Sporting Challenges

For the last few weeks, I have been managing an after-school soccer program for high school kids. It is open to girls and boys, but ends up being only boys. The numbers fluctuate every day from 10 kids to 20 kids. The first few weeks, I was actually coaching, but now we are experimenting with a coaching development program in which we use young players, age 19-25, and slowly train and develop them into coaches. One of the major social challenges young people face here is unemployment. Most kids finish secondary school and even attend community college, but after that, it is extremely difficult to find employment so there is a huge section of young people who are just idle. We are trying to develop ways in which some of these young people can be trained in coaching and can somehow gain employment as a coach in youth programs. So the new coach I am working with is 20 and has played soccer for a long time, but these last two weeks have been his first times coaching.

I notice many cultural differences between the US and here. Many of the same differences I observed in Kenya. There is a sort of "don't speak unless spoken to" culture that exists and is fostered by the education system. Most schools do not encourage students to be outgoing or engaging, but instead promote attentive listening, discipline and intense academic standards. Many of these kids do not have outlets to display their emotion or to enjoy themselves as kids. A sports environment is one place in which this could possibly happen, but again, most coaches here also promote repetition and discipline. We are trying to provide an environment for these kids to learn, but to also have fun in a reliable and consistent setting, which is a rare scenario here. One example of the difference in coaching or teaching styles is the fact that the young coach I am helping to trained told me that sometimes when I coach I make the kids feel awkward because I am always saying "please." I thought this was so interesting because first of all, I don't even realize that I'm saying please, but if I'm asking a kid to go pick up the cones or to get in line or to listen, I would always preface the request with "please." While the culture here is to be very polite to teachers (the kids answer every single thing I say with "Yes, miss"), it is not often that the person in an authority position is nice back to them. So the coach was saying that when I say please, it makes it seem like I am putting myself below the players. Interesting cultural difference to me, since I would think it would be disrespectful to NOT say please and they see it as a sign of weakness.

Overall the program is going well and I am learning more and more every day about coaching, working with kids, how to tailor my approach to certain individuals, how to control my own anger when these kids are disrespectful and don't listen, which is basically every day! We are working on developing a curriculum for a coaching vocational training course, which would be a really great project here. This whole process gives me such a different perspective on coaches and really makes me appreciate all the good coaches out there. It is such a hard thing to understand if you are only a player, but once you are on the other side of the situation, it's a whole other world.

Living in St. Lucia

So it has not officially been two weeks that I have been in St. Lucia. Enough time for me to get the lay of the land, but also for me to wonder how people ever leave this place. St. Lucia is such a naturally beautiful island. There are rolling hills and mountains everywhere and lush green forests which is all surrounded by gorgeous white sand, blue/green water beaches. I am extremely lucky to be living in a place on the northern part of the island called Cap Estate, which happens to be the wealthiest neighborhood on the island with multiple mansions, estates, resorts, a golf course, etc. My apartment is a one bedroom place with a big living room and a small kitchen area. The best part is the porch on the front which has a great view of the hills and also has a small pool!




I live in a gated community which is good safety-wise, which is about a 10 minute walk to the beach and also a 20 minute walk to the nearest bus stop which can take me anywhere else I need to go on the island. The closest towns to me are Gros Islet and Rodney Bay. Rodney Bay is the major tourist area on the island. There are two large shopping malls, tons of restaurants, bars and cafes. You can eat any type of food there - Chinese, Indian, Italian, Mexican and of course lots of seafood. There is a marina in Rodney Bay which also has great restaurants along the water and there are so many huge boats/yachts that are coming in and out all day. Kinda fun to see!

The organization I am working with, Sacred Sports Foundation, is phenomenal. They are doing lots of projects around the island, including grassroots soccer programs, girls netball programs, a little bit of cricket and a little rugby. I have been involved with an after-school soccer program that they are running for high school aged boys of varying skill level. A lot of the kids are from tough neighborhoods and difficult family situations so it has been a struggle to organize training sessions for them. However, we have had some success as far as implementing a consistent program with a bit of discipline while still making it enjoyable and fun for them. I will most likely continue to work on this project, among others, for the remainder of my time here.