Epic Soccer
Kicking it around in Darien
Jessica Bennett, who grew up in Atlanta, and her husband Matt, who grew up in Darien, have an 11 year old son with Down Syndrome named Monty, after her maiden name of Montgomery, and a typical 9 year old son named James. The couple moved back to Darien in 2017 after a stint in Hong Kong. Matt is a Director at Solomon Partners, and Jessica, who went to University of Georgia, is a Director of Advertising Sales at Accuweather.
“Starting when he was 5, we enrolled Monty in the well-established Challenger Baseball program that’s held each Spring at Challenger Field at McGuane Park in Darien,” Jessica explains. “It was fantastic for him! He was able to play a sport the way he wanted to play it, in a completely comfortable, fun, and relaxed environment, and really enjoyed both the activity and the experience of feeling like he belonged on the team. And we loved the way Challenger Baseball integrated the help of dozens of local high school volunteers, who all felt the experience was mutually valuable and rewarding!”
“…The only problem was that, when Fall rolled around there were no sports for special needs kids!” Jessica declares.
“I called up my friend Jennifer Keating, who also lives in Darien and whose husband, Kevin, grew up in Darien like my husband. Jenn and I co-manage the Lions Club Team for Challenger Baseball and Kevin is one of the Coaches, and all three of her kids, Katie, who is now a junior at Villanova University, Riley who is now a freshman at Villanova, and Declan who is now a sophomore at Darien High School, have all volunteered as Buddies with Challenger. We started talking about how nice it would be to have an organized sport available in the Fall for all the special needs kids… and my son, Monty, really loves soccer and didn’t have a way to participate. We created Epic Soccer as the solution,” Jessica says. “Jenn, who went to Amherst College and then got an MBA at Duke, and has a high-powered job at Fletcher Knight working in Brand Strategy, had a lot to contribute when it came to starting our endeavor, and she’s been a real partner in getting Epic Soccer onto the ground - or more exactly the Lower Field behind the Middlesex Middle School, at 204 Hollow Tree Ridge Road in Darien, where Epic Soccer convenes every Saturday morning from 9:30 to 10:15 A.M. during the Fall weeks from early September through mid-November.”
KEVIN & JENNIFER KEATING, JESSICA BENNETT, CHRIS CHRISTIE
“It took us two years to get Epic Soccer established in 2024, and I’m really proud of the way the program is going this year, as 2025 is only our second season,” Jenn says. “One of the most amazing things about this program is how quickly people jump in to help as soon as they hear about us. There’s something about what we’re doing that brings out the best in our community. When we mentioned we wanted shirts to give the kids that true team feeling, Luke Lambo, a parent whose son, Logan, is an Epic and Challenger athlete, didn’t hesitate. He offered to sponsor the shirts through his firewood business, Fired Up. Now every kid proudly wears their uniform, and that’s just one example of how people rally around our athletes!”
“Only my youngest is still around to help out as one of the volunteers, but we have over 40 high school ‘buddies’ - volunteers who show-up at 9:15 A.M. to get everything ready, and then work on a better-than-one-on-one basis to support and encourage each kid’s development and fun. Our high school buddies are the heart and soul of Epic - without them, we really couldn’t make this program work. They are there, rain or shine, even when they have a midterm or SAT the next week, in-between their own games and responsibilities, to support and enable their athletes to achieve their own dreams. If you ever need to affirm your faith that the ‘kids are alright’, come meet our buddies... they will amaze you!” Jenn declares. “We also have two Head Coaches, Chris Christie and Kevin Keating, who coordinate the whole practice and provide instruction and training to our athletes. …And we now have a couple dozen special needs kids participating in the program! Since our primary advertising is by word-of–mouth, we feel like that’s pretty wonderful.”
“We are supported by the Darien Soccer Association, which arranges for the use of our field and for our insurance, and hosts our webpages at dariensoccer.org/epicsoccer, all for a registration fee of $144 per participant - and for 2026, Bedford & New Canaan Magazine has now generously offered to provide scholarship for anyone from Darien, New Canaan, or Ridgefield who wants to participate and can’t afford the registration fee!,” Jenn details. “I want to thank the President of the Darien Soccer Association, Sarah Huber, and Jon Bradley, the Coach of the Darien Varsity Soccer Team and Director of Coaching for DSA, and now also Michael and Casey Kaplan at Bedford & New Canaan Magazine, for their support!”
“With Epic Soccer we’re providing organized sports for kids who otherwise wouldn’t get to play,” Jessica exclaims.
“It isn’t a fully structured typical game - sometimes it’s just kicking it around - but the athletes are building basic skills, building relationships with one another and with their high school mentors, getting a sense of teamwork, making great strides, feeling successful, and having fun! Epic Soccer meets you where you are! We’ve had a wide range of needs and abilities, with everyone being joyful participants. It’s totally inclusive - everyone and anyone ages 5 to 12 is welcome to join!”
“We have several challenges and calls to action,” Jenn sets out. “First and foremost, we want to support the annual renewal and continued development of the Epic Soccer program such that it fully serves the needs of the Darien community and those interested in nearby communities. We’d also like to grow this effort, first to include kids ages 12 to 17 in some extension of Epic Soccer that can involve our athletes as they get older, and ultimately we’d love to see this move into other towns! …We hope we can inspire moms and dads in neighboring communities, like Armonk, Bedford, Katonah, and North and South Salem - and across America - whose special needs kids would benefit from something like Epic Soccer, and we’d be happy to help in any way we can. And, as a parent of three proud Buddies, I’d love to see even more high school kids learn the joy and fulfillment of finding new ways to serve their community.”
“Matt and I, and James, take it one day at a time with Monty,” Jessica reveals. “Monty is a great soccer player, but he also really loves running, and we’re starting to think about how running could be something he pursues for the Special Olympics. …And he might get to go to college - Clemson is one of the universities that has a program designed for students with special needs and where some fraternities have now admitted pledges with Down Syndrome. ...But what I do expect that the future holds is that Monty will want to play Epic Soccer again in 2026…and that we need to have a program for ages 12 to 20 to accommodate kids - including Monty - as they graduate from the current Epic program. We’re getting started with the effort, but would certainly appreciate any help we can get!”
