FERGUS – When Pat Espina was invited to the final Centre Wellington Rotary Club event, he had no idea he was being honoured for over a decade of volunteer work in his community.
Moving to Fergus from Chile in 1989, Espina, also known as Coach Pat, recently received the citizen's award and was named a Paul Harris Fellow by the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International and the Rotary Club of Centre Wellington for his decades of volunteer work with the Fergus-Elora and District Soccer's (FEDS) Special Needs Soccer program.
"It's pretty amazing. The truth is, I didn't know anything about it ... and next thing you know they're doing their speeches and then this guy comes up saying we have this special award," said Espina. "I was really honoured about it ... I thought I was just going for a beer."
A program geared towards youth and adults with intellectual and/or physical challenges, Espina said FEDS Special Needs Soccer is intended to create an environment where people with special needs can develop basic soccer skills while meeting new friends, being active and having fun.
This year the program has 39 members from across Wellington County. Player's ages range from 14 to 67.
"It's really amazing. You just want to be there," said Espina. "And then you watch these people do what they do and they come out every week and they do incredible things with sometimes completely unexpected results but it's incredible and really rewarding."
Created in 2009 in partnership with his wife Irene, the Special Needs Soccer program was inspired by one of Espina's three daughters, Michelle, who had Williams Syndrome and passed away shortly after graduating high school.
Post-graduation, Espina said he and his wife, Irene noticed "there was nothing there for (Michelle) to do" and it was "very difficult" to find activities geared towards adults with special needs.
As he and Irene are already "very comfortable" around people with special needs, Espina said he wanted to start a soccer program to help anyone living with similar conditions find community outside the school system no matter their age.
"So we had an adult coming out of high school and they didn't fit anywhere anymore because the programs are really based for the kids and youth. That's what brought me to start the program," said Espina. "The key was to make it for adults so they could now have a place to go and experience something different."
While Espina said he did experience some uncertainty when he originally pitched the program because some board members "were scared," he continued to fight because he felt it was important to have the program available for anyone in the community who might have experienced similar struggles to his family.
"When you got out there on a Wednesday evening...you see (our members) happy. You see them smiling. Some of them are freaking out but overall, they're just making friends and playing soccer and getting some exercise," said Espina. "I always think if they were not here, they'd be stuck sitting on a couch all day watching TV or something."
When asked what keeps him volunteering with the group, Espina said he and his fellow coaches love seeing the players "forget about everything else" when they run onto the field.
"For me, I never really think of it as volunteering," said Espina. "I feel it's a good thing for me, my family and the community and that's kind of what drives me to continue."
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
