CLEVELAND — Saint Ignatius High School is playing host to its first annual Black Players for Change Spring Break Soccer Camp.

What You Need To Know

  • Saint Ignatius senior Justis Olorunto and former MLS All-Star Justin Morrow partnered to put on a free youth soccer camp.

  • Morrow, a 2006 Saint Ignatius graduate, founded Black Players for Change

  • Black Players for Change is aimed at promotoing diversity in soccer and giving people of all backgrounds the opportunity to play the game 

“We did not have many Black coaches growing up," Justin Morrow said. "We were one of the few Black players on our teams. A lot of these efforts are about just introducing new kids to the sport, inviting them in, showing them that there’s a place for them in this game.” 

Morrow is a 2006 graduate of Saint Ignatius and a former Major League Soccer All-Star who founded Black Players for Change, a national organization aimed at providing an avenue for Black youth in soccer. 

“I’m from Cleveland. I want to be able to give back to my home city," Morrow said. "This community supported me a lot on my journey to becoming a professional athlete.” 

Morrow is teaming up with standout Saint Ignatius Senior Justis Olorunto to bring the free camp to northeast Ohio.

Olorunto led the Wildcats to three OHSAA State Championships and recently signed to play college soccer at Ohio State. He said he’s excited to be able to give back to the northeast Ohio community and the game that’s given so much to him. 

“It’s super cool because everybody’s been in their shoes once," Olorunto said. "I remember all the guys, even from Ignatius camps that I looked up to and I still remember those names to this day. Knowing that I could be one of those people is really cool to see.” 

Morrow and Olorunto hope that the Black Players for Change camp can become a yearly tradition at Saint Ignatius to continue to diversify soccer in Cleveland. 

“There’s a lot of smiles, a lot of laughs out there," Morrow said. "I love that we have girls and boys, and girl and boy coaches from high schools all around here at the camp. It’s a really cool collective.” 

“That’s why we put the number one on our backs, because that’s the goal we hope that this is just the first one," Olorunto said. "It’s just the beginning of something even bigger and expanding even beyond Cleveland. Hopefully that’s what we see in the future.”