Mentioned this week that we had an important meeting. Well, that meeting went really well. We were meeting with the most organized local club, Fish Hoek AFC. I played there this season and enjoyed it, but up until recently hadn't really considered us partnering with them. We have started framing our vision with the problems that we are trying to solve and I kept using the phrase, "using unique sports ministry strategies". In an area like this the idea of working together with someone else is actually a really unique idea. People do their own thing all the time and avoid working together.
So, we spent time hearing from them about their history and current status. They have been around over 30 years and were one of the first clubs to integrate during apartheid. They were actually way ahead of the curve. Now almost all of their junior clubs are in Super League, which is the highest division in this area. We then shared about our vision, why we are here in the Valley, and what we see God doing in the future. They asked a few questions and then we shared about how we envision a partnership. More questions back & forth, and it felt like things ended really positive. So, now they go back to their board and decide what they want to do.
Michael and I are really positive about this potential partnership. It makes sense for us to partner with a long-standing, successful club. It honors the work and impact that they have had over the years, and we are convinced that we can take them to a new level. So, we're praying for discernment from God to know if this is the right partnership. Join us in praying!
Casey
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Humming Along
Stuff with Ubuntu is really humming along. After great success with the community festival we have begun looking forward. It looks like we may start a 'high performance training program' as a bit of a beta program to lead in to the academy in 2012. It may mean we also have to start the beginnings of a club for those kids to have a place to play their games. It's really exciting to see the movement. Now we just need to have the right things come into place.
We had a great meeting with a guy yesterday that is just north of us that has a dream, not totally dissimilar to ours, and we might work together. He has done some work in schools and has been in the schools that I saw as our place of growth. Hopefully we'll work together on that to combine our strategy with his contacts and relationships. Then, he may know of some talented kids that we can put into our HPTP that would raise the level of our group. So, that was exciting.
We have a BIG meeting tomorrow night with the chairman of the most established local club in our area (the one I played with this season). We are open to working in partnership with them, but if they don't want to work together he has the power to possibly block our entrance into that league, which is the better of the two locally. So, we're hoping for a great movement there.
Pray that the right connections will be made and that people would lock into the vision God has given us. This is the time!
Casey
We had a great meeting with a guy yesterday that is just north of us that has a dream, not totally dissimilar to ours, and we might work together. He has done some work in schools and has been in the schools that I saw as our place of growth. Hopefully we'll work together on that to combine our strategy with his contacts and relationships. Then, he may know of some talented kids that we can put into our HPTP that would raise the level of our group. So, that was exciting.
We have a BIG meeting tomorrow night with the chairman of the most established local club in our area (the one I played with this season). We are open to working in partnership with them, but if they don't want to work together he has the power to possibly block our entrance into that league, which is the better of the two locally. So, we're hoping for a great movement there.
Pray that the right connections will be made and that people would lock into the vision God has given us. This is the time!
Casey
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Festival Follow-up
This Sunday we had a Thank You Gathering for all the coaches, volunteers, and planning team. We hosted it at our house and had some goodies, but also wanted a chance to be in front of these people again. We shared the vision for Ubuntu Sports Outreach so that it would be clear why we exist and where we are going. We also showed them the video that you see on the blog. They LOVED that. So many of them wanted copies to show other people! Then we spent some time talking about the positives of the festival and things we can improve on.
We live in a very wounded community, so lots of our meeting time was spent with them fleshing out the problems of sports in Ocean View and the surrounding area. Most of it I had heard before, but it was good for the rest of our team to hear, and for them to feel 'heard' by us. They were basically saying that the festival really filled a gap for their kids and should continue. They really want the festival to happen more than once a year!! That was great affirmation that we ran a great event. We were so encouraged by our whole time together with them. I'm not sure yet that we are wanting to make that jump, but it's great to know that it's wanted.
As we continue to share the event's success with our host school and other community advocates we are hoping to generate more support, sponsorship, and partners for years ahead. Let's do it!!
Casey
We live in a very wounded community, so lots of our meeting time was spent with them fleshing out the problems of sports in Ocean View and the surrounding area. Most of it I had heard before, but it was good for the rest of our team to hear, and for them to feel 'heard' by us. They were basically saying that the festival really filled a gap for their kids and should continue. They really want the festival to happen more than once a year!! That was great affirmation that we ran a great event. We were so encouraged by our whole time together with them. I'm not sure yet that we are wanting to make that jump, but it's great to know that it's wanted.
As we continue to share the event's success with our host school and other community advocates we are hoping to generate more support, sponsorship, and partners for years ahead. Let's do it!!
Casey
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The One Valley Festival
Well, it's over and it was fantastic! The first (and possibly annual) One Valley Festival was a huge success. We had right at 60 teams which probably equaled about 400 kids playing on the day. We had music blaring, around 30 volunteers running around keeping things going, and even some fun relay games.
