April Kater, assistant coach at Colorado College, has returned to Granada, Nicaragua – this time with CC team members Jessie Kautz and Sarah Wolff. The three are spending spring break working as volunteers for Soccer Without Borders, at an all-girls soccer camp and coaches training clinic. While there, they have agreed to keep a diary detailing their experiences. Here are the excerpts received to date:

March 21
Yesterday (Thursday) was Olympiad Day at the field with the girls. Each team had to think of a country and represent that country as they made their way through several stations challenging their technical skills.  But because this week is T.E.A.M week all the stations only had one ball and each country had to compete as a group in order to successfully complete the skill or task. 

It was fun to watch and very competitive. The coaching clinic concluded with competitive drills focusing on technique, competition and work rate. The staff demonstrating did a fantastic job all week and deserve a big round of applause – imagine painting the picture for all of these eager coaches after spending several hours in the sun working with kids all day. Many of the staff celebrated with a trip to the strip, a street in Granada full of excellent eateries and gift shops.

Today is tournament day, and the focus is "Sportsmanship!"  Each small sided team has to shake hands pre -and post-match and exchange the team colors they have created on paper for their opponent.  True tournament style!! 

Sarah again has been a champion in leading the big group translation while Jessica is a favorite among the girls – every time I turn around she has at least two to three players hanging off of her back or shoulder or leg. Tonight Soccer Without Borders celebrates with a big staff pizza dinner. Yes, they have pizza in Nicaragua!!

The staff departs tomorrow with the exception of two representatives who will be in Granada through mid-June, continuing with the weekly clinics, girls night at the SWB office every Wednesday, Saturday clinics and even a movie night.  SWB has done a very good job in identifying young coaches in the area who have been coming out each and everyday to assist with the clinics and games. This is the core that will continue the SWB movement long after we are gone, and they already are growing into some fine young coaches. 

P.S. – I love mangos!! My skin is turning slightly orange!!
                                                                                              - Abril

March 19
Hello again from Granada!

Today was a very exciting day in camp – the theme was community and environment. Instead of the usual technical drills, we instead played games that stressed a sense of community and then had the girls draw pictures of their favorite places in Granada. We also split them into teams and had them compete to see who could pick up the most trash as quickly as possible. Our cancho (field) is now muy clean!

We then handed out water bottles which will hopefully minimize the trash. The girls loved them – they have a the Soccer Without Borders logo and say T.E.A.M. (trabajando en equipo aprendemos mas) in large letters.

Tonight also was  Girls Night, a weekly event in which all the girls come to the office for snacks and activities. In groups, they listened to translations of letters that the Colorado United sent down with us and then wrote letters back to them. It was very cool to see them get so excited about writing to amigas in the United States, and they loved looking at the pictures of the United players.

Jessie looks like a tomato. Our host family says so.
                                                                                            – Sarah

March 17
Things are in full swing now and we just had our second full day of two girls clinics at the field and a coaching clinic this evening. Our goal is to provide opportunity, teach and motivate these young ladies to play soccer, stay involved even after our group leaves and have fun playing. The clinics focus on skill development and competitions, as well as team play. The coaches jump right in, and both Jessie and Sarah have been a huge help with their very strong Spanish speaking skills as well as their enthusiasm with the girls. My Spanish is below average – No hablo mucho Espanol. 

The second priority for Soccer Without Borders is sustainability, and the most productive approach to this is networking and sharing our thoughts and ideas about the game to the coaches who will be here long after we leave. During the coaching clinics at night, the staff serves as players to help paint the picture for the 15 or so in attendance while myself and one other college coach, along with a translator, run the session as we would with our own team back in the states. As challenging as this sounds, it is very productive and the exchange of information is plentiful. The added bonus is watching these women play great soccer in front of many coaches who have never even seen women play the game before.

I think Jess and Sarah are well into a great week, and although quite tired, still had time to speak at a school today in between sessions to share their experiences and thoughts about SWB. The mangos down here are amazing, and our favorite meal is called “food in a bag” – basically a well wrapped mix of meat, fried plantains and shredded cabbage in giant palm leaves. YUM!!!

On a side note, the first day of the clinics a steer walked right through our session to graze in the fields we are using.....no problemo!!  Today there was a horse waiting for us near the gate.....very cool! And I have a young flock of chicks living right outside my bedroom door along with a hen, and once in a while I'll wake up to one staring right at me.....too cute! I love animals!!!

Hasta luego. Que tenga un buen dia!
                                                                                              – April

March 16
Buenas Noches from Nicaragua!

Today was a very successful 'first' day of camp! Although the camp started last week, this week has mostly different staff and the themes for this week are teamwork and sportsmanship as opposed to a more individual atmosphere last week.

In the morning we had about 15 girls and a few young boys show up and in the afternoon there were many more. Jessie and I both were in charge of groups and it was very interesting to try to explain drills without any soccer vocabulary!

In between the sessions we were able to return to our host family and eat a soup that was absolutely delicious with tons of vegetables that our host mother introduced us to. Although we still don't know exactly what we ate, it was incredible.

In the evening, we held a coaching clinic to teach premier level coaches how to run efficient and beneficial training sessions. It's been quite a long day and you should have seen how dirty our legs were after playing in straight dirt all day long! We can already tell it will be an amazing experience.

Granada has an interesting tradition of randomly turning off the city's water for almost a full day –  which means we got to bathe in a bucket tonight! We would like to bring this tradition to the U.S.

Entonces, para el momento, vamos a dormir.

March 14
Hola!!!

Greetings from Nicaragua where we have joined Soccer Without Borders for its annual spring-break girls soccer camps in beautiful Granada.  The weather is always near 90 degrees, sunny, and the mangos are plentiful. Each day we will do our best to say a few words about what is taking place with the girls camps and coaches clinics. 

We all made it here safely and can already say that we are going to have an incredible time. For the past two nights we stayed in a very nice hostel, but today we moved in with our host families. April is not staying with Sarah and me, but Sarah and I absolutely love where we are staying. The family is very welcoming; there are two girls and two boys, and the house is large compared to the rest of the houses here.

It's incredible how simple life is here. We love it. Sarah's Spanish is coming back to her, and she is good! I am all right, learning more and more every day; staying with a host family is going to be a huge plus in regards to how much we are going to learn because only one of the daughters speaks some broken English.

Yesterday April had to stay back while Sarah and I went to "la laguna" for a day trip. It was this excluded lake about 45 minutes from the town and it was awesome! We were able to get some serious relaxation time in. Last night we were able to come back to Granada in time to experience 'girls night' at the office of Soccer Without Borders. It was a night meant to promote soccer and discuss how to stay involved by continuing to attend sessions. At least 50 girls from the neighborhood showed up to watch a movie about soccer and to receive an official card noting how many practices they'd gone to in the past week, along with a blue Soccer Without Borders bracelet.

This morning was the official opening, where more than 90 children showed up to play soccer in the streets and dance. Although Soccer Without Borders has been running for a while now, the office is a huge step and these “grand openings” seem to have created even more interest in the program. Hopefully we will have an even bigger turnout at camp this week.

Also to note, Sarah caused a three-bicycle collision last night. You can ask her about it when we get back. Tomorrow we must wake up at 6:30am (yikes!!!) to take a bus to Managua for our game against the Nicaraguan National Team, so I better get going. More to come!
                                                                                                        – Jessie

P.S. April is planning on "adopting" at least five dogs, or however many she can fit into the overhead compartments on the plane. She'll be excited to introduce you, I'm sure. Also, don't talk to Jessie if she is hungry. She might eat you.
                                                                                                        – Sarah