New Recruits

Throughout the year we have lost 3 players from the Academy because they couldn't handle the amount of commitment required.  So this past weekend we had 2 days of clinics to help select new members.
This time around we mostly networked with local clubs that we have either played against or scouted at some point.  The amazing thing was how willing the clubs were to share their players.  We found that the guys coaching these kids genuinely want great things for the boys and want them to take hold of excellent opportunities.  They seemed to trust us really quickly, so they brought them with expectation and pride.
The talent level at this clinic was way higher compared to what we had a year ago at similar clinics.  These boys can all play, so it made the environment competitive and challenging for the players.
The first day was just the invited kids, but on Saturday we had our current players join them.  It was fun to see the excitement within our kids as they imagined adding some really talented players to our family.  At the conclusion of the clinic on Saturday we had our boys give input individually into who they thought we should select.  The interesting and affirming thing was that they basically picked the same players that we were thinking.
We actually have only formally invited 2 players to fill the 3 spots.  We have invited a few more players to today's practice to see if they might fill the 3rd spot.  However, the 2 boys that we did choose are going to be terrific.   Eric, was born in 1998 and lives in Ottery.  He plays on the wing or in an attacking midfield role.  He's got great skills and reads the game well.  He LOVES to go forward, which we appreciate.  He's got a super-involved mom who supports him really well.

Wandile is a 1999 and lives in a really rough community called Philipi.  He's a really slick center midfielder with feathery touch who passes the ball really well.  He's going to improve our team dramatically.  He's got a great smile and an awesome Mom who really wants great things for him.  Wandile is the exact kind of kid we want to be involved with.  He's from a really downtrodden community, has amazing talent, is mostly uncoached, has a great attitude, and has been raised by a great parent.

 
Both of the boys were actually at the same club previously, Wynberg St. John's.  We are really thankful for their coach for not just allowing them to come for the clinic, but for encouraging them to take advantage of this opportunity.
I'll get some pics of the boys soon, so that you can see their great smiles.  And please pray that God would lead us to the right boy to fill the final slot.

Pumped,
Casey

My Favorite 4 Hours

I just had my favorite 4 hours in Africa so far!  What an amazing afternoon.  Today the Ubuntu Academy boys entered new territory as they went to Sun Valley/Silvermine Academy for their assessments with the principal and head of the high school.  It was such a significant experience for them and they were treated so well.

Joshua Clayton is excited about the hot dogs

When we got there they fed them a little hotdog lunch with cake and juice.  Then they went and took a math and English test.  After a break they did assessments to figure out if they have "free flow" or "blocked flow".  I'm still learning a lot about this, but it seems to make a big difference to how students learn and produce results in the classroom.  Really interesting stuff.
Their parents arrived a few hours later and Principal Keller spoke with them, introduced the school, and told them about the assessments they did.  They seemed quite interested in what the Staff were able to figure out about the boys in such short times.
After Principal Keller was done, Tauriq's grandfather spoke up and thanked us for all the work we've done to make the education possible.  Of course it's nice to hear that they recognize what an amazing opportunity this is for the boys.
The High School Leader Charlene then showed the parents around the school.  I later walked them down to the sports fields where the boys had gone to play.  We took an awesome group picture to remind us of the significance of this day.

The boys, their parents, and the coaches

As I drove away I was overwhelmed with how significant this moment is for the boys.  They, their families, and their communities will never be the same.  They will likely be the best educated person they know, with the most resolve and support to make their future all that God dreams it will be.  You can see the boys are really starting to get excited about this, when before they were scared and apprehensive.  And the parents have a sense of wonder as the wrestle with the fact that this is really true and happening.
I'm just super humbled that I'm allowed to be a part of this.  It's such a privilege!  I, too, won't be the same as I watch these boys transform.  And I really think this will only make them easier to coach.  Their confidence will go up as they have success in the classroom.  They will bring that confidence, and eagerness to learn, to the field where I'll really be able to impart stuff.  I'm so pumped!!

Cheers,
Casey

One Valley Festival

This weekend we hosted our 2nd One Valley Festival in the local community of Sun Valley.  It was a crazy day of soccer, with close to 50 teams in attendance!  The festival was not only a great display of local talent, but also an opportunity for teams of all ages and divisions to come out and enjoy a great day of soccer!  Despite the crazy weather, the event turned out to be a huge success.  Thanks again for all the teams, coaches, and volunteers that made this day possible!  

geared up and ready to get started

these tough girls proved they could hang with the boys

enjoying a good game of soccer

 Coach Mike & Coach Casey at the Festival

Pre-game pep talk

 All smiles!

Video of Championship Victory

Sarah created a video of our League Winning victory about a month back.  She posted it on her blog, check it out!!