The U7 African Bombers from Masiphumelele
I'm so thankful for all the amazing support we had from my partner Michael Jenkins, my amazing wife Sarah, and all the volunteers that spent their day refereeing the games, organizing the kids, leading the relay games, selling drinks & other merchandise, and generally just having an amazing attitude. Everybody was so willing to jump in and do whatever.
Two of our great volunteers, Ben & Robert
Two of our great volunteers, Ben & Robert
I also want to think Phil Mason from Reemaxe Sportswear for donating the game balls & the Western Province Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport that provided the inflatable field that the Under 7's played in.
Some players from Juventus
After so much work beforehand you would think it would have worn me out so that I never wanted to see another festival again. However, I'm actually REALLY excited about doing it again. We learned so much about how to do things better, things we could add, things that would enrich the experience for the kids, and so on. Also, teams now know about it so they will be excited about it's return.
Some players from Juventus
There were so many great things about the day, and you've heard some from Michael & the girls from 7 Stars on previous posts, but I want to highlight a few more. We really emphasized to the kids that the day was about enjoying each other from all the different communities, and they seemed to really embrace that. We had almost no fighting or little skirmishes. The kids played hard & fair. And one of the great things was just having people from all 3 racial groups together as ONE valley. They played together and enjoyed each other. That's actually a really significant thing. We have some work to do to get the 3 communities equally represented, but it was a great start.
Getting After It!
Kieren & Sarah with one of our Favorites, Kaka
The Back of Our T-shirt
Another Guest Post
We posted a little guest blog about the festival on our personal blog at www.caseyandsarahafrica.blogspot.com. Check it out, it's from some girls in our community that played in the festival.
Casey
Monday, September 27, 2010
First Response from the Festival
I'm going to do a proper blog about the Festival ASAP, but wanted to go ahead and get this on here. Michael Jenkins, the co-founder of Ubuntu Sports, wrote this reflection about the festival and asked if he could do a "guest post" on the blog. Michael runs his own business so he isn't able to help with the day in and day out happenings of Ubuntu. We call him the Visionary Consultant and when he is able to be involved with things he's a real champion. Here is his reflection on the day:
Tim and Natasha are a terrific couple who arrived during the morning and offered to hel
On Saturday Ubuntu Sports Outreach hosted our first ever One Valley soccer festival. With close to 60 teams entered we had around 400 kids playing, but it was a small, ragged group of six to nine year old's who brought an ache to my heart and defined the day for me.
Despite our not having received a single team registration just three weeks ago, the day started with astonishing punctuality and a wonderfully large crowd of kids from 6 to 17 years old, standing to sing the national anthem. This is not usually done at public events in South Africa, other than international games, but it was a poignant and fitting opening to a festival held on our Heritage Day weekend.
About an hour in, games were in full swing with continuous soccer being played simultaneously on 7 pitches. I was tearing around the fields trying to find a certain under 7 team who were due to play. Sitting off to one side, I saw a small group of boys who looked about the right age. I asked what their team name was, to which they proudly replied "the Mighty Blues". This was not the team I was looking for, so I hurried off, but with a small itch of concern - I'd gone through the match scedule and I was pretty sure there were no Mighty Blues on our program for the day.
Going back over to them, I learned that these ten boys - a full under 7 team and under 9 team - had arrived at a festival to which their coach did not show up, and in which he had not entered their teams. I remember sleepless nights and waking up ridiculously early and tremendously excited on game-day mornings when I was a small boy. I could see by the growing disappointment in their eyes that these ten little boys had lived that same story on saturday. Theirs had involved walking without adult supervision a few miles to a field where their coach had not met them, and seeing games start without them hearing the call for the Mighty Blues to take the field. Anthony, Ben and Robert - all outstanding young men who were champions this weekend - leaped into action to mark out an 8th field. During the rest of the day we managed to bring most of the other under 7 and under 9 teams over to field 8 which became the home ground for the Mighty Blues. When I called them over for their first game, these kids leaped with fists punching the air in sheer joy at getting to play.
Despite our not having received a single team registration just three weeks ago, the day started with astonishing punctuality and a wonderfully large crowd of kids from 6 to 17 years old, standing to sing the national anthem. This is not usually done at public events in South Africa, other than international games, but it was a poignant and fitting opening to a festival held on our Heritage Day weekend.
About an hour in, games were in full swing with continuous soccer being played simultaneously on 7 pitches. I was tearing around the fields trying to find a certain under 7 team who were due to play. Sitting off to one side, I saw a small group of boys who looked about the right age. I asked what their team name was, to which they proudly replied "the Mighty Blues". This was not the team I was looking for, so I hurried off, but with a small itch of concern - I'd gone through the match scedule and I was pretty sure there were no Mighty Blues on our program for the day.
