This would be our last of three collaborations with AMPO, a Wednesday evening session with their all-girls center. All of our programs with AMPO had been at 3 o’clock because the heat would be unbearable if any earlier. At that time, the sun had lost a bit of its strength before setting three hours later.

Otherwise, days reached as hot as 90 degrees and felt like 100, though on the plus side there was no humidity. I had coordinated with Denis to run a final session with the AMPO girls, represented well by a small team of 10 participants. I had set aside 10 Nike Oakwood jerseys for the occasion, carefully counted out and selected. But as always, plans hardly ever carry on as such.

When I arrived, nearly 30-40 girls were present. I discussed in French with an AMPO staff member that we originally had planned for just 10 girls to participate. I said however that I could have as many as 20-30 participants if they wanted, and we would just have 15 prize winners instead. They opted for the second of two options and hands quickly shot up to populate the session’s 25 participants. 

Our venue was interesting for this one, I won’t lie whereas AMPO’s boys center has a small turf field with goals, the girls centre has nothing of the sort. My options were a dirt-filled opening near the front office and gate or a shaded hut area, albeit one with pillars supporting the structure’s integrity. I went with the second obviously because of the shade. There was a little strip of turf laid out, so I quickly set up cones for two relay race lines. This was a tight space, but everyone was a great sport about it!

We broke into our listening drill and the girls responded with a symphony of laughs, cheers, and giggles. From there, relay races commenced, with the addition of our head swinging game from back in Cabo San Lucas with FLCK.

This one was a huge hit as expected, and had the girls rolling with laughter. Needing far more space than the open-air hut could provide, I set up two ball control grids in the dirt space and deployed my sister to one of them to help with distribution.

We jumped off with right and left foot push passes. Then, we practiced controlled volleys, but a few girls blasted theirs into orbit and off of the front office’s rooftop. At one point, there was so much cheering and excitement that we were told we had to quiet down because Mamá Tenga was next door at the boys centre doing an international zoom lecture and couldn’t be disturbed!

Finally, we retreated back to the hut and its comforting shade for Mains ou Tete. I’ll admit, this one was increasingly hard to navigate alone with a group of 25 girls, then adding those support pillars and beams as mentioned before.  Alas, we managed to make it work by playing three straight rounds with five winners in each of them, pausing in between only to allow for a round of applause for the victors.

Once those were sorted, we called them each up one by one for their choice of a Nike jersey or a new Sondico ball. Reviews were mixed but the general consensus was that the Nike jerseys would run out first.

With the session wrapped up and no driver in sight, I walked across the street with my family to AMPO’s restaurant to get one last helping of that famed avo and papaya salad. En route, I noticed a familiar face in the middle of the street waiting to cross. It was Denis!

He flashed his pearly whites and I approached him with excitement, eager to introduce him to my family who hadn’t showed up in time for our first two sessions with AMPO. He was thankful and reciprocated our excitement before wishing us well on our journey.