Good Hope FM Interview

Recently Michael was interviewed on the Nigel Pierce show on Good Hope FM about the Ubuntu Football Academy.  Good Hope FM is our major radio station in Cape Town and Nigel is one of its most popular DJs and personalities.  The interview was a fantastic showcase of the Academy and Michael did a splendid job.  As you know, Nigel was our MC at the fundraiser, so he knew exactly what questions to ask to really set us up to tell our full story.  Please listen to it!

Dylan's Running Story

In July Dylan Thayer ran the the entire Maryland section of the Appalachian Trail to raise money to support the work of  Ubuntu Sports Outreach.  We met Dylan a few summers ago at The Great Escape where Sarah was speaking.  He decided to do something crazy to support our work and we were blessed by it.  Dylan is a junior at Hamilton College in New York and runs cross country there.  He won't like us bragging, but he ran 44 miles in 8 hours, 9 minutes, and 37 seconds!  Holy long run!!  He also raised almost $4,000!!  Can you believe that?!?!  When he first started he wanted to fund one school team, instead he funded over 5 teams!

Trucking through the AT.

 We're so thankful to have guys like Dylan that believe in what we're doing and want to be a part of it.  That's the essence of "ubuntu".  Often I feel like we're building a family that stretches across the United States, throughout Cape Town, and beyond.  We will always need this family to be strong and broad if we're going to accomplish the work God has set out for us!  Please read Dylan's reflections below about his run.

Cheers,
Casey

Taking a Break

At its core, the Bible is really just a collection of stories.


Ok, I know. I basically just made a statement along the lines of, “If you think about it, it’s kinda hot in summer,” or “You know, people are reading less because of the Internet.” It wasn’t a big intellectual leap. Just bear with me here, though.


So, the Bible is just a collection of disparate, disjointed stories that were transmitted orally and then at some point written down, collected, edited, re-edited and argued over endlessly and translated into more languages than any of us can list because of the belief that they all tell one big story about a species called Man and his struggle with his Creator. And while that big story is important, sometimes we can focus so much on the big picture that we lose the little nitty-gritty struggles and emotions that go along with the smaller stories that serve as building blocks of the overarching narrative.


And that’s where we all make a huge mistake: we stand back and we look at these stories as part of a larger masterpiece that God has painted and, whether we intend to or not, we surrender a tiny bit of our faith, and then a bit more, and then a little more as we grow older and more cynical by clinging steadfastly to the boring and safe belief that this could never possibly happen to us.


I can’t, you can’t, he/she/it can’t: that is the verb that we decline in our own heads with depressing regularity. We look at those stories and rob them of their power by thinking that none of us could ever possibly do something as miraculous as part the Red Sea, or feed five thousand people, or bring two people back from the dead. What we don’t stop to consider is that a lot of us have siblings who suck sometimes (like Joseph) or have responsibilities hoisted upon us before we really feel ready (like Jeremiah) or have the ability to be totally clueless occasionally (like the Apostles). No, we fixate like bugs around a lamp on the miraculous action and complete lose sight of the fact that the people God chose to do it were often impossibly mundane.


I ran across the Maryland portion of the Appalachian Trail in July because I believe that it’s part of a plan that God has revealed to me. How special does that make me? Very special, and yet not all special. How crazy does that make me? I don’t know, but I’m willing to be crazy. Crazy, thus far, has been much more fun than sane.


I don’t want to get into the details of what happened out there a few months ago, because the monotony of chronicling the 44.6 miles I ran, or the roughly 70,000 strides I put down, one in front of the other, would only serve as self-aggrandizement. I’m not going to talk about how much money I raised, or discuss my financial acumen, because that would be in poor taste. If I may be a bit jib, there are many things I do well, but bragging isn’t one of them.


However, if there is one impression I could leave the reader with concerning my ministry, it would be this: What happens when a totally ordinary man turns to the power of God in an effort to become transcendently great? What happens when you stop begging God for miracles and decide that you’re going to try and be one? For me, the answer turned out to be something pretty incredible that changed, (and hopefully will continue to change) not just my life but also the lives of hundreds of other people living half a world away.


I won’t get into whether what I did was a true miracle or not. I won’t get into what my plans for the future with Ubuntu or anybody else are; this is partially because as a college junior teetering on the abyss of the real world and trying to fall back on the everlasting arms, even I don’t have the faintest idea, although I do have plans.


All I can say for certain is this: miracles didn’t stop happening when the ink dried on the final scroll of the final sheet of papyrus included in the Bible. There are miracles happening all over the world now as you read this. And you could be one, if you want: I know from experience, at any rate, that crazy is much more fun than sane. Wouldn’t it be fun, after all, in God’s great woven tapestry of human experience, to have a few threads all to yourself, and a story that you could call your very own?

