Little Eagles Football

New Videos on our Youtube Page!

2012-01-15T20:43:00.001-08:00

Hey All!

Forgive me for not writing about the end of the trip yet - I promise that I'll get to it soon.

I wanted to share the Youtube page with you, as I have uploaded some of the best ones shot during this trip of soccer games, celebrations, the trip to the stadium, and the girl's game.

Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleEaglesFootball

-Seydou (although I guess I'm back to Rob now)

Dissan Tourney Day 2 Monday, January 9

2012-01-12T11:43:00.000-08:00

After breakfast, Scott, Burama and Yacouba left to attendsome meetings, so Sekou, Drew and I were left to hang out outside of Burama’s.We sat, talked, I made tea, and kids came to visit and sit with us. I wasnervous about how the second day of the tournament was going to end up, so Iwent back to our hut after lunch to take a nap.

When it was time to start the matches, Sekou came and wokeme up, and we started walking down the path to the school. On the way over, wepassed one family compound where a tiny boy, no older than 3 or 4, was sittingand playing by himself. The moment he saw me, he stood up, and without a word,came directly to me and grabbed my hand to walk the rest of the way by my side.I took this as a sign from Uncle Richie (I know only some of you will get thisreference, but to those who understand, it’s a very important one.) and I knewthat things were going to be alright.

Another initiative in the village that Sekou and I decidedto incorporate into our Dissan project was to start a girl’s league. Over thecourse of the past couple days, three teenage girls had come by to talk withScott about wanting their own game. I was thrilled by this idea, as I hadwanted to start a program for the girls, but wasn’t sure about the right way togo about it or what activity they would like to do. Scott and I had previouslydiscussed having a volleyball or tetherball league for the girls, but when heasked these three what sport they wanted to play, their immediate response wasfootball. I was delighted, but as the boy’s tournament drew closer, it seemedas if the girl’s game wasn’t going to get organized in time for this trip.

Sekou's clinic with the girls.

While we waited for the tournament to start, Sekou ran asmall clinic with a group of girls that had come to watch the games. To thesurprise of many of the spectators, the girls played a lot better than what hadbeen expected, and adhered to all the rules of the game. Very satisfied withSekou’s impromptu clinic with the girls, I was optimistic about how the rest ofthe day would turn out. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the black and whitesets of Cheshire High School jerseys approaching the field. When I looked up, Inoticed that one of the players was wearing a head wrap. Upon closerinspection, I was shocked to see that it was the girls who had suited up toplay the first match!

The girls team photo.

The girls played a hard fought match.

During the discussion that Issa, Burama, and Yacouba hadlast night, Issa had listened to all of the goals I had hoped to accomplish forthis tournament, including having a game for the girls. Without me evenknowing, he helped organize the game, and it was an absolute success. Thegirls, most of whom played with bare feet, played a hard fought, entertainingmatch, well exceeding the expectations of the spectators. There were big smileson the faces of all the girls playing and those of us watching. When the matchended 0-0, the girls lined up to take penalties, and it was intense. There evenneeded to be two extra penalties to decide the outcome, and when the winningpenalty was converted, the team and crowd erupted in cheers. You could see howseriously these girls took the match, as the losing side was visiblyheartbroken. But not long after, they were all wearing smiles and laughingtogether again as we handed out notebooks, pencils, and pens to all theathletes.

The youngest brother in my Malian family is a very outgoingand charismatic teenager who I immediately took a liking to. He is looked up toby his peers and is a mediator of many issues within his peer group. He’s alsoa great soccer player that farms, like his father. This means he is a nonschoolkid who doesn’t get the opportunity to participate in games like this toooften. The boys game started, this time with mixed teams of school andnonschool kids, but soon after the start, Sekou informed me that it was thefinal match. Confused, I looked around the field for my brother, and noticedthat he was amongst the spectators instead of playing. Last night, we haddecided to start the tournament over, creating fair, mixed teams, and that wasnot what was happening.

To the winners go the spoils.

I brought this to Sekou’s attention, who immediately went totalk to Issa. After a lengthy discussion, everything got sorted out, and thematch that was being played became the first semi-final. This match went to PKsafter a goalless draw, and the next semi-final promptly started. I made sure mybrother was on the field, and he played brilliantly, eventually scoring one ofthe PKs in the shootout to take his team to the final.

Unfortunately for the blog, I was running around and talkingto people during much of the action, and don’t have much colorful commentary toput up about the games. Suffice to say, all three were highly entertaining, andthoroughly enjoyed by the hundreds of kids who came out to watch. There arealso a few absolutely awesome videos of the final’s shootout and thecelebrations, which I will be sure to post as soon as I’m back in the Statestomorrow. I promise that it’s worth the wait.

PK's during the championship match.

My brother’s team ended up being the champions of the tournament(I promise there was no match fixing), and being so well liked by all the otherkids in the village, was chosen to accept the trophy, which made meunbelievably happy. It was also making a huge statement by giving the trophy toa nonschool kid. Upon receiving the cup, the team and about a hundred otherkids took a victory lap around the field and then back to the village as nightfell, chanting what sounded like, “BE OH BE” (which roughly translates to,“GOAL AFTER GOAL”), over and over again.The celebrations and chanting went well into the night, as the team paradedaround the village with their followers to each household. Another emotionalmoment for me.

Exhausted and very pleased with how everything turned out inthe end, I showered, ate dinner, and sat with Issa, Yacouba, Scott (who hadjust returned), Burama, Drew, and Sekou to discuss the events of the day. Iexpressed my gratitude to Issa for working so hard to accomplish the goals Ihad laid down for the tournament. As a gift, I gave Issa a Little Eaglesjersey, which he excitedly accepted. I then surprised him by giving him theremaining notebooks, pens, and pencils from the tournament to use for hisliteracy program. He was delighted and thanked me by saying that a strong,wonderful partnership had been formed today, which I couldn’t agree more about.

The pandemonium that ensued after the final. Epic.

This day was a very good sign in many regards. This was ahuge step for the prospect of future girl’s soccer programs in Dissan, and itis something we will be working on over the course of this year. This also cementedmy trust in Issa, and created the partnership we needed to be able to runLittle Eagles programs in the village. Another massive day for the LittleEagles!

-S

We're on the way to the airport so I'll finish up the blog when I'm back in the States! See you all soon!

Dissan Tourney Day 1 Sunday, January 8th

2012-01-12T01:39:00.000-08:00

After waking up and greeting the mothers, a daily processthat takes place before breakfast and dinner, we at rice porridge and potatoslices (kind of like fries). Afterwards, they gave us the sweetest bananas Ihave ever tasted, and I got really excited every time they appeared in front ofme throughout the rest of the trip. We then went to greet the elder who oversawyouth activities in order to formally ask his permission to hold the LittleEagles tournament, which he gave to us. I know I said that I thought that BaSeydou looked like Yoda, but aside from not being green and being slightlytaller than the Star Wars character, this guy was exactly like him. His facialstructure matched the Jedi master, from his lips, his pointy-ish ears (thatwere sticking out slightly because of his hat), his eyes, and hiscackle/laugh/giggle. Although he was sitting throughout our visit, he apparentlyeven walks hunched over with a cane. So. Awesome.

The school

Sekou and I went to check out the field we were going to beusing for the tournament before lunch. The field itself was really nicecompared to the Bamako one we used. Although it was dirt covered and had nograss (no fields do here), this one was actually flat and didn’t havecars/people/animals constantly moving through it. The field was set a shortwalk away from the living areas of the village, outside of the school. Afterwards,we had lunch and hung out (more sitting) until the tournament was ready tobegin.

