Ithaca College men’s soccer gives back to local youth 

The Ithaca College men’s soccer team has gotten off to a strong start, going unbeaten through the first four games of the season. The Bombers have excelled both on and off the pitch, giving back to the local soccer community in multiple ways.

On September 9, the team held its first-ever “Field Day” at Cass Park. The event was a free soccer clinic for the local youth to participate in drills and games. The Bombers and head coach Garret Eldridge came up with the idea last spring, and he has made it a point of emphasis for his program to be more involved in the community this year.

“In looking at our program over the last few years, one of the things that we really wanted to focus on this year was giving back and being really grateful,” Eldridge said. “We’re extremely lucky here at Ithaca College that we have student-athletes from all over the country that come from a bunch of different backgrounds, and we really wanted to give back to the community… It was really fun and really good to see all their smiling faces. It’s just nice for our guys to feel connected with the community.”

Over 80 people registered for the event and were broken up into eight age groups. The younger groups did more basic drills, while the older groups took part in more advanced drills. Eldridge could tell everybody involved had an absolute blast.

“The biggest thing was that they had fun  and were able to really connect with our guys,” Eldridge said. “It seemed like a lot of them really enjoyed just being around the players.”

The clinic was held in partnership with the Ithaca Youth Bureau Recreation Department, with the bureau celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. This isn’t the first time the team has collaborated with the department. During every home game this season, kids from the Ithaca Youth Bureau are walking out to the field with the players for the national anthem. The kids get to watch the game, have pizza, and get a signed note from the entire team.

“It’s just a little note to keep going and to hopefully enjoy sports so much that they potentially could play in college, if that’s something they wanted to do,” Eldridge said. “It’s really to encourage them to continue in the sport that they’re playing. I think them being here and being able to walk out with our guys is fantastic. It’s a really good experience both for our players and then also for the [Ithaca] Youth Bureau kids, as well.”

While the Bombers’ roster spans the entire country, two of the players are from Tompkins County: Trumansburg’s Conor Baird and Ithaca’s Ikey Borden. Eldridge knows how much being involved with the local community has meant to them in particular, knowing that not too long ago, they were once in the cleats of the kids who attended their clinic.

“They’ve seen both sides of [Ithaca], growing up here and seeing some of the wealth but also seeing people that are living paycheck to paycheck and really just want their kids to get an experience of playing sports,” Eldridge said. “For those guys that have seen that and been involved in that, they were super excited to give back and to see faces that potentially were them just 10 years ago… There is a lot of pride in our program in the town, and we hope to be a program that the town really gets behind as much as the school here. We really want to be the town’s team.”

Eldridge has been with the program since 2018, where he was an assistant coach for two seasons until being promoted as head coach. Over the past five years, Eldridge has seen first-hand what makes the area an ideal place for soccer to thrive.

“Soccer is so small,” Eldridge said. “If you go anywhere in the world and you go play a pickup game, I found that somehow, you know somebody that somebody played with. It’s just all connected, and I think it’s the same around here. There’s just so many good players. There’s so many great connections. I think having two large universities who both have a real history of success in soccer—both men’s and women’s, both here and Cornell—certainly helps that. The same goes for Lansing High School. They’ve won state championships. Trumansburg and Ithaca High School have developed great players. I think it’s just the history of success and the history of people that grew up playing and then have stayed around the area to give back to the community.”

The “Field Day” was such a success that the Bombers are looking to hold another clinic in the spring. Until then, the team continues to strengthen its relationship with the Ithaca Youth Bureau Recreation Department. Every Sunday, the players will become referees and officiate the kids’ games.