Nuanced Work

Seth Godin’s blog today included this quote: “My vote: your goals and your strategy must be simple. You must have passion and certainty in order to make a difference as a leader. Your tactics, on the other hand, should be layered, multi-dimensional and reflect the patience of someone who cares about reaching a goal.”

This really is our operating MO at Ubuntu.  We’re pretty clear on our goals and how we’re going to get there, but every day is a new challenge.  Working with people will do that, but when your work is primarily with 13-year-old boys from unsettled environments the challenges never cease.  Obviously we have the challenge of leading practices that are challenging, enjoyable, and making players better.  But that’s the easiest thing we do!  Just this week our job has also included driving the boys around, helping with homework, getting them to study hall, feeding them, meeting with principals, taking them to the library, and a whole host of other things.

It’s not just the tasks that are nuanced, but each boy is different and needs different cajoling and motivating.  Some are tough on the outside and need some softening.  Some tend to be soft and need to be toughened up.  Some tend to whine, which we don’t tolerate.  Some are easily distracted.  Some need help getting out of their shells.  Some of them never go back to their shells!  Every day is a new game of chess where you try to discover new ways of reaching the boys.

So, the goal is simple, develop and nurture the next great leaders of Africa.  But how we do that is ever evolving with the needs of these young boys.

Cheers,
Casey

Launch of Ubuntu Football Forward

Last week we launched an exciting new program, Ubuntu Football Forward, which is going to be a prequel to the Football Academy.  Research shows that players touch the ball 6 times more in a game of 5 vs 5 than a full sided game.  Obviously, touching the ball more is a great help in accelerating a player's development in the game.  Football Forward is addressing that need while also creating an environment for mentorship and character building.
On Mondays & Wednesdays (and hopefully a 3rd day per week soon) kids come to the Ocean View Multipurpose Center for a 75 minute session that includes 15 minutes of a skill lesson, a 5 minute life skill devotional, and then 45-50 minutes of 5-a-side football matches.  The kids come at different times based on their age group, which keeps them playing against the right aged kids and keeps the group size manageable.  The U8s come right after school at 1:30, the U10s at 2:45, and the U12s at 4:00.

Austin reminding the kids what time to be there.

We launched the program last week by doing separate launch clinics at each of the primary schools on Thursday and Friday.  The treat of the whole launch was having friends from Elon University in North Carolina there to help.  They are on a Winter Term travel course and spent 2 days serving with us.  This is the 3rd year we have had Elon students with us.  They are service minded and globally focused, so they are a great help to us.  They are inquisitive and thoughtful, so they are a pleasure to have around.  Hopefully they are also inspired by what they see happening with Ubuntu Football.  I know they enjoy it, because we were supposed to have 6 students with us, they showed up the 1st morning with 11, and then returned the 2nd day with 17!!  It's cool, we like having new friends.

The 1st Day's crew: Brett, Nick, Ashton, Taylor, Jenny Steph,
Emily, Jay, Taylor, Dave, & Drew with Sean & Austin

The launch at Kleinberg, on Thursday, was very successful with 80 kids participating.  We didn't expect that kind of involvement the 1st day so we were really encouraged.  Friday's launch for Marine was smaller, around 30 kids, but that was to be expected.  Mosque happens on Friday afternoons just after lunch, so the schools dismiss early, so that makes the day a little more distracted.  We've always struggled with Friday events, so I was pleased with the response.

Steph, one of our Elon friends, working with 2 of the boys  

It was a great launch to what is going to become an important part of our development program.  In Daniel Coyle's "The Talent Code" he talks about 'hotbeds of talent'- places that you wouldn't expect that are producing large numbers of exceptionally talented people in specific fields.  We believe that the Southern Peninsula Valley of Cape Town can become a hotbed of football talent.  There has always been natural talent in these communities, but it isn't always effectively developed.  Ubuntu Football Forward will give kids the best chance to develop their skills in a lightly coached, lightly competitive, and highly relational environment.  They won't be overly concerned with results, but with exploring, taking risks, and having fun.  That's what is going to produce great young players.  Then, as they turn 13 they will be well prepared to have an impact on their local clubs, and a few of them will go on to become the next players in the Ubuntu Football Academy.  Either way, we know they will be better players, and MUCH BETTER people than they would have been otherwise.

Future stars in the making

We need more people to help this grow!  As our pilot program goes well here in Ocean View, we want to expand to Masiphumelele, Fish Hoek, and beyond.  Come join with us!