After Sekou and I learned more about the village, we adaptedour ideas and goals for the Little Eagles Dissan project. In the village, somekids go to school and others become farmers or follow their parent’s footstepsto other various jobs. While there isn’t any blatant discrimination ofnonschool kids by their school going peers, the nonschool kids are sometimesteased by school kids for not going to school. So for our work in Dissan, wedecided to design the program to be comprised of teams including both schooland nonschool players. This program also carries the message that educationdoes not just happen in classrooms, but in the fields and through other tradesas well.

The teams wearing Cheshire High School jerseys.

On the way down to the field to start the tournament, agroup of kids began following us, one of which grabbed my hand to walk with me.While we were walking, I got a flash of my Uncle Richie, and the picture of himwalking with a group of children in Peru. I knew he was with me, and that gaveme a huge wave of strength and confidence. We got to the field and as soon asthe first game kicked off, there was an immediately recognizable differencefrom the Bamako tournament, which worked with pre-existing teams. Here inDissan, teams were created just for this event, meaning teams hadn’t played orpracticed together before. It was also a larger field with teams fielding 11players instead of the 8 at Bamako. The style of play, although entertaining,was more along the lines of American youth soccer, with players clumping enmasse around the ball. However, with regular practices and defined teams, thesekids had potential, and that was highly evident within a few players thatshowed flashes of brilliance throughout the matches.

The audience lined the field under the shade of trees andalong the side of the school facing the field. They were predominantly youth,and showed up in the 100’s to watch the action. The games had the feel ofschoolyard scrimmages, which, in a sense, they were, but were still a hugesource of fun and excitement amongst the players and the crowd. There were hugesmiles whenever the athletes touched the ball or made a good play. The firstsemi-final resulted in an entertaining 0-0 draw, which went to penalties.

During the second match,we became increasingly aware of an uneasy feeling as one team began dominatingthe other. Good competition is one thing, but when the score line reached 7-0,we knew something was up. After taking a closer look, we realized that one teamlargely outsized the other, and it didn’t take long to confirm our suspicions.Somehow, in picking teams, the second game ended up between a team of 3^rdand 4^th graders and a team of 5^th and 6^thgraders, which, I don’t need to tell you, is a massive difference.

Celebrating a goal

As it would turn out, the nonschool kids weren’t playing.Highly frustrated, we began an investigation into what had happened. In themeantime, Scott suggested that I join a pickup game with the 20 somethings thathad formed after the conclusion of the second match, which I did. The dustkicked up from the field stung my eyes and throat, but, as always, playing is afantastic release from stress. And on a positive note, I scored my first goalon African soil, assisted by Sekou, and our team went on to win the game 4-1.

Following a bucket shower and dinner, I sat down with Scott,as Burama, Yacouba, and Issa, who runs a literacy program in the village(comprised of young adults who were formerly nonschool kids) and helped reorganizeour tournament, discussed what had happened earlier. As someone who works with youngnonschool adults, Issa took the issue to heart, and was determined to help us.Despite not being able to understand most of what he was saying due to thelanguage barrier, the way Issa was passionately and adamantly talking proved tobe a great source of relief for me. It felt wonderful to have allies like him, Burama,and Yacouba, and they vowed to resolve the issue for the second day of thetournament.

The events of the day illustrate the importance of having astrong partnership with the community these types of programs operate in. AsScott puts it, “You can’t parachute in and start a program”. We could haveeasily come with bags of jerseys and balls, dropped them off, snapped a fewpictures, and assumed that our goals were being fulfilled. But that’s not whatAfrican Sky is about. Today showed me that without having such strong partnersin the community, my project would never work. Without having partners like Issa,Burama, Yacouba, and Sekou, I would have never known that nonschool kids weren’tbeing included in today’s event, and I definitely would have never had themeans of resolving this issue.

Day 2 of the tournament proved this.

-S

Acclimating to Dissan – Saturday, January 7

2012-01-11T01:28:00.000-08:00

I woke up and it was pitch black. The kind of pitch blackwhere you can’t see your hand right in front of you. I had no concept of whattime it was, but I could hear some animals making noises in the distance (not thatthey weren’t making noises all night, but the roosters were crowing, so Ifigured the sun had to be up). During the night, I had heard either Drew orSekou get up and find their way to the door, (The room that we were staying inwas connected to the community center and about the size of 4 twin mattressesin a rectangle. There were three thin mats on the floor for us to sleep on, sowe basically took up the whole space.) fumble around with the metal lock (whichis not quiet) for a good 5 minutes, then either succeed or give up (I couldn’ttell, but the noise had stopped). I decided to lay there until someone triedagain.

Eventually, we found our way out of the concrete box weslept in and had breakfast (hard boiled eggs) out in front of the communitycenter (in the shade of course). After waiting for a little while for someothers to show up, Scott, Yacouba, Sekou, and a couple others beganexperimenting with the brick making machine, which is an incredible device.Using local earth dug up from the ground (minus the top soil) and adding very,very small amounts of cement, the machine is able to compress the mixture intoa stabilized block, which is significantly stronger than bricks or othertypical earth blocks. These will be used to build the African Sky schools andmuch of the Ecodougu site as well. (This description really doesn’t do itjustice – it’s amazing.)

Coming into Dissan

After spending the morning experimenting with differentmixtures of earth from different areas and creating a few sample bricks, wepacked up and headed for Dissan village, which was a short way down the road.The village itself, however, sits about 20 minutes away from the main highway(by motorbike), so when we got dropped off by the bus, we had to wait a littlewhile for people from the village to come and fetch us. Soon enough, we were atDissan, a fairly large village of nearly 900 people, sitting outside Brama’s(Yacouba’s brother) house, surrounded by dozens of children. This is where wespent about 75% of our time – sitting under the shade, drinking tea, andtalking while anywhere from 5 to 50 kids would hang out in our company.

By choice, I’ve decided not to go into too much detail aboutthe village of Dissan itself. Words cannot do justice to describe how specialthe village is, and it would not be possible for me to accurately portray whatit was like to spend time there. Therefore, I will be focusing on the LittleEagles activities that happened and a few of the key interactions we had withpeople. After all, that is what this blog is about. (or is it?)

After sitting with the kids for a little while, Sekou and Idecided to take out one of the balls we brought for the tournament and pump itup – which is bound to cause excitement pretty much everywhere (except in US). Weplayed 2 v 2 (Drew and Sekou against me and a village boy about 12 years old) ina small space under some trees next to two large stoves cooking up shea butter.A large group of about 50 kids followed us over from Brama’s to watch. One coolthing about Dissan that I will point out is that anywhere you go, you arealways followed by a flock of kids. Sometimes it’s only a couple, and sometimesit’s a few dozen, but either way, it makes you feel really, really cool.

After working up a sweat, we went back to Brama’s for ourbucket showers, which basically entails stooping over a bucket of water andsplashing yourself - a lot moresatisfying than you might think. Then we went over to a different familycompound (the village is broken up into sections where each family lives, andcontain a number of huts for the members) to meet my new Malian family. We satand talked with Scott and my two moms, Ba and Fatimata, who are awesome. Thewomen in the villages are very strong and assertive (and, frankly, slightlyscary), and yet are some of the most compassionate people I’ve ever met. I amhonored to have been given my name and be a part of this family. But, again,that’s not what this blog will be focused on.

Family

Before going to sleep, we sat in front of Brama’s place (See?I told you there was going to be a lot sitting.) while 100’s of kids came byand stayed for varying lengths of time. Each night, the youth of the village goaround visiting each household in a process called “yalla yalla” (not sure ifthat’s spelled right). Since we were visiting, we got tons of kids coming togreet us, which was a lot of fun.

