BY BERNADETTE SUKLEY

Special to The Press

Beautiful weather and a reduction in stay-at-home restrictions are bringing people out to enjoy Ontelaunee Park.

There are now more and more people walking along the park’s nature trails.

One trail always seems to be muddy and, no matter what the weather, the mud kept people away.

Enter the Northwestern Lehigh High School Soccer Team’s Booster Club.

All members of the 2020 soccer team came out to the park to build a bridge over the muddy mess on the trail.

Co-presidents Michelle Smeltz and Anne Baker, carried on the tradition of soccer players providing community service.

“It’s a way of giving back to the community that has supported us no matter what the circumstances,” Smeltz and Baker said. “It started off as a philanthropic idea and it’s now we look for ways to give back to the community.

“We try to see where there is a need.”

For the team members and parents, it’s not just about the kids playing a sport. The team is more than that.

“Some of these kids, I’ve known since elementary school,” Soccer dad Pete Zellner, of Core Structures Inc., said. “It’s about growing up together and being a part of something that’s bigger.”

Volunteering is not just another chore for the team. The kids and parents give their time willingly.

“It’s good for the community and it’s a team-building effort,” sophomore Luke Benvin said.

Sophomore Connor Brady added his thoughts.

“It definitely feels good to give back to the community,” Brady said, adding the bridge is something everyone can use.