“The best thing you can do today is have fun,” Kerr said. “Put a smile on your face.”

After some encouragement from Kerr, teammates and the children there, Tornaritis began to show off his juggling skills to the delight of everyone. Grabbing the tiny size-two ball, Tornaritis displayed a number of the tricks he has up his sleeve, from the “Around the World” to the “Rainbow.” With every new move, the kids all smiled and a number got up to try out their own moves with the ball.

One of the children even found an interesting parallel to Tornaritis dazzling display: “It’s like a Harlem globetrotter version of soccer.”

Within half an hour, seven teams had made it through the afternoon traffic and were practicing and playing games all over the fields, normally reserved for intramural sports.

At times, the boys and girls—from seven different schools and dressed in full uniform from their shin guards to their jerseys—seemed to overwhelm the soccer players who had awaken early yesterday for morning practice. The kids ran all over the fields and sidelines playing and rooting for their teams as the Harvard players refereed.

“I had to take a nap today,” Altchek said. “But it’s a lot of fun mixing volunteer work with soccer.”

And throughout the afternoon, the players mixed having fun and getting involved with the children. Everyone on the sidelines, from the relatives of the children to their usual coaches, were smiling at the students and kids playing soccer, even though they sometimes weren’t involved with any of the soccer games.

On one field, a number of the players from the Harvard women’s team not only spent time showing the children how to shoot and play goal, but just ran around playing various different games with the laughing kids.

On another section of the intramural fields, freshman Charles Hamilton was explaining to a group of kids how to set up your shot. After two attempts in which he overshot the goal, teammate and classmate Colin Barclay asked the kids if they thought Hamilton could hit the back of next with his next attempt. Betting the kids 10 pushups, Hamilton explained the importance of leaning forward to keep the ball down and then pulled his shot wide. The seated kids broke out in laughter and counted as he fulfilled his part of the bargain.

Kerr then jumped into the fun.

“Hey kids, what position do you think Chaz plays?”

After the kids all screamed “back,” Kerr started laughing and replied, “You got it.”

The Crimson will be back out in their uniforms this Saturday at 11 a.m. playing against alumni on Ohiri Field.

But too bad for them, come next week they will be back out doors at 7 in the morning for off season practice. And this time, there won’t be any more children.

—Staff writer Gabriel M. Velez can be reached at gmvelez@fas.harvard.edu.