Marshalltown, IA – The Marshalltown Community College men's soccer team spent Friday morning downtown assisting in the cleanup after the July 19 tornado that destroyed many homes and businesses. Downtown at 8:00 AM the team cleared debris from a rental property owned by Erin Weatherly.
"This is fantastic, we have rental properties all over town and it's a lot of work for us to clean, I am so glad Coach Martinez reached out," stated Weatherly. "This is one town and one big rebuild so having them out here and helping us is very appreciated."
Coach Martinez wanted to make sure his players understood what this community means to the team and wanted his players to have an appreciation for what took place before they arrived on campus.
"Today was an important day for our team," stated Martinez. "Once the student athletes get to campus its practice, eat, sleep and repeat. We had the opportunity to get off campus and get up town and help with the cleanup. We wanted to make it clear to our guys that the town of Marshalltown is important to us and we will do whatever we can to assist in the cleanup and the eventual rebuild."
While most of the athletes were not on campus during the July19 tornado, sophomore midfielder, Leonardo Tomasi was in Marshalltown. Tomasi spent the summer landscaping and getting to know the town like few other athletes get the chance to do.
"It's really important for us to get here and help these community members, not only because they support us but because this town has some amazing people," stated Tomasi. "Assisting them with their yard cleaning and picking up trees is nothing for us and they appreciate the help. We have thirty guys so something that would take them a few hours takes us about fifteen minutes."
The men's soccer team will get back to practice on Friday afternoon and will be in action on Wednesday, August 14 when they travel to William Penn University for a live scrimmage. The team will begin their regular season on Friday, August 24 when they travel to Carleton College and will play their Home Opener on Tuesday, August 28 against Hawkeye Community College. For more information and live updates of the men's soccer team, follow MCCTigers_MSOC on Twitter.
