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Lifetime achievement: West Creek soccer has their coolest fundraiser yet




The West Creek girls soccer players pose for a photo with their

The West Creek girls soccer players pose for a photo with their “celebrity sunglasses” before shooting their movie.SUBMITTED

Drew Smith had no idea how to write the email.

He typed, deleted and typed some more just in an attempt to make it sound remotely believable. How in the world was he supposed to tell East Robertson girls soccer coach Kendall Evilcizer that his team, the West Creek Lady Coyotes, weren’t going to be able to make it to their scrimmage for this reason?

After all, he had never had to call a game off so that his players could film a movie before.

A few weeks prior, he was tagged by a friend on a Facebook post that was putting out a casting call for girls soccer players aged 13 to 18 to play in a new Lifetime Channel movie. He sent their information over, thought little of it and moved on.

“About five or six days after that, they called and they were like ‘could you all shoot next week?’”

The film, titled “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff”, starring Heather Locklear of “Melrose Place” fame, will also feature several West Creek students.

“They needed some extras, some high school kids walking in the background, and there was also a soccer element to the movie,” Smith said. “They needed a couple soccer teams, so we got to be on the team of one of the stars of the movie.

 

 

“A couple of our girls will probably be featured up pretty close because they do some things soccer-wise. We’ve got one who has to score a goal in a certain spot. Our poor goalkeeper had to get scored on about 50 times, so she’s going to be in the movie a bunch, and nothing good happens to her.”

Naturally, it was an exciting experience for all involved; for the girls to be able to tell their friends and family that they’re in a movie and for Smith to have his picture taken with Heather Locklear, who the teenagers weren’t too familiar with.

The filming coincidentally took place during two days in which the students didn’t have school, making it a perfect opportunity for them. Though they did have to cancel the scrimmage, they decided that the opportunity was too good to pass up. After all, they’ll remember filming a flick far more than they would a pre-season scrimmage.

The film is set to debut on the Lifetime Channel on Oct. 16, coinciding with CMCSS’ fall break and the scheduled date for the Lady Coyotes’ end-of-season banquet, though they’re hoping to be playing in the postseason past then.

The days were long and hot — they left the West Creek parking lot at 4:45 a.m. and didn’t return until 6 p.m. — but it’s an experience they’ll never forget.

“It was fun,” said Dahlianney Auguste, who also was featured in a close-up. “Really hot and tiring, but it was worth it. All the cast people were really nice and they treated us well. It was a good experience and opportunity.

“It’s really different than what you would think. So now whenever I watch a movie, I see it completely differently. It’s way different than you would think, like with the lighting.”

As if getting to be in a movie wasn’t incentive enough, the crew also cut the Coyotes a sizable check for their time, doubling the experience as a fundraiser, too.

“That’s the kind of fundraiser I like,” Smith said. “Two days, a few thousand dollars and we’re out.

“Obviously we played it up a little bit, how they were superstars and we bought them celebrity sunglasses. We had a good time with it.”

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