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