Local student heads effort to send soccer balls to Iraq

By Hugh Rist For the News & Messenger
Published: November 12, 2008

While American soldiers work feverishly to help Iraqis establish a free and independent nation, their families stay behind with the sacrifice of separation one of their only contributions to the cause.
So when Army Master Sergeant Anthony Davis informed his daughter Diana, a Forest Park senior, that children in Iraq were living in poor conditions, she was eager to be able to do something.
Besides collecting school supplies for the children, Diana Davis decided she wanted to do even more, something that would help her share her love for soccer with those less fortunate. The result was an effort to collect used soccer balls and send them to Iraq.
Davis spoke with Alex Hall, general manager of MaxTouch Soccer Academy in Woodbridge, where Davis, who has played travel soccer since the age of six, has taken soccer lessons for the past couple years and the academy decided to help her with the effort.
“When my dad told me there were kids over there playing soccer with balls that were low quality and some even had holes in them, I knew I had to do something,” Diana Davis said. “Considering soccer has enabled me to find my niche, learn so much, and make most of my friends, I felt it was z, even if I didn’t know them.”
Davis said she has made two shipments of about 40 balls each since mid-September, but she and Max Touch are looking to do much more.
The project is still in its early stages, Hall said, but the public as well as local businesses are encouraged to get involved. MaxTouch has a collection box, which Hall said was generously donated by Sam’s Club, outside of its facility at 14001 Crown Court in Woodbridge (behind BJ’s) where interested donors can drop off soccer balls. The balls do not have to be inflated, since they will have to be deflated for shipping anyway, Hall said.
“We haven’t really set a goal (for the project) or put a number on it,” Hall said. “But I think it would be nice if we could donate at least 100,000 balls. On second thought, we really don’t want to put a limit on it. We will be collecting from now until well into the spring and even longer if demand warrants it.”
Davis’ father Anthony, who said he would like to put pictures and recordings of the deliveries by his unit, the Military Transition Team, on its website, http://www.mustangmitt.org, said in an email that he was proud of his daughter’s idea, which he says was born out of a desire for her to give him something to remember her by.
“She decided to focus on the children under age 13 and asked me if they liked soccer,” Anthony Davis said. “When I said yes, she started by donating her old balls from around the house and asking her friends to donate theirs as well. I asked her what she thought about partnering with the MaxTouch organization and she ran with it from there.”
Hall said any interested individuals or businesses wishing to donate or help with shipping are invited to contact him at 703-670-5801 or http://www.maxtouchsoccer.com.