Sitting

Without electricity, you tend to go to bed a lot earlier inthe village (granted, you wake up a lot earlier too). It’s a different pacethan anything I’ve experience before in my travels, and it was pretty nice.When you get tired, you go to bed. There’s no TV or computer (there was a radiothat played some awesome African music) to distract you all hours of the night.Most nights we were probably in bed between 11pm and midnight. We slept in asmall, empty hut with a thatched roof just big enough for our three mats to fitside by side.

Tomorrow – Day 1 of the Little Eagles tournament, or so Ithought…

-S

Sunset

Rewind - Jan. 6

2012-01-10T16:50:00.000-08:00

Ok. After another long travel day (the last one before ourflights home), we are finally back in Bamako so that I will be able to reporton everything that’s been happening. However, a lot went down the last few days(and it’s late), so I will be breaking up the posts to try to cover a couple eachday.

So for tonight, I’ll catch you up on Friday, January 6,since there’s not a whole lot to discuss. We got up and went to the busstation, which is wild. Hordes of people are there to sell anything andeverything and countless people are trying to shuffle you into their taxis orbuses. There were probably more vendors/drivers/people getting you to take acertain bus then there were actual passengers. It seemed like it anyway. Evenas we entered the station, two younger guys in their 20’s came up to our taxias we had a momentary pause in movement. Leaning in the window, they tried toconvince us to take the buses that they were affiliated with. When the carstarted moving again, at a slower pace, they grabbed the inside of the windowand jogged alongside. As the taxi began moving too quickly for them to keep up,they jumped up and hung on for the ride. I was impressed. We didn’t take theirbus.

Where we spent about 24 hours. The community
center is on the right.

We got a bus to Ecodougu, where Scott and African Sky arecreating their own sustainable village (a really cool project). The trip tookabout 3 hours, most of which I knocked out for. The buses are just old tourbuses, and the one we took was particularly old and dusty. By the time we getto our destination, I was coming down with a nasty cold that lingered for thenext couple days. Sa va.

The site for Ecodougu (which currently consists of an emptycommunity center on a large plot of largely undeveloped land) is right next toanother village, which is part of a commune of 11 or so villages. We got thereand greeted a few people from the village, sitting in the shade out of thestifling heat of the sun. Eventually, a pickup truck pulled up in front of us.The driver got out to walk around the vehicle and open the passenger door. Acane slowly descended to the ground, and an old man stepped out of the truck.He walked at a glacial pace, yet somehow asserted a very powerful presence. BaSeydou was the head elder of the commune, and he was awesome (and reminded meof Yoda, which made him even cooler – actually, all of the elders I metbasically reminded me of Yoda. It made me happy).

Learning how to make tea.

We basically hung around outside of the community center forthe rest of the day. Sekou taught me how to make tea, there was a visit fromthe elected mayor of the commune, and we took out the brick making machine(which I’ll talk more about tomorrow), but basically, we just sat and talked.This will be a common theme in the posts from the bush. We did a lot ofsitting. It’s just the pace of life in the bush. It was nice. The sky is alsogorgeous at night.

Anyway, that pretty much covered the events of the day. Oh,and I learned how to poop outside down a hole, which takes some getting usedto, but is actually quite nice at night under the stars. That, and showeringwith a bucket of water.

Scaring the snakes away.

That’s good for now. More tomorrow – getting to Dissan.

-S

Back in Bamako!

2012-01-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

Hey All!

Just wanted to check in really quickly to let you know that we're back in Bamako safe and sound. There's so much to report on about the last few days - an awesome tourney (despite a few speed bumps) and a HUGE surprise addition to the programs Little Eagles will offer. But our day isn't over yet, so I'll write more tonight!

-S

Kickin' it

2012-01-05T17:16:00.001-08:00

Just to prove that I literally eat, sleep and breathe soccer– apparently in my sleep last night, I started calling out, “Coach! Coach!Coach!”

Neighborhood kids

One thing that’s cool about Mali, is that people love tohang around and just chill and chat. And that’s exactly what we did today. Islept in this morning while Scott went to a meeting with Peace Corps members,and then went with him to hang out at Yacouba’s house. We had lunch, rice withpeanut sauce, which was exactly what I needed to get back on track with my stomachafter the Chinese food debacle. (“It will give you strength,” Yacouba informedme before I ate. And he was right. Plus, it was delicious. Mali is quickly going to become my newcomfort food).

The wall says "50 cent clan"

Then we just sat outside and watched TV and a DVD containinga slideshow of Scott’s previous trips to Mali. A number of kids watched withus, and took great pleasure in excitedly pointing out themselves and theirfriends and family when they showed up on the screen. Before we left to headback to the hotel, Sekou and I kicked around with a few neighborhood kids onYacouba’s street. (All across the streets in Bamako, “crews” write their nameson walls with spray paint. They’re usually in English, with slightly off names –e.g. 50 cent clan, the gorgeous boys.) It was great to finally get to kick aball around after watching from the sideline. We played keep away, and a lot ofthe other neighborhood kids came to watch. We were all covered in dust from thestreet by the time we finished.

When Scott and I got back to the hotel, we went downstairswith Drew to a fast food joint we usually buy water from. I ate an AWESOMEshredded chicken sandwich with onions and French fries stuffed into deliciousbread. I don’t know why, but it was one of the best things I’ve ever had…and itwas 2 bucks. I love Mali.

The kids are so much fun to hang around

Tomorrow we’re off to Dissan, where we’ll be hosting oursecond Little Eagles tournament. Insha’Allah, it will go as well as the first,if not better. I’ll be without internet until Tuesday, so I’ll check back inas soon as we get back.

In the meantime, be sure to check out the new videos I’veposted of the Bamako tourney.

Over and out.

-S

Getting schooled in street football

Stade

2012-01-04T11:44:00.001-08:00

It figures that it would be the Chinese food that would do me in.

The Stadium

I went to bed early after feeling a bit under the weather and woke up feeling the same way, so I decided to stay at the hotel and rest while Drew and Scott went to the market. Sekou picked up all the gear we would need for the Dissan trip, and when they got back, we head out for the Stade Modibo Keita. Joining us were Yacouba’s two sons, 4 of their friends, and 3 players from each team that played in the tournament, and their coaches. Many of the players wore their new jerseys, and all of the coaches sported their Little Eagles jerseys. It cost us less than $50 to treat about 30 people to the game, many of whom had never been to a professional game before.

Little Eagles players in the Crowd

The match was between Jeanne D’Arc and Stade Malien, the current title holders of the Malien Premier Division. The kids from Yacouba’s neighborhood were giddily excited, all wearing big smiles on their faces. We met Sekou at the gate, who arrived with all of the players and coaches. The stadium itself was had a really cool design, and was overlooked by high cliffs, which some spectators watched from.

The game itself was highly entertaining, and it was great to be able to bring the kids to see the best team in the country. Midway through the first half, Stade scored from a deflected shot, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

The kids all went nuts! Only minutes from full time, Stade added another, and the kids danced around and cheered.

It was a great day out and a really special event for the kids we took to the game!

-Seydou

Off to Markala

2012-01-03T05:43:00.000-08:00

We were up at 7:45 am to head out on our first excursion outside of Bamako. We met the driver, Solo, downstairs, and picked up Yacouba, who’s wife provided us with some delicious egg sandwiches. On the 4 hour drive (which normally takes 6-9 hours), we saw some varying landscapes, from huge ranges of farmland to seemingly endless miles of dirt with scattered trees. We passed by many small villages and markets, scattered along the only highway in this direction. We even got to see two men riding camels. I dozed in and out for most of the trip, catching up on some much needed sleep.

