Belize 2015: Day 3, First Day of Camp!

I wish I could have slept soundly until 7:30 this morning, but my early mornings from Nicaragua have me getting up a bit earlier. Nevertheless, I didn't get out of bed until 7:30. When I did, I was excited to see the condo buzzing with energy! All of the volunteers were already awake, getting ready, making breakfast! We made eggs, had juice, and then at 8:10 we loaded up the carts to head to the school! When we arrived to the school, I walked into the main office where I waited in a Monday morning line. The secretary was busy registering new students. I overhead her say to the father, "the cost is $6 BZ per week and that includes all the meals and books." That is $3 American. The next person in line was a high school student who had a gift sent to the school for him. A family had sent him a silver chained cross. He was so excited because he had made the Dean's list in school. He said that he had been working really hard at it for a long time. I love to hear stories about the children succeeding here.
Finally, it was my turn and I told the secretary I was looking for Lydia Brown, that we were here for the soccer camp. It took me half the day today to get used to saying "futbol." It's easy in spanish because its a spanish word but here they speak english so it doesn't come out naturally at all.
Lydia, came into the office to meet me! It was great to see her again this year, looking spirited and energetic as usual. Lydia has moved from New Zealand to Belize (circa a couple years of missionary work in Cambodia). She, her husband, and her son all live on the island and Lydia works with all of the volunteers coming into the school. She is one busy woman! Lydia met the group and then directed us to the computer lab where we unpacked and inventoried all of the gear. With everyone's help this was a quick task. After we finished with the gear we did a quick walking tour of San Mateo with Lydia. the group had a great opportunity to see the living conditions that most of the students are coming from. San Mateo, like the school, is a community built on a swamp. The houses are on stilts on unstable land. The water, which is filled with trash and leaking sewage, is toxic and dangerous for the kids. In the first year of the school, 5 children died of infections related to the toxicity of the water- a cut on the foot or leg and then walking through the water. It's so easy for the kids to be exposed to this stuff- they run around barefoot a ton of the time and there are rocks everywhere. A cut on the foot is so easy to come by.

People in San Mateo use whatever they can get their hands on to fill in the swamp that there homes are built on. So there is trash everywhere- used as filling. Once it gets to be enough then they will put some sand over it. In the past few years there has been a lot of effort put into the roads in San Mateo. When I first got here, there were barely any roads at all and the majority of people used planks to get to the houses. Now, there are main roads throughout the entire neighborhood (still lots of planks, but now also lots of roads). It's great for the people in San Mateo to get around but it also creates a lot of problems with sitting water. With the roads containing a lot of the water from the main
 swamp, it is increasingly becoming fresh water. With that, there has been a huge spike in bacteria growth and a lot of the things that are getting transmitted to the children. Lydia said that the kids have been coming sick into school a lot with all kinds of things. Walking through San Mateo never fails to shock my system. Even after I've been coming down here for 4 years. It was also great for the volunteers to see the disparity in conditions from San Mateo to what the average tourist experience (like where we are staying).

After the tour the new volunteers went to the Cafeteria, while the veteran volunteers went to check out the field. It was supposed to be cleared but Lydia notified me that she had not yet heard back from the guy who was supposed to do it! Oh no! When we got there it was completely overgrown. We had very few areas that were even close to playable... as in, they weren't over grown as much. We figured out how to make it work for today and then head back to the school. After meeting up with the other volunteers we started our rounds in the classrooms!

"Good Morning Everyone! My name is Coach Ali and we are with More Than Futbol, a futbol camp that we will be having after school EVERY DAY this week! We are going to learn some awesome new skills and play some really fun games and WE WOULD LOVE if you would all come out and play with us after school today!" I then had all of the coaches introduce themselves and then told the kids where to meet us and that we couldn't wait to see them after school! Repeat x 10 classrooms and to the lunch hall... we reached all 440 students at the school.
After the announcements were finished Mr. Freddy had finally arrived at the school and helped us use the air compressor to pump up all of the balls. We decided to use the old balls that were from last year's camp (left behind) and put the new balls into storage since they were in better condition. It was fun to see all of the old balls with different recognizable player's names on them like "Diego Menegatti," one of my LTRC boys. Mr. Freddy's dog, Spike, was also there and looking to be in ROUGH shape! Like he had an infection or was attacked! We love spike, he is so happy and fun and plays soccer with us... he can actually dribble! When we asked Mr. Freddy what happened to him Mr. Freddy just laughed it off and said, "Oh Spike? He likes to chase the iguanas and the iguanas fight back." LOL. Oh Spike.