Going back over to them, I learned that these ten boys - a full under 7 team and under 9 team - had arrived at a festival to which their coach did not show up, and in which he had not entered their teams. I remember sleepless nights and waking up ridiculously early and tremendously excited on game-day mornings when I was a small boy. I could see by the growing disappointment in their eyes that these ten little boys had lived that same story on saturday. Theirs had involved walking without adult supervision a few miles to a field where their coach had not met them, and seeing games start without them hearing the call for the Mighty Blues to take the field. Anthony, Ben and Robert - all outstanding young men who were champions this weekend - leaped into action to mark out an 8th field. During the rest of the day we managed to bring most of the other under 7 and under 9 teams over to field 8 which became the home ground for the Mighty Blues. When I called them over for their first game, these kids leaped with fists punching the air in sheer joy at getting to play.
Tim and Natasha are a terrific couple who arrived during the morning and offered to help however they could. These are people in ministry in our communities who have more than enough of their own work to do, and who are not connected to Ubuntu except through friendship and a shared heart for the communities we work in. They stepped into the gap and became the coaches of the two Mighty Blues teams. It was beautiful to see these little guys getting warm-up drills, high fives and pep talks - and loving every minute. I was inspired by how one couple giving a gift of their time on Saturday, brought such tremendous joy to a precious group of small boys, turning what could have been a day of bitter disappointment into one of the best days they have had this year. It reminded me that although we so often pursue happiness through getting, it's in giving that we find it.
On Saturday, often a single coach was responsible for up to five teams. The one major difference between running a festival for kids from township communities and festivals in affluent communities, is the overwhelming ratio of kids per rare adult who is able to give his time to their sports whilst fighting for the survival of his family in the most dire circumstances. We were helped in that regard to have a magnificent and large team of volunteers who were just AWESOME on the day. As a tribute of gratitude to all our volunteers on Saturday, I have such a strong conviction that Jesus is incredibly pleased with what you helped make possible for so many children that He loves beyond words. Thank you!
Casey spoke in the closing awards ceremony and thanked those who helped so much on the day, but I need to add a word of thanks to him and Sarah. It's hard to explain what a great job they did (and are doing) to anyone who has never tried to run an event in this kind of context. And if you have, then you don't need an explanation - you know already!
Finally back to my new favourite team - the Mighty Blues... For a moment I was angry that a coach would allow children to arrive at a soccer festival in which they had not yet been entered. And then not turn up himself! Then I wondered if I'd be giving my time to coach a team of 6 and 7 year olds if I lived with the challenges he faces daily. The fact is that when life gets really tough, hugely important things, like investing time in children, so often get overlooked for the urgent things like food, shelter and survival. Ubuntu exists for children like the Mighty Blues. Our mission is to train and mentor Christian men who will in turn be coaches and mentors, discipling children through time spent with them on a soccer field. The Mighty Blues reminded me of Jesus' words that we can love Him by stretching out hands to the 'least of these'. They reminded me once again of the innocent joy and enthusiasm soccer brings to young children, and what a simple and effective way it offers us to introduce them to the love of Jesus through his people loving them. They reminded me of just why Ubuntu has such an important role to play in South Africa; that many children just need adults who love Jesus to also love them.
On Saturday, often a single coach was responsible for up to five teams. The one major difference between running a festival for kids from township communities and festivals in affluent communities, is the overwhelming ratio of kids per rare adult who is able to give his time to their sports whilst fighting for the survival of his family in the most dire circumstances. We were helped in that regard to have a magnificent and large team of volunteers who were just AWESOME on the day. As a tribute of gratitude to all our volunteers on Saturday, I have such a strong conviction that Jesus is incredibly pleased with what you helped make possible for so many children that He loves beyond words. Thank you!
Casey spoke in the closing awards ceremony and thanked those who helped so much on the day, but I need to add a word of thanks to him and Sarah. It's hard to explain what a great job they did (and are doing) to anyone who has never tried to run an event in this kind of context. And if you have, then you don't need an explanation - you know already!
Finally back to my new favourite team - the Mighty Blues... For a moment I was angry that a coach would allow children to arrive at a soccer festival in which they had not yet been entered. And then not turn up himself! Then I wondered if I'd be giving my time to coach a team of 6 and 7 year olds if I lived with the challenges he faces daily. The fact is that when life gets really tough, hugely important things, like investing time in children, so often get overlooked for the urgent things like food, shelter and survival. Ubuntu exists for children like the Mighty Blues. Our mission is to train and mentor Christian men who will in turn be coaches and mentors, discipling children through time spent with them on a soccer field. The Mighty Blues reminded me of Jesus' words that we can love Him by stretching out hands to the 'least of these'. They reminded me once again of the innocent joy and enthusiasm soccer brings to young children, and what a simple and effective way it offers us to introduce them to the love of Jesus through his people loving them. They reminded me of just why Ubuntu has such an important role to play in South Africa; that many children just need adults who love Jesus to also love them.
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