Drew and I with Tamba and his friend Karamoko

When we arrived in Markala, we reached another milestone of our trip – Drew and I were given our Mali names, which Scott and Yacouba had discussed on the trip. As I’ve been mistaken as a
brother of Scott on numerous occasions during the trip, it was only fitting that I was given the name of his Malian younger brother, Seydou Sangare. I’m honored by this name (not to mention that it’s the same first name as Mali born Barcelona superstar Seydou Keita).

We spent the rest of the day/evening at Tamba Traore’s house (Drew’s namesake). Tamba is an English teacher at a well known high school in Markala (the current president of the country went there). We at dinner (fish and rice), talked about what Malian schools were like, discussed the problems with soccer in Mali, watched his kids play, and relaxed. It was was a nice change of pace from the hectic schedule of the previous two days. People stopped by to say hello to Scott, many of whom were members of a women’s program that Scott helped start to promote literacy. Before we went to bed, Scott, Tamba, and I walked Tamba’s friend back to his house a short ways away. It was a perfect night, and during the walk, Scott explained to me some more about my name.

Google Maps doesn't work as well here

The next day, we had breakfast (egg sandwich) and went to visit Tamba’s school. Scott discussed how to bring wifi (weefee) to the school with a group of teachers and administrators before we were showed an English classroom. The students had good English skills, and were given the chance to ask us questions. Once they had heard that I played soccer, the questions came flying in – What position do you play? What team do I play for? (I jokingly told them AC Milan becauseone of the students had a jersey on, and a few of their faces dropped in surprise before they realized that I was kidding). When asked how I liked Markala, I told them that I loved the city, that the people were very generous and kind, and that I hoped to return soon to play football there. The class clapped and cheered.

While getting back into the car, I talked to Scott and Tamba about the possibility of coming to teach/tutor English, even if it was for a week/month. The students seemed really cool, and I would love to come back and work with them. We stopped at a couple of family houses to visit briefly before heading to a village called Soumabougou just outside of Markala. (At one of the family houses, a boy who played goalie took a liking to me when he learned that I played soccer, and I joked about scoring on him.) It was situated on the edge of the Niger River, and was primarily a fishing village. This will be one of the sites of the new African Sky schools. The kids here were awesome and super friendly, and I wish we had had more time there. Drew took measurements around a soccer pitch a few hundred yards outside of the village and found the perfect location for the school, while Scott and some other took soil samples. I hung around with our driver and the kids.

FORZA MILAN!

On the way back to Markala, we stopped by a village with a Peace Corps volunteer so that Scott could meet her and offer assistance if she needed it. We drove back to Tamba’s, had lunch, and said our goodbyes. Despite having met them only 24 hours before, it was an emotional goodbye. The boy I met earlier who played soccer even came by to see us off. Our trip back took about 5 hours this time, and after going out for some Chinese food, we called it a day.

I must have said this in every travel journal I’ve kept – As soon as I get comfortable somewhere, it’s time to leave.

-Seydou

The Grand Finale

2012-01-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

The New Year got off to a perfect start with the conclusion of the New Year’s Tournament in Bamako. As soon as we got up (around 11am), we gathered the gear and left for Yacouba’s, who, shortly upon our arrival, served lunch. We ate spaghetti (cut in inch long strands), prepared with tomatoes and bits of beef. (If I haven’t described how we eat before, the men sit around a communal bowl, and we each ball up chunks of the food with our right hand.) Drew and I then took a cab to Sekou’s neighborhood, where the 3^rd place game was just about ready to kick off.

FC Inter and FC Morino line up before kickoff

I learned from Sekou that the team names were FC Inter, who, appropriately, donned Inter Milan jerseys (they were one of the red teams that lost yesterday), and FC Morino, who wore the red jerseys they received yesterday. I was a little worried about the turnout for the first match compared to yesterday, but the lower attendance numbers didn’t affect the quality and heart of the teams in the least.

There were still about 100 spectators on hand to witness Inter grab a halftime lead when, about 20 minutes into the game, they were able to capitalize on a ball that bounced around players inside the box. A striker in blue and black managed to deflect the ball in, and they fended off FC Morino through the halftime whistle.

Inter also provided the only goal in the second half, when a player nicknamed Balotelli (for his Mohawk style buzz cut) drove in a hard, low shot, which deflected off of a Morino defender and fell right in the path of an unmarked striker. Without hesitation, it was placed beyond the keeper’s reach, securing 3^rd place for Inter.

Free Kicks can be scary

By the time the first match ended, more and more people began to show up to join their family, friends, and neighbors all around the sideline. The two title contenders were warming up off to the side of the pitch. (I’m not sure if I mentioned this, but the “pitch” was a relatively flat, open area where a few different dirt streets met. Family compounds and vendors closed in the area, except where the streets branched off. Spectators sat on the sidelines, behind the goals, and a few even watched from the roofs of the surrounding buildings. Every so often, cars or motorbikes – even goats – came through the pitch, but rarely halted play. There was little hope of interrupting this match, and the players adapted to the environment to avoid getting hit.) Before the match began, the teams lined up for pictures (there was even a photographer who shows up to big events and sells pictures of the day), and I was introduced to each player by their captains as I walked down the line. This had the feel of a World Cup final, and it certainly mirrored the authenticity of one. Two linesmen were even found so that all the right calls were made in the final.

The atmosphere was electric! By the time the game was underway, there were hundreds of supporters. The prizes of notebooks, pens, pencils, and soccer socks were displayed on an end line table. Sekou even graciously donated a trophy he had won to give the champions. For two groups of 10-14 year olds, an age group who rarely gets much attention (never mind are the highlight of the holiday), this couldn’t get any bigger. I was invited out for another honorary kickoff, and the big match was finally underway!

Pagou Foot (in purple jerseys) vs. FC Madou (wearing blue)

Pagou Foot, who train at a local soccer school (a place where kids train during school vacation) got off to the better start when they were given a close range free kick. Mirroring a shot from yesterday’s semi final, the kick taker lined up a low, devastating shot to the side of the assembled wall and beating the keeper, sparking emphatic cheers from the crowd. As the scorer ran to the corner to celebrate, kids chased and grabbed on to him in excitement. Both teams defended brilliantly, but towards the end of the first half, Pagou added a second. Winning another free kick after a player was tripped while beating the defender with an impressive, successful juke on the end line to the right of the goal. A well planned and executed run from the Pagou Foot attacker gave him enough free space to rip a one-time shot into the net from the pass off the free kick. 2-0, and more cheers from the supporters of the boys in purple.

Before halftime, FC Madou managed to cut the lead in half. A blue attacker received a throw in near midfield and took a couple of touches before launching a shot, my candidate for goal of the tournament. The strike came from far out, and time slowed for me on the opposite side of the field, as the ball went like a laser directly into the top left corner with professional accuracy. The outstretched purple keeper was left helpless as the ball flew past his fingertips. The goal got me so excited that I couldn’t even operate my camera well enough to capture the celebration.

At halftime, the score line read:

Paugou Foot 2 – FC Madou 1

Dozens of kids surrounded the teams at halftime to listen in on the coaches give their orders. Soon enough, the second half was underway. Once again, Pagou came out strong, piling on pressure and finding space for numerous shots. One of these shots produced an incredible low save, but a purple striker was the first to pounce on the rebound, re-establishing a two goal lead. It was only two minutes later when another rebound save bounced around the box, eventually finding the foot of a Pagou attacker. 4-1.

