Grass Roots After School Soccer Program (GRASSP): Building a Sense of Belonging at Washington Elementary

SALEM, Ore. – Washington Elementary School was one of the original GRASSP schools that started in 2010. Led by coaches Kaylyn Okerstrom and Rosalba Diaz-Ruiz, Washington’s GRASSP team has a reputation amongst families for positively impacting student engagement. The two coaches are fantastic individuals who are passionate about helping youth prosper in life.

Kaylyn has been a blessing to Washington since 2017 where she started as a 5th grade teacher before her current role as a Behavior Specialist. Originally from Hawaii, Kaylyn started playing soccer at age four. She continued playing at an elite level through high school, and eventually made her way to Oregon where she competed at Corban University. After a lifetime of playing soccer, Kaylyn began coaching high school and spent a season coaching at Corban. Today, Kaylyn leads a Girl’s Academy team at CFC and is dedicated to the GRASSP team at Washington Elementary.

“GRASSP is so much fun,” says Kaylyn. “It makes me feel happy because I don’t need to worry about competitiveness. It’s more about the kids coming together, and having them call me coach is amazing.” 

She expressed gratitude for the role GRASSP plays at school when she shared, “Students build a sense of school pride. It’s not that we’re winning or losing, but a privilege or opportunity for trying their best. They’re motivated to do well in school because of the responsibility of GRASSP.” 

Coach Rosalba echoed her colleague’s sentiment and shared how parents would return to Washington years later and express how the GRASSP experience inspired the students to pursue soccer in high school. 

“The parents love it. Parents at Washington request to learn more about GRASSP because they’ve heard from other families about the positivity it brings to the children.”

Washington is fortunate to have Rosalba, who has been helping with GRASSP since 2010 and serves as Washington’s CSOC (Community School Outreach Coordinator). 

Before GRASSP started, Rosalba remembers using soccer as a vehicle for change with her husband at Waldo Middle School in 2001. During this time, Waldo had a lot of gang activity and Rosalba’s husband suggested the two of them start a soccer program. 

Rosalba remembered, “My husband asked, ‘Why don’t we start a soccer program for the kids?’ We suggested that the kids must behave, and they enjoyed practice. At the time, the students weren’t making a connection to high school because of behavior and grades.” Rosalba’s joy for student success is one of her most rewarding aspects of GRASSP. 

Kaylyn and Rosalba run weekly practices for their team. Students look forward to soccer and it helps their motivation to try their best in class and have good attendance. The positive environment gives youth a common interest in soccer to work on challenges together and represent Washington while competing in seasonal jamborees or tournaments. 

“The kids learn to understand how a team works, what it takes to be committed, and how it links to character in school,” Kaylyn shared. 

Each year, GRASSP uses 10 core values with mini lessons to help educate students on positive sportsmanship. When Rosalba was asked about how the core values impact learning moments, Rosalba remembered how to be authentic when teaching the core values, “You have to believe in them yourself.” 

GRASSP is important to our school communities because at-risk youth typically do not have traditional capacity-building opportunities and often live with a disrupted education. Youth in this situation are at risk for dropping out of school, joining gangs, and/or going to prison later in life. GRASSP aims to stop this trend before it is able to begin. Soccer serves as a life-line to help youth take positive steps towards lifelong success. By stepping in early while youth are young, GRASSP coaches are able to help lay the educational and soft-life skills foundations that will ultimately help these youth stay on a more positive path than they once thought possible. 

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Interesting in learning more about GRASSP? Contact Mike Cowan at mike.c@cfcsalem.com.

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