17-year-old soccer star's abilities and compassion propel her mission to help the less fortunate at home and abroad
by Timothy Rutt
Soccer and her big heart have taken Altadena's Casey Cousineau on a journey around the world.
The Flintridge Prep senior, 17, has played soccer almost her entire life -- from AYSO games as a youngster to club soccer since about age 10. As a player, she has traveled to Kenya and Sweden.
But as someone who is concerned with others, she has also gone to Nepal and South Africa to volunteer in public medicine. And many know her as "Coach Casey," who coaches teams of disabled adolescents and adults for the Special Olympics. In fact, her work with the Special Olympics made her the West Coast regional winner of the Lovin' Scoopful ice cream "Lovin' Compassion Award."
Lovin' Scoopful is a premium ice cream company founded by Maria Shriver, Tim Shriver, and partners to benefit nonprofits that support those with intellectual challenges. Twenty-five percent of the company's profits are donated to the Special Olympics. The "Lovin' Compassion" awards recognize "young visionaries from around the country who are involved in programs that foster respect, inclusion and a true personal connection for people with differences."
In Casey's case, one of the parents of her athletes nominated her for the award, which was announced in May. Casey said she received $250 from Lovin' Scoopful to be donated to a charity of her choice.
How did she get involved in Special Olympics?
"I heard about an opportunity to help out and coach about five years ago, and it just grew from there," Cousineau said. "I would be leading groups, running practices, and taking item to regional events."
Her players come from group homes around Altadena and Pasadena, and range in age from high school to grown adults. The teams practice for big meets in Pomona and Claremont, but Flintridge Prep also hosts a day of Special Olympics.
How did she get interested in moving from soccer player to soccer teacher? "I've been fortunate enough from club soccer to be an ambassador to Kenya," Cousineau said. "I was sent there when going into ninth grade as a member of the Pasadena community with two other women with (World Cup and Olympic soccer star) Lorrie Fair."
The women went to Kenya as part of WISER (Women's Institute for Secondary Education), which operates a girl's school at Muhuru Bay at Lake Victoria, a region that suffers great poverty, high rates of HIV infection, and a surfeit of poor, undereducated women, who are not valued culturally. The idea was "to take soccer to other countries, and let it speak for itself," Cousineau said. Teaching girls to play soccer "was instrumental in changing the gender norms for these communities."
She's also traveled to Nepal to help at the Bright Futures Foundation's Bhotechaur Health Clinic, a rural clinic serving a large population in the Himalyan foothills; and was in South Africa last summer to help in an AIDS education project. "They send mobile units into 12 different schools, and educate these students about health and how to take care of themselves, sex ed class, it's really an amazing organization."
She's also been to Sweden -- but that was just to play soccer.
While she has one more year at Flintridge Prep, she's already preparing for the road ahead. "I really want to go to the east coast and play soccer in college," Cousineau said. "I'm committed for soccer to Dartmouth, fingers-crossed-that-nothing-happens. I'm super-excited … they actually offer an abroad program for athletes and everyone, so I'm going back to Africa."
Coach Casey is ready to take on the world: "it's really cool to take what I know about life in third world countries and kind of just transform it and take it to a different level -- not just teaching soccer, but trying to affect more changes."