These are Holy Days

Beautiful Tables

Many prayers were said, and they were answered!  Our first big fundraiser for the Ubuntu Football Academy was a resounding success!  The whole event was simply fantastic. The vibe, people's excitement, the food, the game, they speakers, the way the boys presented themselves, the decor, it was all perfect!  I simply can't say it enough.  One of my favorite quotes from the evening was when my wife Sarah would lean over and say, "Can you believe this is your fundraiser?  I feel like we must be at somebody else's event."  The school we are partnering with, Sun Valley Primary and Silvermine Academy, just went way above the call of duty on this event.  Seriously, they thought of EVERY single detail.  I had almost nothing to do the day of the event.  The decor they created rivaled something the illustrious Karen Latta would have put together.  They had decorated the tables beautifully, put pictures up of our boys, had artwork from the school around, had 2 different slide shows, it was AMAZING!

Great Room for all the Fun

The night started with an exhibition match out on their field.  We invited one of the clubs from our league to come play us.  Their coach also attends Hillsong a bit, so we thought he would be the most likely person to want to support what we are doing.  They came almost an hour to play.  During the game we had music playing and the guests were served appetizers and drinks.  The school has a hospitality program, so those students were responsible for all of that.  Since the field is pretty short we played 9 vs 9 and our boys played so well.  They knew the night was important, so they played hard, but they also were relaxed and had fun with it.  People were so complementary about the way they played and how well coached they were.  DUH!  :)  

Chadley showing his skills during the game.

Carl pulling away as crowd watches on.

After the game we moved everyone into the school hall for our presentations & dinner.  Nigel PIerce, one of the very popular DJ from the local radio station was our MC (it would like having Bob from G105 there).  He started off sharing about his own motivation for being there, showed our promo video, and then continued sharing about the unique characteristics of the Academy.  That was all done really well, especially because he continued to poke fun at Mike for being a Liverpool fan.

Nigel Pierce from Good Hope FM

Before eating we asked Phil Dooley from Hillsong to say the blessing.  He took the liberty to say a few things about me and Michael and was so complimentary of what has already transpired.  He even slipped in how well we've done on the field, which was great because we hadn't planned another time to do that.  We then ate a delicious meal of salads and lamb.  It was so good!!  I wish I hadn't been the one hosting so that I could have mauled some more of it.


As dinner finished Gavin Keller, the Headmaster of the Sun Valley Group of Schools, presented on the school, and it's uniqueness.  He is so compelling and does such a great job really trying to push to educate today's generation of kids.  There were parents there that send their kids to other private schools, even the American International School, and they were saying that they were transferring their kids to Sun Valley the next day!  It was a great showcase for the school, and painted a clear picture of why Silvermine is the right place for our boys.
Nigel then returned to explain the needs and the costs associated with that.  Guests were given a pledge card and asked to consider what they could do over the next 5 years.

Michael with former pro Neil Van Schalkwyk & Nigel Pierce

Casey speaking with Bryan Tennant & his Guests

Michael and I finished up by thanking a few guests, like the school, Nigel, and somebody that sponsored all our wine for the event.  We then invited people to join us for desert over at the High School next door.  There they could see the facilities (it's basically 3 adjoining houses that they bought and have remodeled to suit the needs) and visit with the boys that had been eating their own dinner separately.  The boys were shy at first, but eventually started chatting with the guests and, especially, with the older hospitality students! I was especially proud of their skills with the ladies!  People kept telling me how impressed they were the boys.  I wasn't sure who they were talking about!  :)

People actually stayed around for quite a while chatting with each other and the boys.  The vibe was so great that they just didn't want to leave.  Neither did I!  We left so excited and expectant that God had really provided for us.  It wasn't until we got home that we realized that the stack of pledge cards in our hand was the blank ones.  Whoops!  So, Friday morning I fetched the completed ones from the school.  Basically, just from the cards filled out on the evening, we raised enough to guarantee that we can pay the school fees for the 11 boys that we need to educate next year!!  (The other 5 are already in good schools).  Also, several people that we expect will really come to the table for us in the future weren't able to come.  So, we are very confident that God will provide the budget we seek.  We also will be asking the parents to contribute towards their uniforms, transportation, and books.  Plus, we know we can get some things donated that we have on our budget.

Hillsong Table enjoying conversation.
Also includes 2 Frenchmen, 1 from Holland, & 3 Americans!

So, there you have it.  A REALLY LONG SUMMARY, of an amazing night!!  I wish I could tell you more!!  I could go on FOREVER!  Though this night was a great success we are NO WHERE CLOSE to being finished raising the funds that we need.  Please share our story with others and consider who we might be able to approach.  We'll be in the States in November and would love to meet with people there at that time.

So stinking pumped,
Casey

Carl, Jesse, Rory, and Josh flirting with the Older Ladies!

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