Despite being down by 3 goals, Morino showed great heart to attempt the comeback. Pagou desperately defended as wave after wave of attacks came at the purple goal, many of which narrowly missed. Against the run of play, Pagou Foot secured the title with a counter, scoring their fifth. The scorer ran the length of the field, pointing at his coach, and with a giant leap, embraced him in a huge hug. Both teams left all they had on the pitch for a highly entertaining match, but there could only be one champion.

The final whistle blew, cueing the celebrations and a massive pitch invasion, with the players being hoisted in the air triumphantly and carried to the awards table, which was engulfed by a horde of fans. The Pagou supporters were chanting and singing, led by one of the goal scorers.

To the Winners go the spoils

One by one, each captain came up to accept the prizes of notebooks, pens, and pencils, and each coach received a Little Eagles jersey. Then, the champions came up individually (like the Champs League or any major final) and in addition to the school supplies, were also given a pair of soccer socks (courtesy of the Cheshire High School team). When it was time for the captain, last in line, he walked up to more chants from the crowd. He accepted the trophy (which I got to present), holding it high above his head, and was bombarded by teammates and fans, who followed him, cheering, to their coach’s family compound nearby to continue the celebrations. I heard later that the team paraded around the neighborhood, singing and chanting, stopping at each house to accept gifts of food and change. What a huge day for these champions!

I’m not sure that I’ve ever experienced a more powerful, positive wave of emotion than I did during that final. Countless times, I had to fight back the tears caused from the scene unfolding before my eyes. I was so moved that I was speechless during the whole 20 minute taxi ride back to the hotel.

After resting a bit at the hotel, Drew, Scott and I met up with Sekou and went to an “American” restaurant a short walk away. I had a shredded chicken sandwich (stuffed in really delicious bread) and pineapple juice while we discussed the day. (The restaurant was inspired by the owner living part of each year in Harlem, and makes hamburgers and pizza.) It was hopping with 20 somethings who make it a regular stop on their rounds during nights out. We talked about how well everything went and how happy we were.

Inspired by Pagou Foot’s soccer school, we began talks about creating one of our own. Ours, however, would also include education and an all year round program. Essentially, we would be providing kids with a high quality education and soccer training. Big stuff. Scott also talked to me about the huge impact that this tournament had on the neighborhood - from gathering the community together, giving the neighborhood something to be proud of hosting, highlighting youth players instead of older ones, and even providing some income for the photographers and other vendors near the pitch.

What a massive day! I can’t thank everyone enough for all the help and support I’ve received on this project. Because of you, I accomplished my dream of the last 5 years today!

-R

Catching up - New Year's Eve wrap up

2012-01-01T14:36:00.000-08:00

Toumani Diabate’s was a blast for New Year’s eve. Sekou and Yacouba joined us for an unforgettable night of wonderful music. This was another upscale place, and the crowd consisted of many non-Africans. One of these patrons was an interesting fellow who went by the name of Joe. He was wearing a three piece tan suit, hand his longish hair tied up in a bun behind his head, and wore about 8 gold rings and numerous gold bracelets. He approached our table and said something to me, inaudible over the music. I looked at Scott, who Joe turned to and Scott said, “Talk to him in English”. “I am,” he replied, a little confused. I was getting so used to being talked to in French or Bambara that it didn’t even occur to me that I might be able to understand him. Turns out he was from Greenwich, CT and had a band with Mali musicians. He also had some connection with One World Football, and organization that makes indestructible soccer balls, and said that he would get me a couple to try out. He even got on stage at one point (some of the members of his band were playing with Diabate) and played his harmonica over the African drummers.

Diabate’s group went on at about 2am. There were two opening groups (the first of which had a gorgeous singer), the second of which was on for the start of the New Year. When the song they were playing at midnight finished, the owner got up on stage to say a few words. We said happy new year to each other and fireworks were being set off outside. The cool thing about the music was that singers and musicians would just come on stage at any time. One women went up for one song and started rapping, which was awesome (not to mention it was totally unexpected).

By the time Diabate stepped up to the stage, there were close to a dozen musicians, numerous singers that would trade off on the mic, and 2 guys who danced to every song. With Toumani ripping on the kora and an incredible talking drum player, they brought down the house. It didn’t take long before most of the crowd was on the dance floor. Even Drew couldn’t resist the soul shaking beats and got up there. At one point, a television camera came to us, and interviewed Scott. Turns out we were on the national news channel. We all had a great time and didn’t end up leaving until about 4 am. Scott and I were still up to see the ball in NYC drop (5 am Bamako time).

Once again, Happy New Year to all of the friends of Little Eagles!

-R

Happy New Years

2012-01-01T12:02:00.000-08:00

I just want to say that the last two days have brought me some of the best experiences of my life! Unfortunately for the sake of keeping up with this blog (not for me though - it'll be a nice break after the craziness of the past 48 hours, even though there's plenty of work to be done), we're on the road to Markala early tomorrow morning, and I will be without internet until Tuesday evening. However, I have about a 6 hour road trip ahead of me tomorrow, so I will have plenty of time to write an extensive summary of the conclusion of the tournament. Suffice to say that it was a historic moment for the Little Eagles project, and it couldn't have gone any better, which I owe to Sekou's hard work in organizing it. I promise a huge post on Tuesday, so look for that. Check out the pics from the day here.

Catch you on the flip side

-R

P.S. I have a really special video that will show just how much this game meant to these kids. It's amazing and I'll get it up when I get home. There are a few new videos from earlier on in the trip on our youtube page.

Kick off - December 31, 2011 10pm

2011-12-31T13:51:00.000-08:00

You know you’re up too late when you hear the morning call to prayer…

We were up at 9am and out the door about 15 minutes later, and met up with Yacouba and Sekou outside the hotel. Sekou had just come from preparing the pitch for today’s tournament, located in his neighborhood. Scott went with Yacouba to buy some things, while Drew and I took off with Sekou to the market. The market is a sprawling section of Bamako, with hundreds of small vendors selling just about everything. We made our way to a shop selling books, and Sekou bartered for 100 notebooks, 100 pens, and 100 pencils, 50 of each for the participants of both tournaments. In total, we spent around $50 USD for everything.

After the vendors wrapped up our bundles of school supplies, the three of us walked a bit down the street to some stands selling soccer gear. We picked up 4 balls at around $12 USD a pop, but couldn’t find a trophy for the champions for a low enough price, even in a second shop we tried (they were asking around $40 USD for a medium sized trophy, most of which had small cracks in it). One of the vendors claimed to have seen me playing for the US National team.

We caught a cab ride back to the hotel (for $2 bucks), picked up the jerseys we needed for the tournament, and went over to Yacouba’s house for lunch. We sat around with the neighborhood kids and watched TV on a small set that was rolled out from inside. The first was an Anglo-French soccer news program, which I was happy about, and the second was news. Two of the younger girls sitting outside with us started talking and playing with Scott and I. One of the girls pointed at Scott and said “Che” (“man”). Then she pointed at Drew and again said, “Che”. Then she pointed at me and said “Wu so!” (“woman”), and giggled. Scott and I tried to correct her by insisting that I was, indeed, a “che” as well, but couldn’t be convinced. We then started playing a clapping game (kind of like patty cake), which turned into the girls counting on our fingers.

