Week Two Recap

Monday, June 10th

The 10 and unders play.

As Monday was a holiday (another long weekend, or puente), the school was invited to participate in a friendly game against Real Fortaleza Santa Marta at the Polideportivo del Magdalena. El Poli is an outdoor sports complex about a 15-20 minute buseta ride from Los Fundadores.

Two games were played: 10 and under, and 11 and up. A great amount of effort goes into organizing games for the children when the school is not yet apart of a formal league. 

Marcos receives a medal and trophy on
 behalf of his work with vulnerable youth.

Marcos' hard work for vulnerable youth in Santa Marta was recognized by the Manager of Fields at el Poli and Inspector of the Liga de Fútbol del Magdalena. With each match that the school participates in, slowly but surely people are becoming aware of this program. As I have mentioned in a foot note, the team plays with what they own, meaning that they borrow siblings' shoes or wear sneakers and plastic shoes; most go without shinguards; they wear mismatched shorts and socks; and when kids are subbed off the field, they immediately take of their shirt to pass it to the entering player. 

Tuesday, June 11th

Tuesday was another "half day," with the Selección de Colombia playing against Peru. Tuesday we had planned to visit the Cámara de Comercio and come away with good news that we had registered successfully the foundation that will be raising and channeling funds to the soccer school. We were missing an important document and were unable to communicate with Diego Nuñez, who will represent Fundación Goles de Corazón (Fundagocor) as Manager. I hope to have a post on "Who We Are" up soon. To my disappointment, we had to postpone registration of the foundation for the following day (in reality, Thursday). 

Marcos and I did, however, continue our discussion of ways to outfit an inexpensive office for the school and foundation and better organized ourselves to complete the missing details and documents that we need in order to register our 60 committed kids in La Liga de Fútbol del Magdalena. After finishing the spreadsheet for the children who had turned in the three pieces of information we had asked for (copy of health insurance card, copy of identification card, and identifying details), it is becoming more apparent how difficult it is to complete paperwork here. One notices the utility of a computer (and Excel as well as software) when you are working with someone who has been a one-man show without a computer.

During the match, Marcos and I began to compile and sketch out ideas for the soccer school’s insignia. The kids have expressed an interest in changing the name from La Escuela de Fútbol Los Fundadores to Fundadores Fútbol Club (FCC). I am partial to using the second name, at least for the shield; it reminds me of professional teams and sounds more competitive. If anyone has experience in design and/or would like to help contribute to the final version, please contact me. Credit will obviously be given.

Thanks to a penalty by Falcao and a goal by Teófilo Gutiérrez (Teó), Colombia won 2-0. Due to the death of a 16-year-old girl in a motorcycle caravan accident after last Friday’s match, motorcycles were suspended from use in the evening to prevent a similar celebratory occurrence from happening. Sadly, the young 16-year-old was a resident of Los Fundadores. As my contacts here in Santa Marta are mainly concentrated in the neighborhoods of Oasis and Los Fundadores, it makes sense that I found out so quickly about this event because she was from Los Fundadores.

Wednesday, June 12th

The past week I was also struck with a bit of bad luck. The light post outside of my place caught fire last Sunday while I was at the beach, rendering three homes without power and telephone service. Now, I sympathize with the foundation's team that has been working on this project here in Colombia, not having access to internet in their homes. After I don’t know how many phone calls and even a trip to report grievances to the press, Electricaribe finally fixed the power three days later.

Thursday, June 13th

Things seemed to turn around starting Thursday. By the time I left for the Cámara de Comercio, they were fixing the telephone lines. Internet was finally back. 

We camped out in front of the Cámara for several hours, filling out (and refilling out) the necessary carbon copies and making what felt like an excessive amount of photocopies. When it opened again (morning hours are from 7:00am until 11:30) at 2:00pm, we were one of the first people in line. As far as we know, registration of the foundation Goles de Corazón was successful. We will call on Tuesday to confirm that all materials were received and without error.

Friday, June 14th

An exhausting but more representative day at the Fundadores football field, I attended both morning and afternoon sessions. The morning session was much more orderly than the others I had been to (due to the smaller number of children in attendance). The practices draw attention from Fundadores residents, which can potentially have its negative consequences. There has been an escalating violence issue in the neighborhood, concentrated in adolescents and young adults. We were visited by a few who sat on the sidelines and on their motorcycles, curious with questions.  They seem to respect the work that we are doing or at least respect the neighborhood children (or their younger siblings) enough to not cause any problems during practice hours.

I am no soccer coach but because of the large group of kids in the afternoon, I focused my time with the girls group. I led them in stretching and warm-up running drills, then turned over the reigns to Andres (an older brother of a participant) to begin instructing the basics and so he might begin to learn some coaching skills. We've got some work to do with positive reinforcement... but one day at a time.