Teaching children the fundamentals of soccer and supporting organ transplants are activities Simon Keith puts his heart into - literally.

This past weekend, Keith, the only athlete in the world to play a professional sport after having a heart transplant, led a soccer clinic at Rincon Vista Field for 102 Tucson youths.

The clinic was sponsored by University Medical Center and the Donor Network of Arizona, both of which endorse organ donation.

Judy Bernas, UMC spokeswoman, said, "The goals of the clinic are to offer Keith's soccer expertise to children, and to show how much someone can do after a transplant."

For Keith, soccer is and always has been a way of life.

"My father was a professional soccer player and both my brothers played at the highest amateur level you can get," he said. "It wasn't a long shot that I played professional soccer by any stretch of imagination."

Keith, who was born in England and raised in western Canada, began playing soccer when he was 4 years old, and hit the professional circuit right out of high school.

"I played for a year in London, and that is when I got sick. I was only 19 years old," he said.

Because Keith was fit, strong, and practicing with the 1986 Canadian World Cup team, it was difficult for his doctors to understand his condition.

"I had no circulation in my hands and feet and my performance on the field suffered" he said.

Eighteen months later, Keith learned that he had caught the common cold, which escalated into viral myocarditis - a virus that causes the inflammation and deterioration of the heart muscle.

"I just knew that something was wrong," he said.

Keith played his last game for Canada in January 1986, and in March of the same year he was told that if he wanted to live, he was going to need a heart transplant.

"There was a time when the cardiologist said, 'OK, we've done everything we can for you. You need a transplant. We can't do anything else,'" he said.

Ironically, Keith received his heart from a 17-year-old soccer player who suffered a brain hemorrhage and died in the middle of a soccer field, he said.

After the surgery, Keith was optimistic about being able to play soccer again. He said, "The theory behind transplantation is that you can live the life you lived before you were sick."

The road to recovery was difficult because Keith spent much of it dodging the media.

"When I got back to Canada (after the transplant) the media was going crazy. I wanted to go somewhere to recover where no one could see me," Keith said.

So Keith packed his bags and moved to Nevada, where his brother was an all-American soccer player at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. There Keith recovered and played two years with UNLV's soccer squad, which resulted in a chance to play in the all-American games in Wichita, Kan.

"All of the pro scouts go there to take a look at you. Cleveland had the first pick and I was drafted first overall in the whole country," Keith said.

Only three years after his transplant, Keith was playing for the Major Indoor Soccer League's Cleveland Crunch.

"While I played pro, it got crazy and there was all this media again. I thought, 'What could I do to make a good thing of this?'" Keith said.

Then Keith met a transplant recipient in Ohio who asked him to host a clinic in his hometown, thus the Simon Keith Soccer Clinic was born.

"It started off as a fluke and now I'm teaching all over the country," he said. Keith, now a 31-year-old retired business man, said he has been teaching clinics on the weekends for five years. He hosts 12 to 18 clinics a year in 35 different states.

"We can't do it all by ourselves, so we get some local sponsors to help us," Keith said.

Keith's third annual Tucson visit was sponsored by UMC and the Donor Network of Arizona.

The Donor Network of Arizona recovers organs, eyes, and tissue for transplantation, said Leslie Futral, department of public affairs for the network.

She said, "The kids have a good time, and it is a positive experience for them."

Keith said he hoped the young soccer players would take two lessons from his clinic. The first was to ensure that every child had a soccer ball in their house and the second was to let the children know the importance of transplants.

"This may be the first time (the children) ever hear the word 'transplant' or 'organ donation.' If we can let them hear it in a positive environment, it is a positive thing," Keith said.

And Keith seemed to make an impact on the lives of the participants. At the conclusion of an hour and 15 minute session with a group of 4- to 7-year-old children, Keith attempted to explain the role of a donor.

"Does anyone know what a donor is?" Keith said. Responses ranged from comparing a donor to a donut, to saying that a donor is something "dumb and dumber."

"When people die, the Donor Network (of Arizona), if they're allowed, get pieces of their body to help other people live. This happened to me. I have somebody else's heart inside of me," Keith explained to the group of open-mouthed children.

The clinic volunteers said that Keith gets to know each child by name, and teaches them that there are no limitations when someone puts their heart into their dream.

"He builds self-esteem in these kids and you can see it in their little faces," said Katie Eckinger, Donor Network of Arizona employee and clinic volunteer.

The children were all smiles and having fun. Eight-year-old Toni Sauber said, "I learned how to juggle. Simon was funny and he taught me a lot."

Six-year-old Jordan Honer said, "(Simon) taught us that he was sick and another person gave him a heart."

Everyone at the clinic supported Keith's goals. Bernas said, "He is a great example of what a person can do after a transplant."

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