Wellesley United

"Wellesley United Community Comes Together to Share Love of Soccer"

Wellesley United Soccer Club recently had the privilege of joining forces with former Wellesley United family, the Castles, to bring cleats and equipment to some local soccer clubs in Costa Rica. When Heather and Willy Castle moved to Costa Rica in 2021, they realized that many of the players on their childrens' soccer teams did not have suitable uniforms or proper equipment. Heather reached out to WPL Director, Lewis Wright, and asked if the Wellesley United community would be able to partner with some local clubs to donate equipment, cleats, and uniforms. Lewis took on the challenge and conducted a cleat and equipment drive at Sprague fields. The response from the Wellesley families was enormous and the event was a massive success. Heather's family all pitched in and immediately got to work organizing and then distributing the donations. 

Heather says “Once in Brasalito (where we live), we gave about half of the equipment to Andrea Zanier, the coach of VillaReal Futbol and he distributed it to all ages.  The second half went to a coach in the small town of Llano. We talked to a lot of the people and learned that Llano's soccer team had minimal equipment.  We also gave about 10 pairs to Costa Rican employees in our community who have children playing Futbol.” 

Lewis Wright chimed in "What a pleasure it was to work with Heather and the Castle family on this project. We were delighted with the soccer community here in Wellesley and they came out to support a fantastic family and the new soccer community that they are playing in. After seeing the pics of the players in their WPL jersey it reminds me just how special the game of soccer can be in uniting people all over the world." 

We are proud of our generous community and are so happy that items could be put to such wonderful use. These players from Costa Rica are able to better reach their full potential, on and off the field, due to these generous donations. It will enable them to develop self-confidence and instill a true love for the game of soccer. The power of soccer can truly be a universal language that binds people together and we are thrilled to have played a part in positively impacting youth