{
    "archive_path": "archive/1790719585.273679",
    "base_url": "cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field",
    "basename": "",
    "bookmarked_date": "2026-09-29 22:06",
    "canonical": {
        "archive_org_path": "https://web.archive.org/web/cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field",
        "dom_path": "output.html",
        "favicon_path": "favicon.ico",
        "git_path": "git/",
        "google_favicon_path": "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=cdispatch.com",
        "headers_path": "headers.json",
        "htmltotext_path": "htmltotext.txt",
        "index_path": "index.html",
        "media_path": "media/",
        "mercury_path": "mercury/content.html",
        "pdf_path": "output.pdf",
        "readability_path": "readability/content.html",
        "screenshot_path": "screenshot.png",
        "singlefile_path": "singlefile.html",
        "warc_path": "warc/",
        "wget_path": "cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/index.html"
    },
    "domain": "cdispatch.com",
    "extension": "",
    "hash": "S90G1ARS5GEV7BHX1XZW",
    "history": {
        "archive_org": [],
        "dom": [],
        "favicon": [
            {
                "cmd": [
                    "curl",
                    "--silent",
                    "--location",
                    "--compressed",
                    "--max-time",
                    "120",
                    "--output",
                    "favicon.ico",
                    "--user-agent",
                    "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                    "https://www.google.com/s2/favicons?domain=cdispatch.com"
                ],
                "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                "end_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:34.746713+00:00",
                "index_texts": null,
                "output": "favicon.ico",
                "pwd": "/data/archive/1790719585.273679",
                "schema": "ArchiveResult",
                "start_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:34.102089+00:00",
                "status": "succeeded"
            }
        ],
        "git": [],
        "headers": [
            {
                "cmd": [
                    "curl",
                    "--silent",
                    "--location",
                    "--compressed",
                    "--head",
                    "--max-time",
                    "120",
                    "--user-agent",
                    "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                    "https://cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/"
                ],
                "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                "end_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:35.058568+00:00",
                "index_texts": null,
                "output": "headers.json",
                "pwd": "/data/archive/1790719585.273679",
                "schema": "ArchiveResult",
                "start_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:34.752464+00:00",
                "status": "succeeded"
            }
        ],
        "htmltotext": [],
        "media": [],
        "mercury": [
            {
                "cmd": [
                    "/app/node_modules/@postlight/parser/cli.js",
                    "https://cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/"
                ],
                "cmd_version": "1.0.0",
                "end_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:46.570347+00:00",
                "index_texts": null,
                "output": "mercury",
                "pwd": "/data/archive/1790719585.273679",
                "schema": "ArchiveResult",
                "start_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:43.074026+00:00",
                "status": "succeeded"
            }
        ],
        "pdf": [],
        "readability": [
            {
                "cmd": [
                    "/app/node_modules/readability-extractor/readability-extractor",
                    "/tmp/tmpi1riok5e",
                    "https://cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/"
                ],
                "cmd_version": "0.0.11",
                "end_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:43.060229+00:00",
                "index_texts": [
                    "Kyndal Austin, left, a volunteer with Columbus Soccer Organization\u2019s Outreach Program for Soccer, poses for a photo with Wake Baucom, 8, at the Roger Short Soccer Complex in 2025. CSO\u2019s TOPSoccer program, an affiliate program of a national recreational sports effort for children and adults with intellectual, emotional, or physical disabilities to play soccer through local US Youth Soccer-affiliated soccer clubs, is kicking off its season Monday with 15 children participating at the Roger Short Soccer Complex. Photo Courtesy of Cindy Buob\t\n\t\t\tMallory Baucom will never forget the sound of the intercom announcing her 8-year-old son, Wake Baucom, as a player before a match last year at Roger Short Soccer Complex.\nBecause Wake has Down syndrome, Mallory said his entire life she has had to fight for his involvement and inclusion in school-related activities and recreational programs.\nBut last year, as part of the final game for the Columbus Soccer Organization\u2019s The Outreach Program for Soccer, a recreational sports program for children and adults with intellectual, emotional or physical disabilities to play soccer, Wake took center stage on the pitch and played games with the Mississippi University for Women\u2019s men\u2019s soccer team.\n\u201cWake loves attention,\u201d Mallory told The Dispatch. \u201cSo anytime his name is called on any kind of intercom, he is all for it. Just getting to see the joy and excitement on his face (that night), I just can\u2019t put that into words.\u201d\nTOPSoccer is a national program only offered through local U.S. Youth Soccer-affiliated soccer clubs and has been offered in the Columbus area since 2010, said Tom Velek, CSO director.\nVelek and his wife, Cindy Buob, originally led the effort to bring the program to the area to fill what they saw as a void in recreational sports offerings for children with disabilities.\n\u201cI believe very firmly that sports and athletics, particularly for youth, should not be dictated by ability or income,\u201d Velek said. \u201cIt is too transformative of an experience to say this group (isn\u2019t) going to be able to be involved because they have a little bit of a need, or this group can\u2019t be involved because they don\u2019t have the registration fee. So TopSoccer is an extension of that philosophy.\u201d\nGetting the ball rolling\nTOPSoccer, which was revived under CSO in 2018 after the dissolution of Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority, pairs anywhere from eight to 20 athletes with a \u201cbuddy\u201d or a volunteer who helps facilitate activities like passing a large soccer ball back and forth, shooting goals or moving the ball between cones, Buob said.\nVolunteers who join typically go through an hour-long training with either Velek or Buob and are given guidelines on the ins and outs of being a buddy.