The One World Futbol Announces Candidacy for President of the United States
August 3rd 2016. We are pleased to present this guest blog post written by The Ball.
My fellow Americans, it is with great excitement and gleeful joy that I accept the Play Party nomination for president of the United States of America.
Today, we begin the play revolution! The goal of my presidential campaign is simple: to inspire and transform our country—and the world—into a place full of play. The Play Party and I want to lead everyone to Make Life PlayFull!
Why play?
When we play, conflicts are forgotten; we are creative and empowered; and we can’t help but smile, laugh and live in the moment. Play, in all its forms, unlocks our passion and our potential. It is the foundation for building the best version of ourselves and our world.
Play deprivation is real
Unfortunately, play deprivation is undeniably real. In too many places, opportunities to play are dwindling. In some places, recess, art and music programs have been cut. In others, these programs never existed.
Children are more “scheduled” now than ever before, and many kids in underserved communities lack the resources, access and time to play. Studies show that this deprivation leads to poor social, emotional and cognitive development of children.
Play champions
Enough is enough. It’s time to change this. It’s time to bring back play.
To do this, I’m calling on you to become a true champion of play and Make Life PlayFull for everyone! All contributions to my presidential campaign will go to three amazing partners who Make Life PlayFull daily: Coaches Across Continents, Futbol por la Paz and Playworks.
Whether you’re with the Democratic Party, Republican Party, Green Party, Libertarian Party or an Independent, I know all of you can get behind my party, the Play Party.
Make Life PlayFull
As many of you know, balls have been around forever. The simple design is a foundation for all forms of play to build on. Basketball, baseball, soccer, cricket, tennis, tetherball, kickball, foursquare, bowling, golf, bocce and even your own imagined game all have one thing in common: a ball.
I am from the family known as “One World Futbol.” Our family is revolutionary; we’ve been designed to withstand the harshest environments in the world. I am tough. I am durable. I will never need a pump and will never go flat. I can play anywhere and everywhere.
Coaches Across Continents and One World Play Project
The team at Coaches Across Continents is well aware of my durability. Through their multi-year partnership with One World Play Project, they have seen me play on soccer fields, street courts and some of the harshest, rockiest terrain in the world.
The team at One World Play Project is proud to partner with the extraordinarily dedicated and effective team at Coaches Across Continents. Together, we’re all working to get more balls from my family to programs and organizations around the world. In 2015 alone, the Coaches Across Continents team worked in 30 countries, and with your support of my presidential campaign, we can share the joy of play with more communities.
Contribute to play, vote for play
Join me in this campaign to build a future that provides play for all. If we stand together and are prepared to embrace a world where no one is deprived of play, there is nothing that can’t be accomplished. Together, we will Make Life PlayFull!
Win A One World Futbol!
July 11th 2016. There is only a few days left to enter our competition to win a One World Futbol! We are giving twenty lucky CAC supporters the chance to win an ultra-durable One World Futbol. All you have to do is read the Annual Review and complete this simple questionnaire (Hint: if you don’t know the answers you can find them in our Annual Review 2015!). Anyone who answers the questions correctly will be entered into the draw to win!
Once again here is the Annual Review 2015. And click here for the form and a chance to win a One World Futbol.
If you work for a corporation or funder then you can also enter the competition to win a CSR/Cause Marketing partnership. Click here to find out more on that competition.
Empower Children All Over The World With The Ultra-Durable One World Futbol!
April 6th 2016. Coaches Across Continents (CAC) and One World Play Project are teaming up to present you with the opportunity to give an ultra-durable One World Futbol (or many!) to disadvantaged youth living in harmful environments globally. Today is the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace so it is a great day to get involved!
Most of the youth in communities where CAC runs programs make soccer balls out of whatever they can find: plastic bags, garbage, twine. It’s too expensive to get access to a ball, particularly one which wears out or bursts from the constant use, and children are often disappointed by standard soccer balls, which are ruined within days, sometimes hours. The One World Futbol truly changes their lives giving them the ability to play wherever and whenever they can! The One World Futbol is the world’s first ultra-durable soccer ball that never goes flat and never needs a pump, even when punctured
By choosing to give a One World Futbol today, you can join the play movement and help ensure that disadvantaged communities where CAC works will receive an ultra-durable ball which CAC coaches can use to educate children on key social messages. Having access to the One World Futbol also means CAC can use resources for other crucial resources and focus on delivering our programs without the hassle or worry of replacing balls ever again.
The Universal Language
April 5th 2016. CAC Community Impact Coach Charles Otieno blogs about his second week On-Field with CAC in Mbarara, Uganda with Mbarara Sports Academy.
It was a four hour bus ride from the capital city of Kampala to Mbarara, a beautiful town located in the west of Uganda. I liked the environment that the Mbarara Sports Academy created there. Being the second town I visited in Uganda, it was another good experience. I met new people and the fun of it was people speaking a different language from what I speak in Kenya, but we had one thing in common, and that was soccer. Soccer plays a vital role and it made the communication easier, as we all know soccer is a universal language.
The turnout of the five-day training was high and fairly well gender balanced. The active coaches were very interested in playing soccer so we got to play some of our more competitive games this week. It took a while for some of the coaches to realize that you can use soccer to teach on how to combat social issues, but it was impressive to see once they did. The highlight of the week was playing ASK for Choice games with female coaches for two days consecutively. The women were really committed. They arrived early in the morning at a different training field and then continued on with the rest of the coaches in the original site for extra hours of CAC games. The majority of the girls were students in college and were studying in different fields so that they can have as many opportunities as men. They believe that women should have equal opportunities as men and through that, the community will grow economically and socially. They want to be more independent, have more freedom to play sport, to education, to employment, to property ownership, and to make personal choices.
