Breakers Captain Joins Local Soccer Lovers in Fighting AIDS

Leslie Osborne missed Wellesley’s inaugural 24 Hours of Barefoot Soccer last year. With her Boston Breakers in the midst of a Women’s Professional Soccer postseason run, the enthusiastic supporter just couldn’t make it. But when the Breakers were knocked out of the playoffs early, last week, Osborne decided to make the anti-AIDS fundraiser the kickoff to her offseason.

“I met Ethan Zohn, one of the founders of Grassroot Soccer,” Osborne said, referring to the nonprofit Wellesley’s soccer marathon benefitted. “What he started doing is special. My connection is with kids, and I really believe in what he’s doing.”

Since 2002, Grassroot Soccer has used the game as a tool to teach children in Africa about AIDS prevention. It costs $25 to enroll a child in Grassroot’s one-year program, so 24 Hours of Barefoot Soccer charged each player $25 to participate.

From 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday, local soccer lovers played in shifts at Hunnewell Field. The only cleats were the ones tossed into a donation bin for African children; the players went barefoot in solidarity with kids who can’t afford footwear.

“It’s actually kind of nice because it slows down the pace,” said James Palacino, who was accompanied by his daughter, Nicole, and members of his “over-the-hill” soccer league. “It’s good when there are people of all different ages.”

The round-the-clock event actually peaked at midnight, when 70 people were playing at once, organizers said. Participation dwindled to 11 in the wee hours of the morning, but there was always a game in progress.

A giant clock leaned against a tree, facing Washington Street, kept the time. Even at hour 21, there were still 30 players kicking around the ball.

24 Hours of Barefoot Soccer was the inspiration of Owen Diana, a junior on Wellesley High’s soccer team, whose interest in African soccer grew after the World Cup last summer. Diana’s father, Peter, took the lead putting together a fundraiser, though he didn’t know what to expect the first year.

“We weren’t sure if people would show up,” Peter Diana said, laughing at the memory.

Plenty did. Even with a storm that caused a one-day postponement, the first 24 Hours of Barefoot Soccer raised roughly $10,000, enough to pay for about 400 kids’ education with Grassroot Soccer. This year’s tally was incomplete, as of Sunday, but Diana said earlier that the second fundraiser was ahead of last year’s pace.

“Some people showed up and wrote checks for 200, 300 dollars,” Diana said. “Way more than the registration fee.”