After playing soccer as a youth for five years and coaching over a dozen different soccer teams for the past five years, I have finally come to really appreciate the game of soccer (futbol) more this week than I ever have - barefooted! I have grown up with having the all the appropriate gear for playing soccer - solid cleats (preferably new), quality shin guards, well-fitted socks, as well as matching apparel on the upper-body. But after playing with the kids from San Narcisco and San Antonio this week, I realized that those items are not required to play a good, beautiful game of soccer.
The bulk of our kids that have come out for each of the two camps have come to play with none of these items, such as cleats, socks or shin guards. However, they play amazing with their bare feet. On the 2nd day of the San Narcisco camp, I thought I would give it a shot and play barefooted as well. There really is no substitute. You really get the feel of the ball when you play, and these kids play amazingly well with no shoes. It is almost as if you are free of the items we take for granted and play like the game was intended to be played.
I have seen some great soccer players in the states, and even in our own community. The soccer here is so natural, and it is obvious that these players are in the right country and environment to let their gifts shine. (I just wish that I could play as well as them. Even the little ones were “schooling me” and putting this old man in his place on the field.)
The San Narcisco players are mostly Mestizo (Mexican-appearance) and play with full intensity. They are faces that I will have a hard time forgetting. (Hopefully when I get back home, I can save some of their pictures on the blog.) Those are the kids where I have spent the bulk of my time and have built the most relationships, since we are there for two hours each in the morning and afternoon.
The kids from San Antonio are a combination of Creole, Mestizo, Indian, and African. San Antonio is basically in what we would call the “projects”. It is one of the poorer sections of Corozal. However, when you see the kids and their smiles as we drive up with the soccer balls, you would never know they were poor, because they are definitely not poor in “life”. The younger kids there are also excellent futbol players - also barefooted - and have lots of potential. They just need to have the local support to continue what SportsServants has started.
I go back to the barefoot-soccer again. Like I mentioned above, these beautiful (bonita in Mestizo) kids leave off the things that hinder them from playing their sport so well. For those of us that have items that hinder us and bog us down from doing what we have a passion for could take many lessons from these little ones. I will make sure and make that more than a memory as I return home.
His Servant,
Mark (Marco in Mestizo)
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