When it was time for lunch, Scott, Yacouba, their friend, Drew, and I, went inside and had lunch, which consisted of white rice prepared with a Mali sauce, the same variety of vegetables in yesterday’s dish, and bits of mutton. When we finished eating, we sat around and talked for a while until Sekou came back to take Drew and I to his neighborhood, well off the beaten path where non-Africans are rarely seen. After meeting Sekou’s family, it was time to start!

We were introduced to the four coaches (each representing a team from different sections of the neighborhood), Sekou and I handed out the jerseys to each team, and we were underway! I could not have asked for a better day. The weather wasn’t too hot (70s-80s with a cool breeze) and the soccer was phenomenal, contested by 8 man teams with players ranging from 10-14. Given that it was a holiday and kids were out of school, supporters were out in droves, with upwards of a couple hundred in attendance. I was invited out to the center circle by the referee for an honorary kick off, a gesture I wasn’t expecting and which really touched me.

The first match, fresh in their new kits, was between Blue and Red. The teams went at it full force, and you could tell from the coaches’ excitement that it was no friendly. The same hard challenges and bone crunching tackles we witnessed in training with the older kids yesterday were even more present and vicious today. Each player came to win. The second teams to play were even doing warm up exercises off to the side during the first match.

Blue, who were noticeably smaller than their opponents, were on the back foot from the start of the match. About midway through the first half, Blue managed to string together a few nice passes to find an open striker near the goalie box, who expertly slotted the shot in the far, bottom right corner. The section of the crowd that had come out to support that team erupted with the same enthusiasm a world cup match. I mean they went absolutely bonkers! Kids were running around screaming in joy, others invaded the pitch to embrace the scorer. I was choked up; It took all I had to prevent myself from crying in happiness. This is what I dreamed about 5 years ago. And it was unfolding in front of my eyes. Even now as I write this, I can’t help but become overwhelmed with emotion.

Eventually, the referee restored order and the game was back underway, and the score held at 1-0 until the end of the first 30 minute period. After a brief intermission, the second half kicked off. After going up 2-0, Blue found themselves at the end of a Red assault, eventually conceding. Smelling blood, Red pressed hard, but would later give up the crucial goal, going down 3-1 against the run of play. The final whistle blew to another eruption and pitch invasion surrounding the winners.

Since we didn’t receive our missing bag from the airport containing the rest of our jerseys, we had to borrow the red jerseys from the first game and give them to one of the teams in the second match. The other team received purple jerseys. Only about 10 minutes after the opening whistle, Purple sent a lob cross from just inside midfield, finding a rising striker who sent the ball past the keeper with a glancing header. Red’s coach exploded into life, pacing the sideline barking orders to his team. This was serious.

Inspired by the coach’s remarks, Red controlled the remainder of the first half, but couldn’t find their first goal, coming close on numerous occasions. One drilled low shot rattled the wooden left post, resulting in a unified “OHHH!” from around the pitch. After going down by two goals, Red eventually crossed to find an unmarked, free close range header, which grazed the top of the sagging goal. The referee whistled and pointed to the center circle, indicating a goal, giving the Red supporters a long awaited celebration. Purple went on to pull away, however, eventually taking the match by a final score line of 4-1.

Tomorrow’s semi final will be contested between the two Red teams, followed by the big final between Blue and Purple. This was an amazing culmination of the efforts and contributions put into this project by so many people. I can honestly say it’s been one of the best experiences of my life…and we still have a final and the Dissan tournament to go!

It’s time to head out for the New Year’s celebration, which we will be spending at Toumani Diabetes’ restaurant, Le Diplomat. Insha’allah, we’ll be treated to a performance by the man himself. Only two more hours until the New Year, and this one couldn’t have ended better. I can’t wait to see what 2012 has to offer. Until I get some time to upload pictures to this blog, check the ones out from today at facebook.com/littleeaglesfootball.

I hope everyone back home has a wonderful and safe New Year’s eve! Blessings from Mali!
-R

Holy S%&*, I’m in Africa!

2011-12-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

I ni ce! (Pronounced: E nee chay! )

Action on the pitch.

Hello! Our first full day in Mali had us going nonstop. We started out by meeting Yacouba and going across the street from the hotel for some breakfast sandwiches at a small shack. People were gathered around eating breakfast and watching a small TV set up on a shelf playing a movie. We took a seat on a bench and the two boys (probably in their early teens) manning the shack cooked us up some eggs and put them in some delicious bread. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, by northeast American standards anyway, at about 70 degrees. Many of the Malians walked around in winter jackets and scarves.

Once we scarfed those down, we took a taxi (really extravagantly painted with Green, Red and Yellow stripes on the side and the word “Champion” written across the top of the windshield, and a big Ghadaffi sticker on the dashboard) across the city to Yacouba’s house, tucked away down an alley. A number of neighborhood kids (many of whom knew Scott) came to watch us, and stood tentatively in a corner as Scott and Yacouba talked, and the women prepared food and washed clothes. We were served a frothy, strong tea served in a glass the size of about a double shot, which we sipped on.

The neighborhood behind the goal.

A little while later, Sekou showed up on his motorbike, and we excitedly hugged and got acquainted. I gave him a Black Little Eagles jersey, which he gleefully ran into the house and changed into. After he came back out he became my karamoko, and began teaching me Bamanankan, the local language. I quickly filled pages of my notebook with words for greetings, soccer terms (of course), colors, body parts, numbers, days of the week, and tons of random words (and how to tell a girl she’s pretty. That makes 5 languages now).

We kept at it until lunch, and Scott, Drew, Sekou, Yacouba, and I went inside to sit around a small table with a large bowl on top in one of two small rooms in the house (the other being the bedroom). The bowl contained Senegalese rice, delicious fish (some kind of freshwater carpe), eggplant, ochre, and some other vegetables. Absolutely splendid; I loved it. We all sat in a circle around the bowl and dug in (with our right hand of course), balling up the rice against the side of the bowl and tossing the savory morsel in our mouths.

Once we had all had our fill, we hung around and chatted for a while about the plans for the upcoming two weeks. Scott also showed off the new trailer for an upcoming documentary about African Sky (which is awesome, I’ll post the link when it’s available). Sekou then took Drew and I to go to the local field to watch some soccer. The “field” is a relatively flat space of sand and crushed rock at the bottom of a quarry (although a creek runs through the side of it), that is enclosed by rock, making a natural walled indoor court with ledges where spectators would watch. Behind one end was a high ledge with houses on top and hills in the background. On the other side was the trash runoff from the neighborhood. The group on the field was a neighborhood team in their late teens/early 20s, which sported neon yellow and orange bibs and played 7 a side. Some of the players had cleats, while others had sandals that were heavily taped around the foot. Man, were these guys tough. Despite it being a practice, these guys went all out and played out a very physical game with bone crunching tackles. It was very entertaining and we watched for about an hour, along with a couple dozen other spectators and a group of children that followed us from Yacouba’s house. (Links of the videos will be posted – the upload speeds are really slow at the Hotel. More pictures can be found here ) Occasionally, the game would pause for mothers walking through the field with their children to get to the other side of the field, or a boy with a sewing machine would run through. A couple of the younger kids grabbed the balls when they were shot behind the goal (there weren’t any nets).

