Training Update

Our first training went well on Saturday. Had the guys that will coach at Marine Primary and Ukhanyo Primary. We mostly focused on ministry stuff. This weekend we should have most of the rest of the coaches there, along with these guys. We'll be focusing more on the soccer stuff and actually walking through the first 3-4 Ubabalo lessons. We'll talk through the Life Skills components, give them actual drills & games to use to further develop the life skill idea, and then talk about the Bible devotion. I'm really excited about using the Ubabalo curriculum. It was created locally so it will be culturally relevant and creative. You can check it out at: www.ubabalo2010.com.

We hadn't shared the news that we have 7 schools signed on to be our partners. That's amazing news!! They are Marine Primary (Ocean View), Kleinberg Primary (OV), Ukhanyo Primary (Masiphumelele), Simon's Town School, Capricorn Primary, Christian David Primary (Capricorn), and Zirilda Park Primary (Capricorn/Sea Winds). We met a pastor yesterday to try and find the church partner for Christian David. Now we need to find the partner for Zirilda Park. Pray that God would provide these churches. These schools and keen and excited!

We'll give you an update again next week after training!

Casey

April News

We are starting training for our first wave of coaches this Saturday. Over 2 weekends we'll focus on ministry and soccer coaching. I'm really excited to be closer to the point where boys lives will be impacted by the coaching mentor involved in their life. There are some nerves in finally getting started, but mostly just serious excitement.
Pray for the training and also that we will find 2 more churches that want to invest in the Capricorn area. Some schools were slow to the table there, so we are looking hard for churches. We need churches for Zirilda Park Primary and Christian David Primary. Both need men mentoring boys there.
Ubuntu is busy planning a festival for the entire valley for May. This area is so divided by demographics, culture, and frankly color of our skin. We are using the World Cup as our "excuse" to draw all the communities together. We have gathered leaders from different churches all over to help drive this thing. We made some big decisions this week and crunch time is on. We're really excited about "ONE VALLEY FESTIVAL: Celebrating the World Cup Together". Pray that things would come together quickly as it is scheduled for the end of May!
Keep updated on our family and the amazing work that my wife, Sarah, is doing on our blog: www.caseyandsarahafrica.blogspot.com. She is doing amazing work with women in Ocean View.

Cheers,
Casey

Spreading the Word

Our good friend Jock does leadership training and consulting. He was recently at a meeting for a healthcare company. Their dinner one night had a sports theme and they were supposed to wear the shirt of their favorite sports team. Well, Jock work his Ubuntu Sports Outreach shirt! How awesome is that?!?! What a great way to spread the word about the work we are doing!

Casey

TREC Experience

Last week Andy and I had an opportunity to be part of a coaching course called TREC: Training, Resourcing, and Equipping Coaches. This was provided by our friends at Ambassadors in Sport. It was a 5 day coaching experience that mixed a normal coaching course with sports ministry training. There were about 4o students from all sorts of different backgrounds. Obviously there were a lot of South Africans but also a few other Americans, an Englishmen, 3 Germans, and an Australian. The diversity made for such an interesting environment.

Although the soccer was very basic, because it was Level 1, it was such a great week. TREC is something that we are hoping ALL of our Ubuntu coaches will go through eventually. Because of that we thought it was important for us to experience it first.

And, you can be encouraged, I did score a '1' on my coaching assessment, which is the highest score, so I do know what I'm doing!

Casey

And there were two!

We have our second school signed on to be a partner. Ukhanyo Primary School in Masiphumalele is our 2nd partner. This school is full of boys that LOVE soccer so we should have quite the squad there. I've been meeting with young men from a church in the area, Maranatha Family Church, to recruit our coaches. I've met with 2 really great guys and I'm hoping that God will lead them to us!

Be praying for our remaining schools and coaches!

Casey

We have one!!

We have our first official host school! Marine Primary School in Ocean View has signed on as our first official host school that will receive the assistance of soccer coaches trained by Ubuntu Sports Outreach. We're very excited to have our first and hope the flood will come of more schools and then the corresponding churches and coaches!

Casey

February Update

Things have really been cranking up for Ubuntu Sports Outreach. After our series of successful clinics at the beginning of the school year momentum is building. We have been busy seeking firm, long-term commitments from the schools we have been working in. We want them to commit to our program of providing them well-trained coaching mentors. We are also spending much of our time connecting with the local churches that will provide our coaches. We’ve had great meetings with pastors and people are very excited. Now the challenge is finding the right men from within those churches. I have had the opportunity to speak at a few churches to share the excitement. These pastors lead churches that are passionate about reaching the kids in their community, which is exactly what we want to see.

We are also excited to see some opportunities opening up to expand into other areas. The Muizenberg area, also a Living Hope area, has 4 schools that we are meeting with. They seem keen to partner with us, too, which means more churches to find! So, pray that God would be raising up the right churches and the men to coach.