Play For Hope

We have a brand new academy video at Play For Hope.  We created the video in hopes of giving you the experience of what it would be like to visit our academy.  I have included some notes below to add to the video.

0:00  Underoath allowed us to use this song.  How many nonprofits do you know who use Underoath?  Only us.  That’s what I thought.

0:09  This video was taken before we opened the academy.  Focus was living with our coach Robert at this time and recovering from having been arrested and released to us.  He had just gotten over being very, very sick.  Every raw emotion of what his life had been like was still written deeply on him.

2:39  Pascal would go to practice with the boys multiple times per week with practices starting at 6am.   The boys only agreed to be trained only if it was this early because after practice they had to go “do work.” Pascal did this in addition to coaching all of the teams that he was already coaching for Play For Hope.  It was a huge sacrifice on his part that he did with grace and love. 

3:45  This is the actual first time that the boys saw the academy house.  In the background you can faintly hear a chant from our coaches.  They are saying “Welcome the Heroes. Welcome the Heroes.”  There are no former street kids or vulnerable kids at our Academy - only Heroes.

That day while we were waiting to take a van the academy.  Focus, from the start of the video, looked at me and in broken English looked at me and said “Brian we go home?” Yes.  We finally made it home.

 4:47  Christmas!  Thanks Swift Creek School!

5:00  The boys attend a nearby neighborhood school during the day and then those that are more behind in school do night and weekend classes with tutors from school.  So the boys actually study inside and outside of the academy.

6:22  TRX and Nike SPARQ have both donated equipment to help us train our kids at a high level and allow our athletes to feel truly special.  This is the same equipment that professional athletes train with.  We want all of our kids to be given the best care possible in every area of their lives.

7:40  This is my favorite shot.  This was taken where Sibo, the boy talking, slept before joining the academy.  As he was talking about transforming the lives of street children, a group of street children who still lived there walked up behind him.  This was completely unplanned, but beautifully illustrated Sibo’s vision and purpose in life.  Before joining the academy, Sibo had no vision for anything other than how he was going to get drugs for that day.  He originally started playing soccer only when he felt he had taken too many drugs and needed to sweat them out.  There is a power in someone beginning to dream for the first time ever that will change the world.

8:01  Traditional dance.  Heroes got talent.

This past December we had Cory Hand, the head coach of George Fox University's Women's Soccer Team, in Rwanda.  Cory spent a large portion of his time training our U21 select team.  This team is made up of many of our top athletes who have been committed to our programs over the years.  Many of them, whether they have graduated high school or not, have no job opportunities.  We began our U21 select teams to get the athletes trials on professional soccer teams in Rwanda so that they can pursue their dreams and find a source of income.

One day while Cory was in town it rained extremely hard causing our dirt field into absolute mush.  Not wanting to miss a chance to train under a high level coach, the guys quickly jumped into practice despite the conditions.  The soccer balls soon became like medicine balls and cutting was impossible.  Still the guys continued to train for two hours, not wanting to miss a second of being able to pursue their passion, all while laughing with joy at the craziness of the whole situation.  Here are some pictures from the day.

The ball... 

Cleaning the ball with an old discarded water bottle.  

 Mud increases your vert?

 Keeping in the mud.

Collapsing in the mud. 

We have the honor of being invited by the Rwanda Football Federation to participate in a nationwide league for the top Under-17 teams in all of Rwanda. From all of our teams we have created one select team which will compete in what is being called the Rwandan Champions League. We are thrilled for our athletes to get a chance to compete with the best teams as well as get a chance to be looked at by the National Team. Some of the athletes on this team no less than 6 months ago were living on the streets and barely surviving day to day. This is what Play For Hope is all about!

In our first two matches against a team in our division, despite having an average age 2 years younger than the team we played, we won in aggregate 2-1. We will now be moving to the next round of the Champions League! All pictures below courteous of SC Ross Media.

We had a great time introducing our athletes to Nike SPARQ training this past month. Each of the boys at the academy learned some basic moves with the Speed Hurdles, Agility Ladders, and Speed Parachutes that Nike provided for us. They had an absolute blast and two hours and an obstacle course later wanted to keep learning. In the future this coupled with TRX and FMS training will make the foundation of ourinjure prevention and performance training for our teams. Check out some pictures from the day:

Thanks Nike! 

I had the awesome opportunity to see our boys at the academy in summer school (we are below the equator) this trip. Many of the boys months ago did not even know how to read or write. Today I witnessed all of them speak and write in limited English and work on different math problems. I have never seen boys so engaged in learning and so passionate about school. The teachers that the local school sent to help our boys continue learn have been absolutely amazing and we are blessed to have two such wonderful women care for our boys. I am excited to see years from now what these boys develop into.