Competitive kindness: St. Charles North football team plans to give back

There are a variety of ways to pull a football team closer together in the summer months.

St. Charles North uses an interesting method — a competition to create the best charitable act.

It's called Selflessness Week, has been happening for 10 years or so, and the idea is simple: Eight platoons of players must create, develop and execute a service project, then the coaches pick a winner based on impact and creativity.

Obviously, some projects are more selfless than others.

“We've had kids do things like clean the stables at the Kane County Fairgrounds,” North Stars coach Rob Pomazak said. “Help elderly folks clean their house or do yard work. We've had groups give blood.”

Is there a project from the past that deserves recognition as the greatest good deed of Selflessness Week? Tough to say, since there's not really a bad way to give back.

“We had a group of kids go to the county office and adopt Red Gate Road for the football team; did all the paperwork,” Pomazak said. “Then they went out and cleaned the sides of the road with their yellow jackets on. That's a lot of work. But there's still a sign up now, and we go clean it once a year as a team.”

The high school is located on Red Gate Road, by the way, so classmates will know if it starts looking untidy.

This process begins in the spring, when anyone interested in heading a platoon goes through leadership training. Eventually eight platoon leaders are chosen and a draft is held to divide sophomores through seniors into the eight groups.

“In order to be a captain on our team, you have to be a platoon leader,” Pomazak said. “So this is kind of like a dry run. Are they fit to be a captain? Because we only name four, and we have eight platoons.”

Senior linebacker Miguel Mendoza had already been through the process twice, so being named a platoon leader came with some pressure. His group thought about helping at an animal shelter but couldn't connect. So they picked up trash at Pottawatomie Park near downtown St. Charles.

“You see the joy in giving back to the community,” Mendoza said. “We ran into a bunch of pedestrians and they were like, 'This is awesome,' or they were encouraging us. It's just an awesome feeling when you get the approval of residents, seeing 20 guys cleaning up trash.”

This project resulted in a cleaner park, but it did not win.

Senior lineman Jonathan Medina believes connecting with the community can create more fans, which in turn helps the team on Friday nights. He was in the same boat this summer, having been through Selflessness Week a couple times, and now in charge of developing a plan.

“This year my platoon, we volunteered for Feed My Starving Children,” Medina said. “The year before that, we ran a lemonade stand and raised like $500 to donate to charity. You always want the community to feel like they're a part of it. I think it also helps with the team chemistry.”

This project also did not win.

The platoon known as Goon Squad, led by quarterback Landon Conroy took top honors this year. They prepared lunches and donated them to the Lazarus House shelter.

“They actually bought food and had their whole platoon at someone's house, working in the kitchen,” Pomazak said. “They donated like 300 meals.”

Not every platoon can win, but in this game, there are no losers.

That changes next Friday when St. Charles North opens the season at home against Minooka.