Once all of the gear was ready to go, we went back into town for lunch to My Secret Deli. Oh yeah. This is one of the BEST spots on the island. Great food, great smoothies. It's one of those special places that looks unassuming from the outside but makes incredible food. I was a little worried because, although Secret Deli is one of the best spots on the island, it takes them a long time to get food out. I asked the owner, "If we order quesadillas, how long will that take?" and he said, "at least an hour." Well jeez, quesadillas are so easy to make. This isn't good. Then he suggested the food in green writing on the menu. Turns out they have a whole section of stewed/slow cooked food that comes with beans and rice. Sounds like a plan. We ordered all of our meals quickly, food came out quickly, was SUPER delicious, and we paid up and were out of the restaurant in an under an hour! We even ordered the delicious, chalice-cup smoothies!
After lunch, we had 20 minutes before we had to be at the school so we walked down to the beach, enjoyed some sea breeze and then started back up to the school. We got all of the gear out and got ready for the "Infant" Classes to get out of school. "Infant 1" and "Infant 2" are equivalent to 1st and 2nd grade in the US and they get out of school at 1:45, an hour before all of the older grades. Once school was over, the kids trickled out and came straight over to the field. First we had 4, then 8, and then they continued to multiply. In the past, we have done a coach or 2 with a group of kids but today we changed it around and put 2 or 3 kids with each coach. This worked out fantastic. The kids got a lot of attention, all of the coaches were engaged, and everyone had a great time! After about 25 minutes of working with the kids in small groups, we broke them up in 2 teams and played a scrimmage.
Once, the time got close 2:45, we ended with the little kids so that we were ready for the big kids to come out. Then, we created a chain of coaches from the school all the way to the field, which is about a 5-10 minute walk. First, we wanted to make sure that we snagged the kids out of school before they went home and, we also wanted to make sure that they felt safe walking to the field. Around 3:00, all of the coaches in the chain started walking in with the last remaining kids and I was a little surprised to see that we had a very small group. Maybe 30 kids. We did a "Welcome to Camp" talk that included the usual, "We are so excited to play futbol today!" and the rules (BOUNDARIES) for camp.
We anticipated that today would be a very tough day before we even arrived at camp. Usually, the first day is very difficult to organize the kids. They have very little experience in organized sports and are often left to their own device and not big fans of taking instruction or following rules. This makes the first day particularly important. We must lay down the law to start camp so that the kids know that  #1, we want to have fun but in order to do that #2, we must follow the rules. No profanity. No physical harassment between kids. Above all, work as a team, support each other!
The coaches went to their respective stations and before we knew it the size of camp doubled as kids started to trickle in. Many of them ran home to ask their parents if they could come before arriving at the field. This is part of the deal in Belize- you HAVE to be able to improvise. You HAVE to be able to go with the flow and adapt. At the same time, you HAVE to be patient in introducing drills. Expect the kids to have varying levels of focus. Expect the groups to have 1 or 2 kids that act out. That's why there is help from your coaching partner or, help from Coach Ali. I am so used to working with kids and managing various behavior issues over the last 10 years that I have no problem dealing with a kid who is misbehaving our causing their group trouble. If they look like they are upset, I come down to their level. If they look like they are trying to act big and tough, then I stand up and tower over them as I talk. I always start by reiterating the rules, then asking them what happened, then talking about how to handle the situation better. Usually, they respond well and then return to the group functioning better. If they are not responding well to our conversation then I will draw a hard line, reiterate the rules one more time, and tell them that we can't allow them to participate if they continue to disrupt their group. They key is not getting upset or frustrated, but maintaining a firm, stern, attitude without emotion.
Generally, the players did pretty well. We did have a few behavior issues today with disruptive kids but now we know who they are and the best way to deal with them is actually to give them more attention, include them in the demonstrations and make them feel important in a positive way and cared about. Every year, we seem to have kids like this... and almost every year we see a positive turn-around.
Coach Phil and Luke took the shooting station, Coach Dave took the possession station, Coach Nikki took the skills station, and Coach Mel and Krista took the teamwork station. The focus in all of the groups is Teamwork. This week, we really want to focus on teaching the kids how to work together. With the many hardships they face in life, it is so important for them to be able to support one another, be a good friend, and be strong for the situations that they find themselves up against. We focus on all of these concepts and especially teaching a sense of self-worth to the kids through encouragement and building their confidence.
My favorite station today was the Teamwork station because today we did the human knot. All the kids get in a circle and then hold hands with 2 different people in the circle. Then, when we say Go! the kids have to unknot themselves without letting go! It was just so fun watching them work together, holding hands, laughing, communicating!
The kids were doing well, a little rowdy, but generally doing well. About halfway through, when the kids were getting thirsty, we started doing water bottles. I wrote every name on every water bottle to make sure that we didn't have any repeat customers. Once one group got their water bottles, it wasn't long before everyone was crowding around trying to get a water bottle. I was worried that this was going to disrupt the flow of camp but once we sent everyone back out with their groups to the next station, it seemed to improve camp. The kids were paying very good attention and working hard on all of their stations. Seemed to be a much needed break.
We played for about 20 more minutes at our stations and then stopped for a scrimmage. We had a boys scrimmage and a girl scrimmage. The girls had less numbers so we just broke them up into 2

