Haverford Soccer Club hosts Orio Palmer Intramural Festival

By Tricia Woodman

The beautiful Columbus Day weekend was a perfect setting for a soccer festival hosted by Haverford Soccer Club at the Haverford Reserve. Over 400 players from HSC's U8 and U9 intramural teams were invited to celebrate the season by playing in four games over the course of the weekend at the Township’s newest field complex.
With spectators that included parents, grandparents and extended families, children played games and had the opportunity to participate in mini-clinics that took place throughout each day on ball skills and goal keeping. Both the turf and sod fields were utilized. There was a moonbounce for children to enjoy as well as a refreshment stand hosted by Haverford High School's girls' soccer booster club. T-shirts were sold and a 50/50 raffle was held to raise money to sponsor area firefighters doing stair climb races in Center City.

The festival atmosphere was evident as the focus of the games was on enjoying the day and one another's company. Team standings were not kept, and the emphasis was on having fun.
Sean Sharkey, a U8 boys coach, said, "The kids had a blast. I hope this becomes an annual event."
Noreen Farkas, whose son Jack plays for the U8 Blue Busters, was very pleased with the festival.
"Our son has been dragged around to so many of his sister's travel soccer games that he was thrilled that he would get to play soccer four times in one weekend!" Parent Joan Naehr agreed that her daughter and her teammates, "really enjoyed themselves." A Recreation Department official said that one thing he noticed at the festival was that everybody was smiling as they were leaving.
The Orio Palmer Intramural Festival was named for Orio Palmer, a hero and a NYC firefighter who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Remembered for getting higher and further than any other rescue personnel, Orio reached the 78th floor of the second tower before it fell. Relatives of victims who died on the 78th floor credit Orio Palmer with giving hope to their loved ones before they perished. Orio Plamer was also a fitness buff whose motto was, "live life while you're alive." HSC's organizers thought his courage and zest for life made him an appropriate role model for this tournament.
Haverford Soccer Club hopes that the festival's success over Columbus Day weekend will be the first of many more to come. The Club intends to make the festival an annual event, and looks forward to giving intramural players the opportunity participate in this type of event each year. Organizer Michael Gove lost track of how many positive emails he received about the event after it was over. As fall soccer winds down, the teams who participated will certainly count this as a highlight of their season.