The official fundraising jerseys for the Little Eagles are in! Thanks to our sponsors Eurosport (www.soccer.com). We will be selling jerseys for $20 apiece. All proceeds go towards soccer and education programs in Mali. Contact littleeaglesfootball@gmail.com to get yours!

We had a great time promoting the project at the Immortal Technique show in Cheshire and met some wonderful people doing big things! Major thanks to Mansoor Alam of Enough Advocacy for giving our booth a spot! The proceeds of the concert are going towards building an orphanage in Pakistan. Check them out at http://www.enoughadvocacy.org/

On May 12, 2010, The Little Eagles were honored to be named DoSomething.org's "Project of the Day"! DoSomething.org is a group dedicated to helping young adults improve their communities. Check them out at www.DoSomething.org!

The Little Eagles received a generous donation of soccer gear from the Passback Program sponsored by the US Soccer Foundation. We were given jerseys for all 8 teams as well as numerous pairs of cleats, shin guards, and balls. Many thanks to the Passback program, which you can learn more about at www.passback.org

After his show at the Infinity Music Hall in Norfolk, CT, I had a chance to chat with Mali pop star Habib Koite. I shared with him my ideas for the Little Eagles project, and he loved them. He told me about a clinic he does in Mali that teaches children the importance of washing their hands to prevent diseases. If all goes well, Habib will come to visit the Little Eagles in Mali during our season in January-March 2011 to give his clinic!

The Little Eagles secured their first sponsor! Eurosport is hooking us up with some sweet jerseys at low cost! Check out their soccer gear at www.soccer.com

We're making huge progress now, and we're still seeking sponsors and community partners to reach our goals.

The Little Eagles logo is finally completed!! Major thanks to Eric Calloway for all of his hard work creating this logo! He does some seriously great work!

Hey All!

I hope 2010 is bringing everyone much success and happiness! I know it's been a while since you've heard from the Little Eagles, so I thought I'd shoot you a quick update!

Everything is in order for the inaugural season of the Little Eagles Football League to happen, and if all goes well, I will be in Mali in 9 short months to witness our kick-off tournament! The Little Eagles t-shirt design is finally finished, and I'm currently in the process of finding a sponsor to get them printed. We are also going through the loads and loads of African Sky photos and videos in their archive to make a short video about the Little Eagles.

What we need from you:

-KEEP INVITING YOUR FRIENDS TO THE FACEBOOK FAN PAGE AND CAUSE PAGE (This is extremely important when approaching potential sponsors, and I'm overjoyed with the positive response we've had so far from all of you!)

-Help organizing campus fundraisers. I'm looking to hold fundraisers at college campuses in the area in the form of information sessions or soccer tournaments. I would absolutely LOVE any help in either of these areas. I know UCONN hosts a human rights awareness week every year, and even just having a small booth for an event like this would be perfect. If you know of, or are in, any student groups that would be interested, please please please send me their info.

-Potential sponsors. If you know of any organizations that might be interested in donating to the Little Eagles, or could benefit from partnering with us, I would love to hear about them.

-Your ideas. If you have any other ideas, don't hesitate to contact me. I'm open to all suggestions that might benefit this project, and I'd greatly appreciate your input.


Once again, I cannot thank you all enough for the overwhelming support I've had on this project - it deeply touches me. I would never be able to undertake such a project without your support!

Peace, Love, & Football
-Robbie

The Little Eagles are taking flight! I am pleasantly surprised by the overwhelmingly positive feedback we've gotten for the launch of our FB Fan page, Cause page and Blog! In less than 1 weeks time the Little Eagles have accumulated 325 fans from all around the world! Fans from the United States, Canada, Albania, Egypt, Italy, Nicaragua, Argentina, Nigeria and Nepal have come together to show solidarity with African Sky, the Little Eagles project and Malian communities in need. Our cause page is growing as well. With 80 members and $85 in donations to date we are off to a great start.

I would sincerely like to thank each and everyone of you for your support and look forward to bringing this project to fruition. A thanks to Dr. Scott Lacy of African Sky for helping this project along on its journey.

Keep your eyes open for the debut of our Logo and Youtube video!
For more info on African Sky's projects in Mali check out www.Africansky.org.

The Little Eagles program is off the ground and running with the debut of our Facebook page! Stephanie and I met with Scott Lacy, the founder of African Sky, for the second time yesterday. During his January visit to Mali, he was able to promote the idea of a more formal soccer league amongst the locals, which has been met with positive reception - good news for the Little Eagles. A second soccer tournament organized by African Sky was held between Dissan and the surrounding villages, which took place over two days. Eight teams competed in the tournament, with the quaterfinals and semifinals on the first day, and the finals on the next. Scott Lacy didn't arrive until the second day, meaning that it was overseen by the locals - another good sign in that they took the initiative to run the tournament. The finals were held off until the following day so that they could spread the word and get more spectators to come. There were over 100 onlookers for the final game. African Sky also set up volleyball nets and tetherball poles for the rest of the community to use, which were also huge successes. According to Lacy, the locals used them so much that the poles had come down by the end of the day. In our meeting, we discussed the possibilities of starting activities for the girls of the community, using volleyball or tetherball.

The meeting allowed us to set up some immediate objectives, and it feels good to have concrete objectives to work on. We decided that the best way to approach the project is to have an initial league in Dissan and the surrounding 10 villages, and then expand to the more developed north, to Markela, where we'll create a smaller league and clinics amongst the high schools in the area. The Dissan league will consist of 6-8 teams (some of the smaller villages may team up with bigger ones in order to have more of an equal chance). We are planning on two age groups - a school age league for youth under 13 (as a sort of developmental league), and an afterschool-aged league, for youth around 13-18. This way, the clinics we organize will be able to be geared more adequately towards the different age groups. For example, the younger players will attend clinics promoting the importance of school and for English language development, while the older group will receive clinics on HIV/AIDS awareness/prevention and entrepreneurship.

On our immediate to do list:
- Create a logo, which we will use to promote the program and create t-shirts for fundraising
- Start contacting organizations for sponsorships and use the facebook page to spread awareness about the Little Eagles
- Create a youtube video with footage from the African Sky Dissan tournament

There's also a possibility of meeting with Mali footballing legend Salif Keita, who would be a huge boost if we got his support, so keep your fingers crossed!


-Robbie