teams on the side. The boys had a very large group so
we broke them up into 3 teams. It was exciting to see the kids get all pumped up to play. What's most entertaining, however, is the competitive energy of all of the coaches! Scott had a team, Luke and Kevin had a team, and Dave had a team. Phil helped to referee/guard the swampy area of the field for the ball rolling into it. Nikki and Mel were with the girls. The girls have really started to take a liking to the female coaches and have become a little clingy, so we are going to keep them with Mel and Nikki for the rest of the week!

Once the game was over, we said some closing remarks and headed back to the condo. Everyone jumped into the pool and hung out around the pool for a couple hours. Once the group mobilized for dinner we walked down to our neighborhood friendly restaurant- Lone Star Grill. This is owned by Marc Unger and his wife who have been great advocates for the More Than Futbol program on the island. They help promote it with the local retirees and they also help us house our gear. We are planning to start a league on the island for the kids to participate. Until we get the details smoothed out, I need someone to hold onto the equipment for me! Marc has graciously offered to do so! It's so nice having a positive connection on the island who is a little independent from the politics and the school. Marc and his wife are retired Boston Police and moved to the island a few years ago. They have been a very reliable and trustworthy source for us throughout our trips here on the island. Not to mention, Lone Star Grille has GREAT food!
When Scott and I, who were trailing behind the group, got to Lone Star, we found out that the restaurant was closing. Marc was outside catching up with the guys and I gave him a big hug when I saw him! He directed us to go down to another restaurant he know that is open until 10:00. Not having much time, we scurried out and headed down to El Divino. It was delicious. I had shrimp on a skewer and penne pasta with alfredo sauce. You really, truly cannot go wrong on the island with seafood no matter where you go. Yum. We had a great time recapping the day, what seemed to work, what seemed to be difficult, and the game plan for tomorrow. Having the girls separate from the boys really helped the girls to be more outgoing and they had a really good time with Nikki and Mel, so we are going to leave them with the girls tomorrow. We did that for the second half of the session today, but that is definitely something we continue with tomorrow.
We also talked about having a dance competition between Zach and Katie- a dance-off. Set to go off on Friday night. Katie will be coached up by the 5 female coaches and Zach will be coached up by the 5 male coaches!
After dinner, we headed back to the condo where I sat down to write the blog and all the guys went out to go night fishing on the pier.

Today was just exhausting. The first day always is... especially, with such an early start to the day. Despite this, I was just so proud of the coaching staff today. Everyone stepped up their game. We have a great group of coaches this year and I'm so thankful that every one of them is filled with a ton of energy and love ready to unleash on the kids. All of the coaches really care about the kids and want to make a difference- that mentality is absolutely the best you can ask for.

Tomorrow we have the morning free and after a long day today, I bet that all of the coaches will just relax by the pool, go fishing or play corn hole in the morning. I anticipate a low-key morning tomorrow before we leave for the school at 1:00.
But for now... I'm hitting the sack!

Thank you to everyone for following the blog!

Good night from Belize!