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Academy standout Nati Clarke gives back to kids and families in his native Ethiopia

A few months before the COVID-19 pandemic affected the lives of millions globally, 15-year-old Sporting Kansas City Academy defender Nati Clarke performed an inspirational act of kindness for kids living in his native Ethiopia.

In January, Clarke ventured to the Ethiopian district of Bensa with gifts provided by the Sporting Kansas City Academy. Upon arriving to the neighborhood where he spent the first five years of his life with his grandmother, Clarke distributed several soccer balls, Sporting jerseys and soccer shorts to the village’s local youth team.

“My parents had the idea to take donations with us, because they had taken things when they went there in the past,” Clarke said.