Living up to her goals

By Sean Ammerman

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008 | midnight

When Sherry Alexander played soccer as a teenager, high school competition wasn't an option.

Girls prep soccer wasn't introduced to the Las Vegas Valley until the early 1990s, so Alexander played with the best club teams in the city.

The idea of earning a college soccer scholarship wasn't even a notion in those days. Nevertheless, the Northwest Las Vegas native was determined to live her life around the sport she loved.

"Soccer is a base from where I start," she said. "Everything I do today started with my love of soccer."

Alexander, 45, works for Las Vegas as the coordinator for the Cimarron Rose Community Center. She is also the vice president for Nevada Youth Soccer.

The two jobs combine her passion for soccer and her love of working with children. She helped the soccer organization receive a $15,000 grant from the city for the "Hat Trick" program to benefit mid-to-low income soccer families.

"I look at children as a long-term investment," Alexander said. "Everything they do now will determine what kind of an adult they will be.

"Having been involved with both the city and the soccer program has helped us to form a partnership. The partnership is important, especially now with the budget cuts in the department of leisure services."

The program includes free soccer clinics, scholarships for the U.S. Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program and programs for training youth referees.

Nevada Youth Soccer has run programs in the community for years, however, since the grant was finalized in February, this the first year with extra funding.

"For us to get a $15,000 grant to fund these programs is huge," Alexander said. "Pretty much everyone in Nevada Youth Soccer is a volunteer, and we all put in our extra time and a lot of us put in our own money into these programs. For us to get a grant to help pay for it is phenomenal."

Alexander, a mother of three, continues to play in adult recreational leagues. She was introduced to soccer after her first sport, gymnastics, didn't work out.

"I went running down the mat, tried to do a round-off and my heel came around and hit my coach and broke his jaw," she said. "I never went back to gymnastics but I figured I was pretty good with my feet."

During her tenure at the Stupak Community Center near downtown Las Vegas, she has worked to introduce the sport to low income families.

Alexander's daughter, Dolly Rivera, learned the sport from her mother when she was a regular at the center.

Rivera, 15, entered the referee program and now training to play high school soccer at Cheyenne.

"The first game I did it was really difficult," she said. "I didn't play before I was a referee. Once I started to know the game better I got interested in it and fell in love with soccer."

The grant covers the cost of uniforms and licensing for age 14 to 18 youth who make up the referees.

The result is that more young adults have been able to make money through refereeing youth soccer, said Doreen Woodward, a referee coordinator for the organization.

"Sherry is in it for the kids," Woodward said. "She loves the game and wants to pass that on to younger players. It's wonderful that she was able to get us this grant."

Sean Ammerman is a reporter for the Home News. He can be reached at 990-2661 or [email protected].