Cabbage Patch/ACC Soccer Camp 2008:

A Reflection

By: Justin R. Roush

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

-Margaret Meade

The time I have spent with the children of Americana Community Centre has been eye opening. I can honestly say I have never worked for something so worthwhile. Every day presents new challenges and new opportunities to not only help the children learn and grow, but to advance myself as well. Through the Cabbage Patch/ACC Soccer Camp 2008, my relationship with the selected group of “soccer” kids flourished as we connected both through the sport and good fun. The following are a few of my fondest memories from camp.

There’s Always Hope

The “feel good” story from camp is of a boy named Hope. Hope is a very talented athlete. Most things come very easy to him. Since he excels so often, failure does not register well with him. In fact, Hope almost didn’t want to attend soccer camp because he was worried that he wouldn’t be good enough. However, Sara and I wanted Hope to attend very much, so after a few conversations he decided to come. However, on the very first day Hope was eliminated from a dribbling game and immediately wanted to quit. Soccer was challenging for Hope, and he felt submerged in it. After storming off the field in quite a fit, we had to sit him out of the first game of camp.

I had the opportunity to talk to Hope about this situation. I reminded him that he was excellent at many other things, and that he could excel in soccer as well. I reminded him of the faith I had in him to do well and not get frustrated. He told me he would try his best to not get frustrated, but he couldn’t promise me anything.

The next day, he had a minor flair up, but Sara conversed with him and quickly stifled it. Surprisingly, Hope said, “I don’t like it when I get frustrated. I want to keep my cool.” This was like music to my ears. Every day thereafter, Hope made a conscientious effort to have fun and not get frustrated. He was on my team (Italy) for game play. After every game, he asked me if I thought he did well. I always said, “Hope, you did awesome. You work so hard and I’m proud of you.” His demeanor changed completely from the first day of camp, often helping others when they became frustrated. He truly shined.

Now, Hope and I converse regularly about camp, and he even plays soccer with us during activity time (which he never did before camp). Not to mention, when we lose, he does not get upset. In fact, he tries to calm the other kids down. Daily, Hope serves as a reminder for me that there is so much potential, and so much “hope” in the children I work with. I just have to put forth the effort, give them the attention they deserve, and never give up.

The Cinderella Story

As stated before, I was the coach of “Italy”. Throughout the regular season (Monday through Thursday), we only won one game and tied another. The kids were often upset about losing… until I had a sort of revelation. I tapped into my deepest coaching roots and remembered to see things through the player’s eyes. I decided to glorify each and every thing that one of my players did. I rooted for every player on my team like a half-mad, overzealous soccer mom does for her son or daughter. Every good pass, every hardworking run, every defensive stop was praised as if it were a goal. The kids responded greatly to this, and soon the fact that we lost games was diminished. We began to reflect more on our hard work and the things that went well than the actual outcome of the game.

I learned that children aren’t yet fully capable of self gratification. They need to hear that they are doing a good job, especially from those whom they admire. I had gained their respect and interest through my soccer skills, but I was lacking attributes in my mentoring. In the beginning (and even at Americana prior to camp) I was not praising the kid’s good efforts enough, and once I realized what I was doing wrong, things began to fall into place. With my team’s enthusiasm restored, the stage was set for an epic story to develop at the “World Cup Tournament” on the last day of camp.

In a double elimination tournament, my team lost the very first game. I quickly dispelled the sad faces by lifting them up with ridiculous amounts of praise and saying that we would win the next game. Unfortunately, we drew the “powerhouse” Brazil, who had only lost one regular season game; suddenly, I wasn’t so sure we would win. I told my team that this game would be difficult, but that I wasn’t worried about the score. I said, “All I want out of you all is your best. Regardless of the score, I will be proud of all of you.”

At the very beginning of the game, we went down a goal by an awesome shot from Abdi (Americana). The game passed by with no more goals, but constant praise from both coaches for good effort. In the very last few minutes of the game, a pass skidded across the front of the goal and we scored! The game went into penalty kicks. We picked three players from each team to shoot, and best of three wins it. We only had 5 players so not everyone would get to kick (One camper played keeper during the shootout, and three campers shot). The one child who didn’t get picked to shoot, Christopher (Cabbage Patch), was immediately upset lost control.

I diverge from the story to tell you that Chris is very small and rather unathletic. He often got picked on, but was not afraid to fire back. He was the epitome of “dynamite in small packages”. He was one of my biggest challenges. When things went wrong during drills or a game, I had to send a little extra praise and complements Chris’ way, or else he would storm off the field.

