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The Pelham boys and girls soccer teams got a unique opportunity to partner with the Birmingham Legion and teach soccer skills to the greater Birmingham area as they ran a pregame skills clinic on the Protective Stadium pitch. (For the Reporter/Jeremy Raines)

By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

BIRMINGHAM – The lightning and rain may have tried to put a dampen on the evening, but that didn’t keep the Pelham Panthers from teaching soccer skills at a clinic ahead of the Birmingham Legion FC match at Protective Stadium on Saturday, July 27.

Both the boys and girls soccer teams received invitations from the Legion to run the clinic, and despite the weather, the Panthers deemed it a success as the players enjoyed teaching the large number of kids from all around the city who turned out.

“It’s kind of one of these trials, they wanted to just sign up for one and see how it went,” Pelham varsity boys soccer coach Patrick McDonald said. “And not only did we have great attendance from attendees, but also from our own staff and players interested. We’d be more than welcome to partner again and help them in that regard.”

The clinic ahead of the Legion’s match against Orange County SC was just the latest in a series of pregame skills clinics that the team has held this season. Like the others, any kids with a ticket to the match could come early to learn skills while playing on the Protective Stadium pitch.

However, unlike the others, this was the first clinic that an outside team led the stations and taught the attendees.

Previous clinics were led by the Legion’s two pre-professional teams, the men’s side Birmingham Legion 2 and women’s team Birmingham Legion WFC, both of which had Shelby County alumni like Spain Park’s Tatum Ahlemeyer, Chelsea’s Kaleb Bass and Briarwood Christian’s Matthias Leib on their 2024 rosters.

With the USL League 2 and USL W-League seasons ending in June though and local players preparing for their college seasons, that opened an opportunity for outside teams to help run the clinics, which led the Legion to connect with Pelham for the unique opportunity.

“When we were approached by the Legion, we definitely were interested,” McDonald said. “With the Birmingham Legion, there is name recognition with our families with what they represent, and it was a no-brainer that we wanted to partner and help them in any capacity.”

The Panthers players and coaches led the kids through four different stations: a shooting station using the Legion goal, a possession drill, a dribbling section and a passing station.

The goal was for the kids to rotate through all four stations, but because of the thunderstorms, they could only get through one rotation before going inside to weather the storm.

Despite the weather shortening the event, McDonald believed the event was a success because it helped the players interact with new people from outside the Pelham community and grow the game by teaching them.

“It was nice because usually when we put on skills clinics in Pelham, there’s a connection where maybe there’s brothers or there’s neighbors or there are church members that there’s already a local community tie, and these were children throughout Birmingham and the surrounding area.” McDonald said. “And even though there wasn’t that community kind of angle, for the Pelham players, that wasn’t an obstacle at all. At the end of the day, it was them sharing their knowledge of the game that they love and being able to help these children along their path of learning more about being a more complete soccer player.”

Their involvement helped grow Pelham’s brand as well through conversations with parents about not just the Panthers programs, but other clubs and schools where parents could trust their kids’ development to in their home communities.

“A couple of the parents while we’re in rain delay came up and they were not sure, all of our students were wearing Pelham gear, but they were like, ‘Is Pelham a club?” McDonald said. “And I was like, ‘No, we’re a high school in Shelby County,’ and then that brought a conversation of, ‘Oh, well, we’re looking for an area to play, something for my son and daughter,’ and then it became a situation where it was nice to say, ‘Well, you have a really outstanding club, or you have a really outstanding school in your area.’”

McDonald said that it was a successful team outing as both the boys and girls enjoyed teaching the kids and got to cap off the day by watching a 3-0 Legion win together. The teams enjoyed their time bonding together and hope to do it again.

“It was just nice to have the opportunity to interact over the sport we love, and the kids liked it,” McDonald said. “They were like, ‘Hey, I’ll do this again. I’d love to do this again,’ and the added benefit was even though the weather was not as ideal, the shower passed, and then the Legion took the field, started warming up, and then we were able to watch their game, and they played outstanding Saturday.”

The Legion will hold another youth clinic this Saturday, Aug. 3 from 4-5 p.m. ahead of their 6:30 p.m. match against Hartford Athletic at Protective Stadium. Any ticketholders can register online at Bhmlegion.com and check in between 3 and 4 p.m., and fans can get a free ticket by donating to the team’s school supply drive outside the stadium.

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