Quakes, Verizon Partner for Adopt-A-Team

Arturo Alvarez 032710_Joe Nuxoll

The San Jose Earthquakes announced today they will participate in the Verizon Adopt-A-Team program for the second consecutive season.

The Verizon Adopt-A-Team program was created by both the San Jose Earthquakes and Verizon to reach out to Bay Area youth soccer teams. This year, a number of local teams will be adopted by an Earthquakes Soccer player. The player will stand in as the celebrity coach and mentor for the team and will participate in at least one practice or game for their adopted team.

The Adopt-A-Team program was created in an effort to prevent relationship abuse by engaging coaches to talk with their athletes about respect and non-violence. Coaches are poised to help their athletes build healthy relationships by positively influencing how they think and behave both on and off the field. The head coach of each team selected will participate in a one-hour informational class, led by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, that will address the prevalence of domestic violence and the many opportunities coaches have to impart their philosophies of respect, integrity, and non violence upon their athletes.

Adopt-A-Team is an extension of Verizon's HopeLine® program. Through HopeLine, Verizon collects no-longer used wireless phones, batteries and accessories from any wireless service provider at Verizon Communications Stores nationwide. HopeLine puts the nation's most reliable wireless network to work in our communities by turning these unused wireless phones into support for domestic violence survivors.