Shift
March 17th 2016. Long-term volunteer CJ Fritz blogs from Brazil about our recent third-year training with the Brasilia branch of CAC partner Futebol Social.
Before every program, we try to have somewhat of a plan in place for the week. In the smoothest of scenarios the sessions contour themselves exactly how we would have hoped, and the plan doesn’t have to change. This smooth scenario is also called a “fantasy.”
Every program has, it seems, at least one moment when something unforeseeable happens, and the plan shifts.
Nora and I arrived into Brasilia the weekend of March 5th, ready and raring to get back to work after an extended break from on-field work. On Sunday we sat down and met with our local contact, Karina. We couldn’t speak Portuguese and she couldn’t speak English. Not the plan. Shift. After her son served as a makeshift translator, we learned that we would have 100 participants on Monday. Not the plan. Shift again.
On Monday afternoon, on our way to Taguatinga for our first session, it is revealed to us that we won’t have 100 participants…that number is now 170. Not the plan. Shift.
After revising our plan as best as possible to fit our ever-growing group, we arrive at the university where we will be conducting the sessions. We are greeted by a wall of eager Brazilians ready to get started. The nerves that came with the prospect of coaching so many people dissolved in our excitement to start the program.
After a very energetic round of Circle of Friends, we move on to Mia Hamm skills. We divide the group in to two more manageably sized groups and go to get half of the balls for each group. Turns out there are only 14 balls in total. Time to shift. By conducting most of the Mia Hamm skills with imaginary balls instead of real, we manage to get more people involved in the game.
Throughout the week, although sheltered from the rain by the indoor sports courts, we were not immune to the leaks and small pools of water forming on the courts. Not safe. Shift. With mops at the ready and cones around the more dangerous wet spots, on continued the sessions.
When the Child Rights talk loomed on Thursday, there was one upcoming obstacle that we were able to foresee. Asking 170 people to participate in a discussion and hoping that we could hear from a diverse group of them was not going to happen. Preemptive shift. With the group broken down into small clusters of four to five participants, there was more discussion and wider participation as a whole.
Although there were many moments of uncertainty throughout the week, it turned out to be one of my favorite weeks coaching with CAC. The changes kept me on my toes from the day I arrived until the day we flew out of Brasilia, feeling already nostalgic for a program that had barely finished. Not wanting to let go of the Brasilia program wasn’t what I expected. Shift.
2014 In Review
May 14th 2015. Coaches Across Continents are pleased to present ‘2014 In Review‘. In 2014 we had our most successful year yet. On-Field we worked in 26 countries with 74 implementing community partners and 1066 member partners. We educated 3,157 coaches who positively impacted 280,396 children. We implemented our Self-Directed Learning methodology which encourages participants to critically assess the needs of their community and create sport for social impact games to teach youth about these needs. Our child rights policy was signed by all 3,157 coaches who agreed to always protect children in their care. We increased the number of Community Impact Coaches who worked with us and partnered with organizations in 44 countries to implement games on Peace Day about resolving conflict peacefully.
Off-Field we developed a mutually beneficial partnership with Chevrolet and One World Play Project based on their ‘What Do You #PlayFor?’ campaign. Pitches were developed in Indonesia, USA and South Africa where we ran sport for social impact programs. This partnership won Chevrolet the ‘Corporate of the Year’ award at the Beyond Sport awards. We also presented at high level conferences and events in places from India to Qatar and the USA. In addition we continued to develop our monitoring and evaluation system which has tracked significant changes in places in which we work. For example, 99% of coaches in Rwanda now know a soccer game to teach young people about how best to resolve conflict, compared to 33% prior to the CAC training.
Take a look at ‘2014 In Review‘ for more information on 2014 and our plans to grow even further in 2015.