Asst. Women's Soccer Coach Starts Charity
With the support of the whole team, Strides4kidz makes an effort to lend a helping hand
Issue date: 2/10/10 Section: Features
By Cathy Onorati
Rotunda Reporter
Strides4kidz is a group of individuals who want to help children in the community and around the world. But, at this point they are just starting out. Assistant Women's Soccer Coach Svetozar "Steve" Brdarski was inspired by Ashlee McConnell's brother. McConnell is a Longwood Alum and former member of the women's soccer team. Her brother Sgt. Andrew McConnell was killed in Afghanistan last year. On Brdarski's flight back from Andrew's funeral he thought to himself about the "impact Andrew had made and how he touched people's live and [he] started thinking about [his] own life and thinking that [he] could do more." When he got back to Longwood he sat down with his team and spoke with his friends about his desire to give back and do something more with his life. He began thinking of what he cared about the most and what he realized came as no shock to him. "I'm a coach and I've coached kids of all ages," Brdarski said showing his enthusiasm, "I'm passionate about kids." He was settled on the idea of helping children. "Strides4kidz was created because I wanted to do something fun and exciting that could help kids out."
Brdarski didn't want his charity to have a narrow focus. "A lot of charities are specific, not that there's anything wrong with that," He explained, "Every charity has a road that their on and it's pretty precise. But I wanted this to be open to take into account anything and everything." His passion for athletics and running sparked the name of the organization and with help from the soccer team they all came up with "Strides4kidz: Running miles to create little smiles." McConnell designed the logo that can be seen on the T-shirts. Brdarski said that McConnell doesn't know that her brother was the main inspiration for this group but that she does know he had a large part in it. "It's hard for me to talk about this because there's no concrete idea," Brdarski said, "I just want to help and Andrew's spirit is in this a lot."
Rotunda Reporter
Strides4kidz is a group of individuals who want to help children in the community and around the world. But, at this point they are just starting out. Assistant Women's Soccer Coach Svetozar "Steve" Brdarski was inspired by Ashlee McConnell's brother. McConnell is a Longwood Alum and former member of the women's soccer team. Her brother Sgt. Andrew McConnell was killed in Afghanistan last year. On Brdarski's flight back from Andrew's funeral he thought to himself about the "impact Andrew had made and how he touched people's live and [he] started thinking about [his] own life and thinking that [he] could do more." When he got back to Longwood he sat down with his team and spoke with his friends about his desire to give back and do something more with his life. He began thinking of what he cared about the most and what he realized came as no shock to him. "I'm a coach and I've coached kids of all ages," Brdarski said showing his enthusiasm, "I'm passionate about kids." He was settled on the idea of helping children. "Strides4kidz was created because I wanted to do something fun and exciting that could help kids out."
Brdarski didn't want his charity to have a narrow focus. "A lot of charities are specific, not that there's anything wrong with that," He explained, "Every charity has a road that their on and it's pretty precise. But I wanted this to be open to take into account anything and everything." His passion for athletics and running sparked the name of the organization and with help from the soccer team they all came up with "Strides4kidz: Running miles to create little smiles." McConnell designed the logo that can be seen on the T-shirts. Brdarski said that McConnell doesn't know that her brother was the main inspiration for this group but that she does know he had a large part in it. "It's hard for me to talk about this because there's no concrete idea," Brdarski said, "I just want to help and Andrew's spirit is in this a lot."
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