So I woke up at 6:30 this morning because I had to get to OYDC (the Olympic Youth Development Center) to coach my U-15 basketball team. I had been told that there was a bus leaving the Sport In Action office at 8, but when I texted Mwape in the morning he said he knew nothing about it. Great. So now I woke up super early for no reason and didn’t know how to get there (it’s pretty far and I’ve never been there before). Luckily Mwape came through, as usual, and offered to give me a ride there. I ended up spending my entire day at OYDC coaching and watching basketball. The facilities there are amazing, with beautiful soccer and field hockey fields, 6 outdoor basketball courts, 2 indoor courts that were also used for volleyball and badminton, and a great track. The tournament had a good turnout, with 9 U-18 teams, 8 U-15 teams, 4 U-12 teams, and then 4 girls U-18 teams. Here it’s not as popular for girls to play so there aren’t as many teams, and it’s also a lot less common for kids to start playing at very young ages. However despite the fact that kids start playing at a much later age they have picked the game up quite fast and the older boys are really good. I coached my U-15 team into the semi-finals, which would be held the next morning. They played really well and we went undefeated. I also helped coach the U-18 team for 2 games even though I haven’t really worked with them at all. Most of them know who I am though because I work with the other two Spartans teams. It was a long day but it was a lot of fun just hanging out with the teams and enjoying the games. Most of the boys on the U-18 team dress in a way that I would consider kind of gangster/ghetto with the big jackets, bright colored sunglasses, crazy flat brimmed caps, and always have headphones in. Someone once said they look like they are going for a Kanye West style. When they were playing and my young team was watching the younger boys would wear the older boys jackets and hats. They looked so funny and I got a few good pictures of them. One of my boys (who is only 12) had on a big purple jacket and a bright red cap with a gold dollar bill sign on the front. He saw me looking at him and he started walking towards me with such overly emphasized swagger that I burst out laughing. These kids are so much fun to be around. I stayed at OYDC until about 6:30 and then caught a bus home. It was a long and tiring day, but definitely a good one.
In the morning when I was at the tournament Chrissy went with Ivy to the hospital. They wanted to see if anything was going on in surgery but apparently here it’s not too busy on Saturday mornings. Chrissy went to the pediatrics ward to meet the head doctor and make sure it’s fine for her to visit this upcoming Monday. Then she and Ivy came to OYDC to hang out for a few hours. Ivy actually works at OYDC so she knows the place well, but Chrissy was just as impressed with the complex as I was. She got to look around and explore it a little more than I did and she said all the buildings and fields are amazing, and it’s really a massive sports center. She went with Ivy to check out the indoor facilities, including their really nice internet center. While there, she saw that we received an e-mail from Roy about our work at Fountain of Hope. We wanted to show you all!
“Hi Crissy and Sara,
I would like to thank you for the great job well done. The global giving project has been approved and we are just waiting to start fundraising. We hope to host the website anytime next week.
We should meet before you leave. You have very resourceful and have made our work much easier. You really understand very well the challenges we are facing and know how to help. We just do not know how to the best way to reward you. we are very glad you have become part of Fountain of Hope family.
Thank you so much
Roy”
Yay J
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