Watching the Practice

We then said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel to meet none other than “Bill Clinton”. Bill was our money guy, and converted our US dollars to Mali CFAs. With our new money, we went out to Savana restaurant for dinner. After the BlaBla Bar and seeing the Savana, I’ve realized that it’s incredibly difficult to explain Mali restaurants without showing someone a picture. Savana, like BlaBla, is an upper end spot, except that this was open air. It was actually a little chilly out (lower 60s), which is very rare. There were a couple of trees growing through the middle of the restaurant, with a bunch of smaller potted palm tree plants. The wooden tables (just barely enough room for 4 people) were surrounded by zebra print chairs, which matched the print around the side of the bar. The whole restaurant was surrounded by various colored Christmas tree lights. These lights also formed a makeshift drape in the doorway, which you walked through to enter. On the wall on the side of the kitchen, there was a mural depicting an African tribal scene. On the other side were wooden booths under a canopy, with African styled stick figures painted on the wall doing various activities, such as playing instruments.African tribal symbols lined the edges of the canopy.

Two younger boys playing behind one of the goals.
They also served as ball boys.

The crowd was mostly non-African when we arrived, which eventually turned to predominantly Malian as the night progressed. The expats there drive mostly smaller SUVs and jeeps, which lined the street outside. We each ordered a personal pizza (mine was pretty decent, with sausage and bacon), and listened to the house band (guitar, keys, bass, percussion, and two female singers), who were fantastic. They played an interesting mix of Malian music and very, very random American songs. And when I say random, it was like a trivia game trying to identify the song as soon as you could recognize it. Songs that included the likes of Lauren Hill, Headway’s “What is Love”, John Lennon’s “Imagine All the People”, and an Oliver Mtukudzi (Zimbabwe) track, which I was incredibly impressed with myself for recognizing. They were all exquisitely played and sang, and added a little African flair with the guitar licks. I really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow is another landmark for Little Eagles, as we host our first major tournament between 4 local Bamako teams!

-R

They were a bit...bitey.

2011-12-30T01:19:00.000-08:00

Man, these mosquitoes suck.

Anyway, survived the first night. Big day coming up today. After breakfast I'm hopefully getting fitted for some sweet African clothes. Then it's off for some cultural/language training and some homemade food at Scott's host family's house with Yacouba. There, I'll meet Sekou so we can discuss the projects we'll be doing on the trip! Busy, busy! Time to get moving!

-R

Safe and Sound! - Friday, Dec 30, 2:15am

2011-12-29T21:21:00.000-08:00

About 24 hours after leaving Cheshire, I’ve finally made it to Bamako! The second leg of the flight went smoothly (the game selection at that ps3 pod was poor, in case anyone was wondering – just old demos. Although one station did have FIFA Street 3, so I was content.) After the 5 hour flight, we passed through security and waited for our bags. One bag containing half of the jerseys for the trip didn’t come in, but we were told we should be getting it tomorrow.

A few guys helped us out with the missing bag, during which I talked with a couple guys about playing soccer (easy to do regardless of language) and I jokingly told them I played for Milan, which they got a kick out of. Once the bags were loaded in a little red Toyota, we made a 15 minute drive to Hotel Le Loft, in the heart of Bamako.

The city itself sort of reminds me of Lima, Peru, with many similarities to the building structures. Along the road, there are countless vendors who constructed their shops out skinny tree logs, which somewhat sends me back to India. It was dark by the time we got in, and we passed by small groups of people sitting outside around little fires, radios, or TV sets.

As soon as we settled into our rooms at around 11pm (I was given the nickname “Rasta” by some of the guys helping out, and a guy named “Bob” who moved our bags dubbed me Jah Fakoly, the name of a local musician with dreads, by another.), Scott, Drew, and I took a short cab ride to BlaBla Café (apparently named so by the owner because, according to him, when you walk into a good bar, you can only hear “Blah, blah, blah” of people talking). It’s a pretty funky joint, kind of a mix between a bar and a lounge, with interesting light fixtures (different colored balls) hanging from the ceiling. A mix of French pop and American funk played over the speakers (I was waiting for “Play that Funky Music White Boy”. I feel like it would’ve been appropriate.) I’ll try to take a picture next time I’m there. I had a delicious dish of grilled chicken and fried plantain, and washed it down with sweet pineapple juice. There was a younger crowd in the bar, 20s to 30s, including some non-Africans, who presumably worked in Bamako given their assimilation. You can definitely see the European influence, as many of the younger people wear very stylish French clothes around the capital city.

The owner, a big guy who goes by the name “Simba”, was smoking a big Cuban cigar, sitting with a crew of people enjoying a bucket with three bottles of champagne jammed into it. Every so often, we would hear his hearty, boisterous laugh, which is very hard to avoid joining in on. He bought us a round before we left. It seems like Scott knows everyone around the city. And the people he meets he quickly has laughing as hard as Simba. So far, Bamako seems like a really cool spot, and I can’t wait to see it in the daytime, when all the markets are thriving with people. I’ll be sure to take pictures for you to check out tomorrow, when I’ll finally get to meet Sekou face to face!

Goodnight from Bamako!
-R

Through the looking glass

2011-12-29T13:00:00.000-08:00

I’ve never been to Paris before. It looks nice from the airport window.

Or at least what I can see of it, which is not much at all. I did manage to eventually fall asleep, only to be woken up a couple of hours later by the breakfast tray. Then you go through that awkward thought process: Oh God, was I snoring/drooling/making some unruly noise/flopping over the next seat/aisle? It doesn’t help when the crew seems to look at you like they know something that you don’t. Maybe it’s just me. The stewardess stood with my breakfast muffin and juice as I groggily fumbled with the seat tray. I heard her French accent through the music in my headphones – “Poosh down, ser”. Ahh. Right. I knew that. Now they have another thing to laugh about.

In any case, the rest of the flight went smoothly (except for a momentary freak out when I thought that the chocolate pudding cup I knicked from the dinner tray may have exploded in my backpack. But a quick check of its structural integrity and we were good to go.), and I found myself gazing out of the window from the Paris terminal, waiting for our connecting flight to Bamako. One more leg to go!

It’s a pretty sweet airport. They even have PS3 stations set up. Which, if you’ll excuse me, I’m about to go check out…

Next stop, Mali!

-R

Au revoir, gopher!

2011-12-29T01:30:00.000-08:00

The first leg of our trip went off without a hitch. We are safely in the air en route to Paris, France. I met up with Scott at his house this afternoon to finish up packing (cramming as much equipment as we possibly could into any bag available). We ended up with 4 stuffed bags (somewhere around 150-200 lbs) of jerseys, shorts, shoes, and socks. It was hard to get any accurate count of exactly how much stuff we’re bringing with the rush of today’s packing, but if I had to estimate, I’d say we have well over 100 jerseys, about 50 pairs of shorts, 50-75 pairs of socks, and at least a couple dozen pairs of some really, really sweet cleats. I have to give a few quick shout outs to the US Soccer Foundation, Eurosport, and the Cheshire High School Soccer Club for hooking us up with the bulk of the gear. I’m so excited to get this to the kids!

It’s hard to believe that this all started as a tiny idea in the back of my mind some 5 years ago – Oh, how cool would it be to start a youth soccer/education program? Not even in my wildest fantasies did I ever imagine that this passing notion of a dream would eventually place me on a plane (well, two planes) to Africa. But my love for soccer and youth education kept this concept in the depths of my consciousness, slowly developing itself into more and more of a feasible project.

However, I still lacked the platform to make the idea into a reality. This came almost two years ago to the day, when my girlfriend at the time, Steph (who went on to do some awesome projects in Chile and Nicaragua) introduced me to her professor, Scott Lacy, founder of African Sky. Steph, I cannot thank you enough for making this connection and for all of your help, support, and input during the initial stages of starting this project. (In hindsight, I was probably a real pain at times, so thank you for putting up with me). Two years of planning, program designing, and fundraising later, here I am. Unreal.