It took me at least 10 minutes to convince Chris to stay on the field and cheer for the shooters. Now, I’ll go on to say that we beat Brazil in the penalty shootout, but that’s not the interesting part. It’s how we beat Brazil. After three shots from each team, we were still tied with them. Both teams made 2 shots. We had to pick a fourth player to shoot: Chris. I said, “Chris, you get to shoot.” However, another player on our team exclaimed, “Man, no! Don’t let Chris shoot, we’ll lose for sure!” Chris lost it. He began to sob and trudge off the field. I grabbed him in my arms (like a bear hug) and said, “Chris, I need you to listen to me (because he wasn’t), I know you can do this. If you make this shot, we win. YOU can win the game for us.” Chris’ eyes lit up. He gazed up at me and said, “I can win?” in disbelief. I don’t know if Chris had ever been in the situation to win a game for his team. I don’t even think Chris had ever scored a point in any sort of competitive sport. Needless to say, he was thrilled.

Instantaneously, a soothing came over Chris. To say he embraced the challenge would be an understatement. With utmost confidence, he took control of the situation. He was not nervous, scared, or anything of the sort. It’s almost as if he had never doubted himself, despite his previous actions. Chris was in luck as Brazil shot first and missed. That mean that all Chris has to do was make the shot, and Italy would beat the “monster” Brazil. Chris walked up to the ball, sized up the goal, and with a small run and a tenacious boot, put the ball in the side of the goal. We won the game! The team lifted Chris upon their shoulders and jumped and screamed as if we had won the real World Cup. It was a magical game, and one of those moments in my life that will surely go unforgotten.

Now, the tournament was double elimination. So in the championship, we had to beat the U.S. two straight games. We won the first game 2-1, but lost the last one 3-0. We finished 2nd in the tournament, but it was a truly remarkable runner-up performance.

Bridging the Gap

One of our goals at camp was to help bridge the gap between the predominantly African-American population of Cabbage Patch and the African population of Americana. Prior to camp, I was informed that these two groups don’t always get along. To try and achieve our goal, we mixed up the campers daily in an attempt to trigger new relationships. In a 5 day camp, I didn’t notice any real interaction until day 3. We were at the pool, and I was sitting on a lawn chair observing the kids. In one area of the pool, a group of Americana and Cabbage Patch kids were throwing a soccer ball around to each other. In another area, a similar group was splashing and dunking each other in the water. The smiles I saw and the laughter I heard were signs of progress. The two groups were having fun together.
I don’t know how serious the gap between these two groups is, but it is still very thought provoking. On the surface, one might see that the two populations are very similar. Appearance-wise, you might not even be able to tell them apart. However, culturally and emotionally the two groups are very different. Therefore, a Cabbage Patch child might react differently in a given situation than one from Americana, which breads the opportunity for teasing and conflict. The coaches were challenged to create an environment of understanding amongst the groups, which is asking a lot from a child. I chose to teach “understanding” instead of “tolerance” because “tolerance” has undertones of discomfort, as if one is merely putting up with something. I didn’t want our kids to “put up with” (tolerate) each other, because they already tolerate so much. I wanted them to be enlightened and accepting of their differences, and to explore healthy relationships with people who are not the same as them.

A prime example of an event that showed cultural differences happened on day 4, despite day 3’s progress at the pool. Many of the African cultures are very afraid of dogs because most dogs in Africa are undomesticated and mean. Not to mention, a good number of the kids are Muslim and are taught that dogs are “unclean”, thus the children are taught to fear them (Wedowski, 2008). However, in the United States, dogs are “Man’s Best Friend”, and are almost celebrated. After all, there’s Rintintin, Lassie, and Wonderdog; real superheroes in North American culture. So, when a dog runs onto a soccer field with 12 African kids and 12 African-American kids, you can imagine that things got interesting.

The Americana kids ran away from the dog, and the Cabbage Patch kids ran towards the dog, while the coaches didn’t know which way to go and were utterly stuck in between. Then came the teasing, the retaliation, and some chaos. The situation was quickly disbanded by the coaches, and handled beautifully by an older teenager from Cabbage Patch named Kelvon. He addressed the teams during the next drill and explained to the Cabbage Patch kids that “everyone has fears. Some people are scared of spiders, some are scared of storms. I’m sure there’s something you all are scared of as well. We are all different in that way. So, we need to respect those differences. In their culture, dogs aren’t the same as they are here…” Just to note, his speech didn’t go exactly like that, but it’s pretty close. The kids looked up to Kelvon, and as he spoke they listened well, and we had more understanding because of it.

I was very excited about the “new births” to soccer, but I was ecstatic to see personal growth in our players. This summer has been very challenging, and occasionally (especially earlier this summer) I have doubted my worth at Americana. However, events like those described above prove that my efforts are not wasted. I may never see the results of my teachings, but I will go on believing that one day something I’ve said or done will guide these young men and women through a tough or troubling time.

I’ll close with a metaphor that I once read about service. Helping others is like sowing seeds. Though we may never see the tree that grows from it, nor get to get experience its fruit, we can rest assured that we have at least planted it and gave it early nourishment so that it may someday flourish. I will go on planting.