Soccer Bonds Grandfather, Granddaughter

Wayne Slaughter raised four children in Delran, coaching them in their various sporting endeavors.

Now Slaughter, a 68-year-old grandfather of five, is coaching again. This time it’s his granddaughter, Cali Barton.

Cali, a member of the Moorestown Soccer Club’s U-9 Gold team, loves that her grandfather is coaching her team.

When Amy Barton, Slaughter’s daughter and Cali’s mom, asked him to coach, Slaughter didn’t hesitate.

“I love to coach her,” he said. “It’s good to be with her.”

“It’s fun because he’s a lot of fun,” said Cali. “We play games and learn a lot.”

There are two teams of 14 in the U-9 division, Slaughter said. The teams play 8 v 8 games in both the fall and spring.

Slaughter is excited to be coaching Cali, who he says has a lot of natural talent.

“She’s a very good athlete,” Slaughter said, noting that Cali’s mom played basketball and soccer and ran track. “She gets better and better every game.”

Cali plays sweeper for the Gold team. It’s a position she loves.

“I know when I kick it, we will probably score a goal,” she says.

In addition to soccer, Cali plays basketball and softball and in between drills at soccer practice she catches up on her reading.

“She likes everything,” her grandfather says.

The team finished its fall season with an 8-1-1 record and moved up two levels for the spring.

Slaughter enjoys coaching the girls, who are less intense than boys.

“They are full of fun at this age,” he said. “As they get older and get more competitive it gets harder.”

The most difficult thing with coaching girls he said is to keep them organized and keep their attention.

“They are very enjoyable,” he said, “but quite different from boys.”

But he wouldn’t trade the time with his granddaughter for anything.

“We’re very close,” he said of his relationship with Cali. “We have a great relationship.”

Cali, the oldest of three grandchildren here in Moorestown, maybe the first granddaughter Slaughter coaches, but she probably won’t be the last.

“Juliet is already asking,” he said of Cali’s 3-year-old sister.