, I never saw kids playing soccer. I was surprised, because there are so many Latino families in Fair Haven, and this is their culture, man!” he said.

He jogged out into the field, giving his first empowering speech of the day. ​“When coach tells you to do something, say ​‘I can!’”

“Even I’m feeling inspired,” said Miller, who watched from the sidelines with Ward 15 Alder Frank Redente.

“Kids need these support figures so they don’t get lost. PAL is actually what got me involved with youth sports in New Haven,” Redente said. Having raised his son in Fair Haven as a single father, Redente is grateful for the support and resources the nonprofit provides.

“The only way to keep them off the street is to keep them active. Unfortunately, the arts and sports are always the first to get cut when we lose funding, yet the kids are the ones who hurt the most. We need to restore funding levels so that more spaces around New Haven can imitate this.”

“Are you ready?” asked Toussaint.

“Yes, Coach!”

Starting at 4:30 p.m., the next hour and a half flew by as kids ran drills, including toe taps, dribbling, and weaving soccer balls through cones.

When asked about their experiences, the kids were quick to answer so they could get back to practice.

“Vamanos!” said one, who was eager to make the fastest lap time during the team’s cool down.

“Water!” said another, who had given it her all during the last game.

In conclusion, two players agreed that it was ​“fantastic.”

From the sidelines, Officer Cesar Gutierrez, who played baseball at Wilbur Cross High School and went on to play for Eastern Connecticut State University, recalled having a keen interest in sports but no knowledge of PAL until he joined NHPD six years ago.

“Before Covid, we had, like, 300 kids, and now we don’t have more than 120 kids. School Resource Officers and PAL really took a hit,” he said. ​“We used to have a boxing gym in Fair Haven, but the owner left. We still have basketball, hockey, a chess team, jiu jitsu…”

Soccer, being the latest addition to PAL’s offerings in Fair Haven, required making the most of resources already available to the program. ​“Sometimes, Toussaint will have to be held over two shifts just so he can be here to coach,” said Gutierrez. Unlike Toussaint, who is a patrol officer, Gutierrez is a School Resource Officer (SRO) at Hillhouse High School.

When school is not in session, the SROs help with staffing New Haven’s summer camp, which is being hosted at Wilbur Cross.

Across the field under the shade of the water tent, SROs Patricia Lamb, Gabrielle Curtis, and Alethea Moore manned two coolers — one filled with red Gatorade, the other mistakenly filled with diluted Gatorade — during breaks every ten minutes.

The trio chatted about everything from summer camp gossip (Curtis noticed two ten-year-old campers putting on lipstick to impress their crushes) to current political happenings.

Gutierrez eventually joined them, debating Moore over the SRO position at Hillhouse. Moore took over for Gutierrez in December while he recovered from surgery, and has since become a favorite among Hillhouse’s students.

“As you can see, they both really love it over there. We all enjoy what we do.”

As SRO’s, their responsibilities include ​“mediations between students, ensuring their safety, facilitating meetings with parents … Our top three priorities are the students’ safety, building positive relationships with them, and just having a good time,” according to Lamb, who has been with the NHPD for five years and is currently placed at Wilbur Cross.

“I grew up just down the street from here, actually,” said Lamb, gesturing down James Street. ​“We’re four girls, so we kept ourselves busy, but it would have been nice to know about PAL.”

A product of Wilbur Cross and Post University, Lamb is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the school system that raised her. ​“It’s really rewarding to come back and serve the kids. They’re such a blast to work with.”

The group was interrupted by a line of thirsty soccer players, who were relieved to grab a cool glass of gatorade after playing an intense game. Lamb flipped between Spanish and English effortlessly as she greeted each player.

While still in its early stages, Miller hopes the soccer program will extend into the school year as an afterschool league. By training current parents as assistant coaches and growing the program, PAL will have the extra support it needs to run practices year-round.

“I think it will help students get through the day knowing that they get to play for the Fair Haven soccer team.”