After about a six week break in the United States following a series of programs in our 60th country, our biggest milestone yet, it was time to hit the road yet again.

I was itching to get back out there. It’d been weeks, but weeks at home feel like months these days, so I couldn’t wait to land and get back to work. This programming run was set to be a summer of Asia-based sessions. Plans for the summer were largely uncertain, although I did know one thing, my first destination. I knew I’d be starting in the Philippines, but with my eyes set on Sri Lanka, Laos, and Taiwan, I made sure to bring plenty of gear in case the winds steered my path that way.

I landed in Manila and quickly linked back up with a familiar friend from an even more familiar organization – Friendship Home.

“Amigo! What’s up tol?” responded that friend, Brother Listher. Our conversation was a beautiful hodgepodge of English, Spanish, and Tagalog, just as it always was. I told him I was back home in the Philippines and was hoping to run another double shot of classes if the kids were free.

“Of course!” he answered excitedly. “Thanks for always thinking of us.”

I couldn’t wait. We chose a Saturday in early July and got straight to work. It would be around 20 kids just like our first run of sessions back in March, almost exactly four months prior. During those sessions, I had given all our participants brand new Hummel jerseys thanks to our friends at Vale Sports Club. As luck would have it, there would be about half a dozen repeat participants present, meaning they’d be able to complete their full kits at the sessions’ close, for I was set to arrive with nothing other than the matching shorts to those Hummel jerseys.

Brother Listher texted me the night before regretfully informing me that he would not be in attendance due to a scheduling conflict. “But you’ll be in the more than capable hands of Brother Benjie, he’ll take care of you,” Brother Listher reassured.

Parking just in front of Friendship Home’s big green gate, I was met with a smiling face and a handshake. “Brother Benjie?” I said with a smile, hoping to finally meet the man who had helped set up our sessions back in March.

“Brother John,” he said with a smile. “Brother Benjie is at the market.”

Brother John and my ever-trusty assistant, Rronyth, helped distribute shorts as I set up our first couple of drills. I hadn’t touched a ball in nearly two months, so my legs were jittery but I knew football was nothing more than riding a ball-shaped bicycle anyway. I blew my whistle and gathered everyone in for a very very messy intro talk in Tagalog. Safe to say that after sessions in English, Spanish, and Arabic, my grasp on the Filipino language had well-evaded me. 

We ran through our listening drill before breaking off into a special round of tic tac toe, with a makeshift hashtag grid of leftover Hummel shorts and green Better Everyday bags. By any (and all) means possible was that grid going to be made! We ran a couple relay races and other drills with our first group of 11 kids. They were all brand new faces so I could recycle our curriculum from before and get away with it.

Off to the side, a familiar face entered the fold and I quickly called him over to help run a second round of Ulo o Kamay. 

“Anong pangalan mo, tol? (What’s your name bro?)” I asked him. “Taylor,” he responded, with a smile. I recognized his face, but he was sporting a fresh new haircut, hence my brief moment of brain buffer.

Taylor’s sister, Chelsea, was participating in the first session, and Taylor would be sticking around for our second one. I was happy to see family in the house as I was especially missing my own with the 12 hour time change between Manila & Connecticut. As I drew the first group to a close with some exciting scrimmages, Brother John called me over to offer a choice of water, snacks, or coffee, providing me with all of the above if I was in the mood.

“Some of the kids have vacation classes and other activities,” he told me, explaining the reason why we would have a mix of new and old faces in the day’s second session.

“One hour lang for the second group, okay lang sayo? (Just one hour, is that okay with you?”) I asked Brother John “kase (because), it’s a repeat program for a majority of the group,” I said, with Brother John nodding his head in approval.

I was keeping up with Friendship Home’s social accounts, mainly their Facebook, and was always happy to see an update weekly and zoom in to see the kids still wearing their Hummel jerseys. It made me smile to see them still appreciate the kits we gave them all the way back in March. Not to mention, Brother Listher had kept the 8 footballs we gave them back then safe and sound, so we ended up using them again in the day’s sessions, supplemented by six or so footballs we would be giving out as prizes. 

“I wish I could be there tol, you know that!” Brother Listher had messaged me the night before. It was good to know he was still present in the session, even from a distance.

As I opened up our second program, introducing myself to the new faces, and greeting a warm welcome back to the old ones, I was excited to debut some new games to spice our curriculum up a bit.

“Do you remember me, Coach?” asked a boy with an extremely familiar face. He now had earrings, but in March did not. I dug deep back in my memory bank… “Syempre bro (of course)! Dane dba (right)?” He smiled big and nodded. More familiar faces were in attendance too. Ethan from last time, our resident volleyball player. Noriel too, one of our prize winners from months back.

With tic tac toe having been such a big hit in the first hour, I reprised it for the second, happy to call on the first session’s participants sitting off to the side to help jog my memory of our order of skills.

“Anong next level guys?” (What’s the next level guys?)

“Backwards run!” they yelled out.

“Next one is like this!” yelled another, gesturing towards placing a ball in between the knees.

I was pleased to see a girl from that first session, Julien, stuck around to help out in the second and ever-so-helpful she was. I smiled watching her kick back all the tic tac toe balls between rounds, and later loading up ammo for me in our 1v1 drill, which saw participants running towards two goals (green or orange) when commanded to do so at the blow of my whistle.

One of the drills I’d be debuting was from a Facebook video that had hit my feed months back. Basically, the kids and I would stand in a circle. I’d crouch down low with a ball in my hands, bouncing it against the ground. As soon as the bounce was heard, the kids would have to clap. This was followed with a variety of feints and fakes. Those who clapped out of turn would be eliminated, with one player ending up victorious. It wasn’t much of a soccer drill besides the incorporation of a ball, but it required listening and concentration, two things crucial to success on the pitch. 

After grabbing one winner from that, I moved on to find an owner for our last ball up for grabs. Sitting our second group in front of me, I told them they would all have two attempts each to keep the ball in the air as many times as they could.

“…without using your hands,” I said, looking Ethan directly in the face, extracting a laugh in return.

“Use your feet, your thighs, even your head if you want!” I instructed them.

“Kawawa naman sya (poor Cedric)” I said to Rronyth with a frown, having hoped Cedric would win a ball, especially considering Dane had won his own just four months ago too. Alas though, rules are rules.

“Bro dameng swerte naman, dalawang beses you won prizes wow tol!” I said, turning to Dane (bro you’re so lucky, you won prizes two times). “I know!” he said, with yet another big smile.

The second group back in the wings with the first, I sat down and enjoyed a gulp of ice water and some cookies given to me by Brother John. As I sat down to talk with the kids, I joked around in my toddler level tagalog. “May marites?” (What’s the gossip) I joked to a 10-year-old girl named Trisha, who had been scrolling up and down on her phone, intently reading the newest scoop from the day.

I popped up from my seat as some of the other kids had asked me to sign their new shorts and soccer balls, and to take some pictures, which I more than happily agreed to. Nearly two months had passed since our last session in Bosnia and I was overjoyed to have made a safe return to programming. As a result, I was leaving Friendship Home with a full heart and a huge smile.

Brother John, for his part, was just as happy as when he had first greeted us on arrival. “Thank you for everything, and most of all, for the patience,” he said, ushering us back through the towering green gate.