The One World Futbols have played a big role in the On-Field sessions. I have been able use them to train and create a learning environment for young men and women. Having soccer balls is one of the challenges communities face and these ultra-durable balls have been the answer because they last longer and can be played in any type of pitch be it grass field, turf field or dusty field. With the One World Futbol’s being all over the world, it tells us how soccer speaks to people in a language they can all understand.
They say “play with the best and be the best”. I take this opportunity to thank CAC for the great opportunity and also the gentlemen that have been my backbone for the two weeks here in Uganda. It has been great working with David Neaverth, Markus Bensch and Charlie Crawford and I’m happy I managed to grasp some On-Field and Off-Field skills from the team.
One Football…. One Game….One Goal…. One language…. One World.
Mexican Teachers Get Creative
CAC SDL coach Turner Humphries blogs from Hermosillo, Mexico as we begin a partnership with FESAC.
Admittedly, my Spanish has yet to reach fluent levels, but from what I could gather it seemed like one of the participants was asking me a great deal about the type of football played North of the border. He went on to ask me where all my equipment was? Didn’t I need a helmet and shoulder pads? Attempting to ease his worries, I pointed to the box of One World Futbols. “We only need those,” I said. A look of pure relief swept over his face, surely glad that I hadn’t arrived in Hermosillo to conduct linebacker training.
For our week in Hermosillo, Mexico we would be working with FESAC, an organization that works to link groups within the community together to create spaces for sustainable development and the Department of Education and Culture. With us on the field were over 100 physical education teachers from primary and secondary schools. While most of the participants were experiencing sport for social impact for the first time, they brought with them a creative spirit that meshed perfectly with Coaches Across Continents’ mantra of ‘solve your problem.’ On our final day together the participants were divided into two groups to conduct coach-backs. As the coaches made their way to field, we saw more than just their customary coffee in their hands. Twenty multi-color hula hoops, a handful of bandanas and two massive exercise balls were all making their way to field. The hula hoops were used in a tag game. With hula hoop in hand, the taggers set off trying to infect free players with a disease by catching the free players inside the hula hoop. Cones were then added which allowed the free players to avoid the wrath of the hula hoop; these cones represented healthy measures that would reduce your chance of disease. The bandanas were used in a problem solving game. The bandanas were used to simulate blindness, those teammates without a blindfold were tasked with getting their blind teammate to dribble through a set of cones. The enormous exercise balls were used in an adaption of the CAC game ‘Pairs Scrimmage.’ The rules were adapted to include a mix of rugby, American football, soccer and basketball, hilarity ensued.
Thinking back to my physical education classes in secondary school I remember itchy gray t-shirts, deflated soccer balls, teenage angst and a teacher that looked like he would have rather been anywhere else. Clearly the students in Hermosillo never have a dull day when they arrive to physical education class, for that they have this creative bunch of teachers to thank.
Cliffs, Rains and Rocks
CAC volunteer Charlie Crawford talks about his last CAC program of the summer of 2015 with Uni Papua in Mulia, Indonesia.
October 7th 2015. The flight into Mulia is a journey not many make. Our plane slid 5 adults, an infant, a motorcycle, and 8 boxes of One World Futbols deep into a green valley of central Papua.
Working again with Uni Papua, the Mulia doctor and program leader, Dr. Jepprey, welcomed us to his home that overlooks the southern valley and the one-and-only airstrip. The Doctor’s house was unique in Mulia. Designed by an American, the layout had a strangely familiar feel to it, and we were even in one of the few homes with running water! A bonus we hadn’t anticipated and a privilege we would shortly have to earn.
Turner and I had the weekend to settle in before the start of the program on Monday. It was an appreciated time to get our bearings in this chilly surreal setting. That weekend, after a particularly harsh rain, we woke up to learn the water hose had been damaged. This naturally meant that the early afternoon turned into a hike following the hose and up the mountain to solve the problem. Some digging and climbing later we rested with our mission a success on a cliff overlooking the lower end of the valley. The steepness of some of these mountains was as close to sheer drops as possible while still being climbable. Somehow though, the soil was rich and in this seeming impossible setting we were surrounded by lines of crops. A misstep would mean a tumble to the bottom, and it was here that much of Mulia grew their food.
As we rested with our new friends from Uni Papua, some half dozen kids joined us with a smile and disappeared into the cliffs only to return some time later with freshly picked pineapples clenched in each hand. It was a proper welcome to a new world. A welcome continued by the daily bunt cakes and casseroles from the Vice-Regent’s thoroughly hospitable and generous wife.
As the week went on, we fell into a familiar cycle of coaching in the afternoon and working at local schools in the morning. Each morning would involve a couple of our participant coaches and a couple hundred school kids. The fields themselves were something of an experience. Between mountains, most would be at some degree of slant. Between daily rains, the grassy patches would turn to mud. But most impressively, the ground of Mulia is mainly made up of various sized shale rocks which meant navigating a playing field required an entirely other skill than most players have to deal with. Regardless of conditions, when the rains came and the rocks hurt, our coaches would smile and insist on 1 more game.
I’ll remember the crops that came from the cliffs. I’ll remember the Vice-Regent’s wife bringing cake. I’ll remember being thankful for slipping and not hitting a rock. Most of all I’ll remember working with a wonderful group of people for my last program with CAC this summer.