Every penny that you all have graciously donated will go directly towards buying brand new soccer balls, socks/shoes/sandals for kids that don’t have any, and lots of educational supplies – books, notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. For the kids I’ll be seeing that won’t be participating in the soccer programs, I’ve brought along plenty of stickers, candies, and gum. As Scott said, “They’re gonna flip!”

After sitting in a bit of traffic on the shuttle to JFK (where Scott started prepping me for the trip, including a brief history lesson. The family names used to signify professions – Koite for musicians and artists, Kante for Blacksmiths, Sangra for herders, etc. Really cool. I’ll get into it more later.) and dealing with the joys of airport security, we met up with our other traveling partner, Drew, who will be lead man on some of the architectural designs on the new Dissan schools. A few hours later, and I’m 41,000 ft somewhere over the Atlantic, listening to the new Buddha-Bar mixtape on the in-flight entertainment system. (I’m actually quite impressed by their music selection – Aloe Blacc, Nina Simone, Coltrane, and Ella/Duke. I don’t know what it is about flights, but I always find something new. Like that Parkour video Paul and I watched on our trip to Italy back in ’05. Except for the flight to India, where the same actor starred in all 4 in-flight movies, which ranged from drama to comedy to action. You would think that in all of Bollywood and the 1 billion Indians, they could find one other guy.) Crazy. (This trip and Bollywood.)

As little as I usually sleep on planes, I should probably make an attempt. I’ll get at you in Paris. Oui Oui! (1 of 3 things I’ve managed to learn in French.)

And please forgive my drawn out reflection earlier. This is just the first time in a month that I’ve been able to collect and organize my thoughts. That’s what happens when you’re stuck on a plane for 8 hours and the French dude next to you passes out before the take off. Seemed like a good kid though.

-R

Countdown

2011-12-28T02:30:00.000-08:00

It just wouldn't be a proper sending off in an Italian family without a big dinner, would it? (Ca, you technically got the first trivia question wrong, so I get to post this picture :P )

After 3 days of eating excessive amounts of holiday food and countless numbers of Nani's cookies/pies/pastries/cakes/panettone/various other assorted yum-yums, and enjoying quality time with my incredible family and friends, I think I'm finally ready to roll onto the plane (which is less than 24 hours away!). With all the holiday activities the past couple weeks, it hasn't even really hit me that I'll be in Africa within the next 48 hours. Most of the conversations I've had recently have been along these lines:

Friend/family member/person I just met: So when are you leaving?

Me: 1 week/4 days/a couple days/tomorrow

(or, at the party I just came in from) Me: Later today

I honestly have no idea what to expect from this trip. Africa is completely new to me, and as I've traveled to Asia, Europe, and South America before, I've learned that each is uniquely different, and no book, movie, or story can fully prepare you for the experience. But that's what makes traveling so wonderful.

I just want to say before I head to bed (Mom, please don't look at the time I posted this, I promise that I got enough sleep) that I am extremely grateful for all of the positive words and well wishes that I've received from everyone that has engaged me in the conversation I mentioned above. The stories, advice, and good energy you've all given me will no doubt be my greatest asset (along with the piles of granola bars my family gave me for Christmas) as I embark on this new experience, and I hope that I will be able to pay you back to some degree by sharing this experience through this blog.

Oh, and Jackie, save some of that salsa for me so I can try it when I get home. Couldn't risk it with the plane, but everyone said it was delicious.

Getting up to Speed

2011-12-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

With all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays nearly complete and the big trip now happening within 48 hours, I thought that it would be a good time to catch everyone up on what's been happening with the project. (That and I really just don't like packing. Mom is freaking out.)

First and foremost, please forgive my lack of updating this blog over the past year, as it has been quite busy for me with graduate school, work, and various other projects and activities. However, this literary hiatus does not mean that there have not been any updates with the Little Eagles project. Despite my inability to participate in any major fundraising events, the donations have continued to come in, for which I am exteremely grateful. There are already plans in the works for some events in 2012, so be sure to keep an eye out for them.

For the past few months, I have been blessed with the addition of Sekou, a law student in Mali who has been brought into the Little Eagles team as Program Director. In the short time that I have been working with him, he has run some exceptional impromptu soccer clinics with youth around the capital city, Bamako (check out the youtube vids at www.youtube.com/user/LittleEaglesFootball), which we hope to replicate during my trip.

This trip has three primary functions for the two short weeks I will be there. The first is to run some pilot programs in Bamako and in the rural village of Dissan, which will allow us to develop stronger programs that Sekou will be running throughout the rest of the year. Second, we will be accompanying Scott Lacy, the founder and director of African Sky (and a really awesome dude to whom I am eternally grateful for giving me this incredible opportunity), to the various sites around rural Mali where new schools will be built in areas that have previously never had them (Mali has the second lowest literacy rate in the world). Little Eagles will hopefully become a big part of these schools and their programming in the future, using the power of soccer to further promote classroom learning. Finally, we're going to create some buzz about this project. Mali has a deep and rich culture, well known for its musical talent and some international soccer superstars. We're hoping to secure some big name endorsements (fingers crossed, Salif Keita). We will also be going to schools in Bamako to promote the project and to donate books, notebooks, and pens. The highlight of the trip will be two youth soccer tournaments, one in Bamako and one in Dissan, which I will make sure to write extensively about and provide plenty of media for you to enjoy.

I hope that you will join me on what promises to be a wonderful and interesting adventure to the mother land (cue Toto). I will do my best to consistantly update you with stories, pictures, and videos for you to experience this journey through my eyes, making new friends, experiencing a different and exciting world, and playing lots and lots of soccer.

Time to pack before Mum loses it.

R

Happy holidays!

2011-12-25T19:24:00.000-08:00

Greetings Little Eagles fans! I just wanted to wish everyone a very happy and safe holidays and a successful and fruitful new year.

The next few weeks will be the biggest yet for the Little Eagles project, as we will be officially launching the program in Mali! Please continue to follow this blog, as I will be (doing my best to keep) constantly writing updates throughout my adventure to West Africa. Check back tomorrow or Tuesday for a preview of the trip. Only 72 hours to go until we're airborne!

All the best!

Rob

Welcome to our new Project Director, Sekou Kante!

2011-08-28T08:53:00.000-07:00

Little Eagles Football takes the greatest pleasure in introducing our new Project Director in Mali, Sekou Kante! Sekou has started running soccer clinics with youth around the capital city, Bamako. Videos and more about Sekou and his work is soon to follow!

Stayed Tuned for Major Updates!

2011-08-27T00:17:00.001-07:00

Thank you all for your continued support on this project. Please forgive me for the lack of updates in recent months. I would like to inform you that big changes are currently taking place, and I will be posting many updates to the facebook site and to this blog. Stay tuned and thanks again for being a part of this wonderful project that will affect many young lives in Africa!

New Jerseys are in!!

2010-06-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

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!

Little Eagles at the Immortal Technique Show

2010-05-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

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/

Little Eagles recognized by DoSomething.org

2010-05-14T07:15:00.001-07:00

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!

Little Eagles receives soccer gear from the US Soccer Foundation

2010-05-10T08:34:00.000-07:00

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

Little Eagles has the support of Mali Pop Star Habib Koite!

2010-05-03T08:57:00.001-07:00

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!

Little Eagles secures their first sponsor!

2010-04-23T10:31:00.000-07:00

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.

LOGO!

2010-04-14T07:46:00.000-07:00

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!

Making Progress

2010-04-13T09:20:00.000-07:00

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

Thanks!

2010-02-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

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.

2010-02-07T09:18:00.001-08:00

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