Casey

It happened!

I'm not sure I ever doubted it would happen, but I'm just so happy to report that the Ubuntu Football Academy boys began their new school year as members of Sun Valley Primary School and the Silvermine Academy.  What a fantastic achievement for them, their families, and our organization!  The 12 new ones (SV- Wandile, Eric, Lutho, Sim, and Keanu; SMA- Sinethemba, Carl, Juan, Tauriq, Chadley, Josh, and Ryan) joined Jesse, Luke, and Alex there.

Some of the Primary School Boys

You could tell it was a mix of nervousness and excitement for the boys the 1st day.  Wednesday morning was the start of a beautiful summer day as we joined the boys at the school.  I haven't yet had the experience of dropping off a child for the 1st day of school, but I experienced that to an exponential degree on Wednesday.  I was so proud of and excited for the boys, while also being amazed that God had brought us that far.  Seriously, can you even believe it?  It's the type of miracle that only God could accomplish.

The 7 Silvermine Academy Young Men

The 1st 2 days seemed to have gone well.  From what they share they seem to like their teachers and are starting to make friends with other students.  We're hopeful that they will continue to adjust and become part of the greater community.  And we're confident this experience is going to accelerate their growth as they become great men and leaders.
If you're interested, we'd love your help in continuing to pay the fees for the boys.  You can give online or mail checks to our address in Raleigh.

The Long, Anxious Walk to the Rest of Their Lives

Cheers,
Casey  

New Student Social

The Ubuntu boys that are attending Silvermine Academy had a New Student Social tonight.  They got to meet some other students, check to see where all their classrooms are, and get to know some of the teachers.  Tomorrow is the big day!  I'm so excited for them as I know this is going to accelerate their development as men and leaders.  They seemed to have really embraced the opportunity and will have each other to walk through it with.  They will certainly be a crew to reckon with!  There will be 7 in Silvermine Academy (3 Grade 9s, 4 Grade 8s) and 5 new ones in Sun Valley Primary (Grade 7).  But those are in addition to our 3 that were already there.  So, starting tomorrow we will have 15 of the boys in the same school!  At least I'll know where to find them.  

Please pray with us that their first day will be a success.  That they will be comfortable enough in their new surroundings, connect with their teachers, and befriend their classmates.  It's such a major step that God has brought them to and He's prepared to bring it all the way to fruition.

Cheers, Casey

The Grade 9s showing me their schedule.

ALWAYS charming the older ladies.

All the boys and parents.

Camp Time

What's up everybody?
Hope everyone has had a nice Christmas and great start to the New Year. Any New Year's resolutions? Time to start hitting the gym again?

Here at Ubuntu we're starting the new year of in a big way. Last year we took the Ubuntu Academy boys to a pre-season camp that we hosted ourselves. It was great, but this year we're traveling to Worcester to attend High Africa Adventure Camp and letting the professionals do their thing. They'll take care of catering, lodging, team building activities and the overall structure to the weekend. As a coaching staff, we'll be providing the actual pre-season soccer training which will really set the bar for our standards for 2012. That means high intensity and focused training sessions.

One of the greatest parts about going to High Africa Adventure Camp too is that with them in charge of most of the details, it allows me, as well as Casey, Michael and Treswill to really invest in the boys over the weekend. I know all of us are looking forward to being away from our normal settings and just get to spend some quality time with the Ubuntu Academy boys. This is also a huge weekend to make an impact on the boys spiritually. Casey, Treswill and I met earlier today to go over the group and small group sessions we'll have this weekend. Our heart for this time away is to focus on true relationship and not religion. We're also going to be looking at prayer which I think will be good. The reason being is that there's such a culture of just going to a church in these communities that many of these 13 year old boys can be just drowned out with religion and turned away from a genuine faith. The goal is to show them that prayer can be simple and real and a part of an alive relationship with a God who loves them. We're each in charge of a devotion throughout our time at the camp (Thursday-Saturday) which I'm pretty excited about. As much trash talking and joking around with the boys that we do, it will be a nice change of pace to share some serious truth and have some deep conversations throughout the week. I hope we can passionately show the Academy boys who we love this week, that we're who we are because of our relationship with the Lord.

So needless to say, I ask that you'll be lifting up our time together with the boys this week. This is an incredible opportunity for some serious team bonding, for the gospel to be shared and to for these guys to continue to grow in maturity and wisdom as young men.

Austin