\nWhile the season this year was slightly delayed by a need for more volunteers, the program started the season Monday with a full pool of buddy volunteers to cover this year\u2019s athletes, said program volunteer Haley Lee, though additional volunteers are welcome.\nVolunteers are assigned their athlete and given basic descriptions of their disabilities, which are either physical or cognitive disabilities like wheelchair dependency or autism, for example.\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tCindy Buob, a volunteer with Columbus Soccer Organization\u2019s Outreach Program for Soccer, speaks with a group of six program volunteers Thursday during a training session at the Frank P. Phillips Memorial YMCA. Each year, between eight and 20 physically or cognitively disabled children participate in CSO\u2019s five-week TOPSoccer program, which includes games like passing a large soccer ball back and forth, shooting goals or moving the ball between cones, Buob said. Braden Simmons/Dispatch Staff\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\nAll costs for the program, from field setup to medals and photos to team jerseys, are covered for participants.\nMallory Baucom said that, for her, beyond the cost of the program being covered, the volunteer pairings each season always put her at ease.\n\u201cIf it weren\u2019t for the buddies, it just wouldn\u2019t be possible for Wake,\u201d Baucom said. \u201cHe likes to (run off), so I would stay on anxiety mode and try to make sure he\u2019s not running off, and (with the volunteers there) I\u2019m just able to sit in my chair and watch.\u201d\nHughes Oglesby, a freshman at New Hope High School who participated as a buddy last season, said he enjoys helping players experience the joys of a sport without having to worry about their disability posing a hurdle.\n\u201c(During) their day-to-day lives, they\u2019re not always in the spotlight,\u201d Oglesby said. \u201cBut when they come to this, it really makes them feel like they\u2019re seen.\u201d\nVelek said when volunteers sign up, they often think in terms of the impact they will have on the children, but in reality that impact goes both ways.\n\u201cWorking with these kids \u2026 it bridges the gap between \u2026 children without special needs, who have never engaged with a kid with special needs, and all of a sudden they have this realization that these kids are not that much different than me,\u201d Velek said. \u201c\u2026 In the end they\u2019re just kids who want to have a good time. \u2026 So it\u2019s a hugely impactful program, particularly for the young people who work with the program in the role of buddies.\u201d\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n      \n      \n        Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community."
                ],
                "output": "readability",
                "pwd": "/data/archive/1790719585.273679",
                "schema": "ArchiveResult",
                "start_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:40.986329+00:00",
                "status": "succeeded"
            }
        ],
        "screenshot": [],
        "singlefile": [],
        "title": [
            {
                "cmd": [
                    "curl",
                    "--silent",
                    "--location",
                    "--compressed",
                    "--max-time",
                    "120",
                    "--user-agent",
                    "Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) curl/curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                    "https://cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/"
                ],
                "cmd_version": "curl 8.14.1 (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)",
                "end_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:40.979897+00:00",
                "index_texts": null,
                "output": "TOPSoccer gives children with disabilities a place on the field - The Dispatch",
                "pwd": "/data/archive/1790719585.273679",
                "schema": "ArchiveResult",
                "start_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:40.954416+00:00",
                "status": "succeeded"
            }
        ],
        "wget": [
            {
                "cmd": [
                    "wget",
                    "--no-verbose",
                    "--adjust-extension",
                    "--convert-links",
                    "--force-directories",
                    "--span-hosts",
                    "--no-parent",
                    "-e",
                    "robots=off",
                    "--reject=js,mjs,woff,woff2,ttf,otf,eot,mp4,m4v,mov,webm,ogv,mkv,avi,flv",
                    "--timeout=120",
                    "--restrict-file-names=windows",
                    "--page-requisites",
                    "--user-agent=Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_15_7) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/118.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 ArchiveBox/0.7.4 (+https://github.com/ArchiveBox/ArchiveBox/) wget/GNU Wget 1.21.3",
                    "--compression=auto",
                    "--timestamping",
                    "https://cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/"
                ],
                "cmd_version": "GNU Wget 1.21.3",
                "end_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:40.946156+00:00",
                "index_texts": null,
                "output": "cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/index.html",
                "pwd": "/data/archive/1790719585.273679",
                "schema": "ArchiveResult",
                "start_ts": "2026-09-29T22:21:35.066354+00:00",
                "status": "succeeded"
            }
        ]
    },
    "icons": null,
    "is_archived": true,
    "is_static": false,
    "latest": {
        "archive_org": null,
        "dom": null,
        "favicon": "favicon.ico",
        "git": null,
        "media": null,
        "pdf": null,
        "screenshot": null,
        "singlefile": null,
        "title": "TOPSoccer gives children with disabilities a place on the field - The Dispatch",
        "warc": null,
        "wget": "cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/index.html"
    },
    "link_dir": "/data/archive/1790719585.273679",
    "newest_archive_date": "2026-09-29T22:21:43.074026+00:00",
    "num_failures": 0,
    "num_outputs": 6,
    "oldest_archive_date": "2026-09-29T22:21:34.102089+00:00",
    "path": "/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/",
    "schema": "Link",
    "scheme": "https",
    "snapshot_id": "800f1c49-5ec0-4225-8e04-d02459501abc",
    "sources": [
        "/data/sources/1790719585-import.txt"
    ],
    "tags": ",cdispatch_local,war-wiki,pool",
    "tags_str": "cdispatch_local,war-wiki,pool",
    "timestamp": "1790719585.273679",
    "title": "TOPSoccer gives children with disabilities a place on the field - The Dispatch",
    "updated": "2026-09-29T22:21:34.101926+00:00",
    "updated_date": "2026-09-29 22:21",
    "url": "https://cdispatch.com/news/topsoccer-gives-children-with-disabilities-a-place-on-the-field/"
}