Two days and three sessions had passed and I won’t lie, my body was taking a turn for the worst. I was more than halfway through my trip, but not even halfway through our programming, so I had no choice but to push through. The day featured a return back to Conakry Reliance School for two more sessions with their students.

The sun out before I could even wake up, today promised to be a real scorcher. To make matters worse, I woke up feeling the effects of maybe not quite heat stroke, but definitely heat exhaustion. I was dizzy. My skin was clammy. I prayed I might be able to make it through yet another jam-packed day of Guinea-based programs. Luckily, breakfast helped as much as it could. I filled my stomach with a potato omelette accompanied by some fresh tomatoes and cucumbers. Slowly, my heat-induced pale complexion was fading away. Surprisingly, the cold shower I’d grown accustomed to on my now sixth day in the country helped as well!

I was back, the day was breathing new life into me. With a pep in my step I made my way to the end of my street, hailing a taxi. To my surprise, a familiar face waved back. It was the same driver who took me to Dabompa Mangrove on Saturday for our first ever session in Conakry!

I smiled from ear to ear. What a small world! I talked to him in my broken French explaining how similar to Saturday, I had yet another program scheduled for the day, though this one would be with a school instead of an orphanage. With a familiar toothy grin, he nodded in approval and off we went.

“C’est un gran surprise, mon ami,” I said, speaking of the chance encounter. (It’s a big surprise, my friend)

We chopped it up as the noise of Conakry traffic tried its best to talk over us and 15 minutes later, we had reached my destination. Just like Monday morning, I found myself there at the front of CRS. I knocked on the door and made my way up to the second floor to find Julius, affectionately known around these parts as “Mr. Gaye” while also exchanging pleasantries with other staff members, teachers, and even some players from the day prior!

“What’s up young man?” I asked one of our prizewinners from the day before, “where’s your ball?”

“It’s back at home!” he said, extending his arm for a handshake.

The sun high up in the sky and the morning just begging for a soccer class, we jumped into session number one on the day. An older student named Losine had emerged as my assistant coach for the day, and proved to be a trusted shoulder to lean on. Losine ran our sessions with a joy just as big as the players participating around him. Not to be outdone, even Julius got in on the action. Yes, he was a basketball player and fan by trade, but I knew deep in my heart that he could definitely still be of use.

Plus, as we broke into a circle drill with students huddled around Losine & Mr. Gaye, he was very much in his element “dribbling” the ball in the middle of our clapping audience members. For this first session, I had 16 pairs of blue Hummel shorts to give out thanks to our friends at Vale Sports Club. But still, there was a dilemma. We had 20 participants present, so I needed to find a way to give out four soccer balls as prizes.

Obviously, the first winner was chosen by way of “head or hands”. The second, from our listening/ball bouncing game. The third and fourth though? I had something special in mind.

First, I sat the kids in front of me in the shade, demoing a neck stall followed by some push-ups. “So what’s the game guys?” I asked. They were all puzzled. “The game is to do that exact trick.”

“Come on Coach, that’s impossible!” they groaned.

“I’ll teach you, don’t worry!” I answered, reassuring their anxious hearts.

It was settled, the expectations (and stage) were set. The bounty? A ball for a girl prize winner and a ball for a boy. The challenge? Up first were the girls… I lined them up at mid court and instructed them to place the soccer balls on the back of their necks. Then, they’d have to move forward as fast as they could, walking towards CRS’s flagpole. First person to touch that wall, would be our winner. If the ball fell from their neck, they would be forced to go back and turn around.

“Coach, it’s not fair! You’re supposed to let us go on 1,” yelled out a young woman who had left her starting place a second early.

“Nope! On my whistle!” I commanded.

Funny enough, that girl ended up being our winner! The next challenge was a little less straight-forward. For lack of a word, let’s call it a doozy.

“Alright boys,” I started. “The first person to balance the ball on their neck, drop down and do three push-ups, and stand back up without dropping the ball will win our fourth and final soccer ball.”

They took a deep breath in and stood at the ready.

“Give each other some space!” I yelled out… they surely were going to need it.

“Wait though!” I yelled. A surprise twist.

“You guys can’t use your hands.”

I wrapped the session up, drawing the group in to claim their footballs and Hummel shorts. Then, just as quick as they had entered, they returned to their classrooms as our second set of participants entered the scene. This one would be a bit lower energy than the first, just because of the hot Guinean sun absolutely rocking our playing space.

First up, was our listening drill with Losine graciously helping out. Then, I hit some ball control grids with some former participants helping run things for our four groups of five players. From there, relay races. It was all knotted up, three teams tied with a win a piece.

“1-1-1, last one guys!” I yelled.

Meanwhile, I had Julius bring the cones in closer.

“Do me a favor y’all, take that ball and put it in between your knees,” I said. They followed accordingly.

“Do we waddle, Coach? Or hop?” asked one of our line leaders.

“Whatever you want guys, just go as fast as you can,” I instructed.

Tweet tweet tweet! sang my whistle.

“Guys, no cheating!” I yelled.

“We gotta do that one over. I saw some people using their hands to lodge the ball between their knees. And others dropping the ball midway and just running the rest of the distance.”

After all, there was a lot at stake here with soccer balls for the winning group. It was neck and neck but we finally got a winner! Team three at the death, with a photo finish. The seven players yelled out with pride, excited to claim their well-deserved new footballs at the end of the session. I knew I had one last football to give out, and as per tradition, we claimed a winner with head or hands. I loved watching this one. There was so much determination and concentration. All participants were hoping to win that last, coveted prize. 

Just as we claimed our final winner, one of the school’s directors approached me with an important inquiry. He wanted to know if it would be possible to add a group or two of CRS’s younger kids the following day.

“Do you have provisions for them?” he asked.

Time provisions, yes…. in-kind provisions, to be determined… I thought to myself.

“Well, I have 34 bracelets left so I could perhaps do two sessions with 17 participants?” I said, optimistically.

After all, I knew the last thing I wanted to do was leave beneficiaries hanging. He added some extra context. “It’s just that they’ve been watching all your sessions patiently from their (ground floor) classrooms, wondering when their turn might be.” I knew what had to be done.

“I got you my friend! Let’s do it,” I said, with a smile.

Present for the conversation, Julius made sure to relay the word to the youngest of the young ones at CRS. Somehow, he managed to catch a boy just on his way back home.

“Tomorrow bring your jersey, it’s your turn!” Julius said.

“Yay!” The boy squealed, as he ran towards his house excited to finally experience our curriculum the next day.

Knowing the importance of feedback, I took a minute at the end of yet another jam-packed day of programming to ask Julius for his input.

“How was today?” I asked him.

“It was really good bro and the kids loved it so much. They need this man… you know I was talking with Jackie and we’re going to try to keep these football programs going afterwards. Because the kids are so excited and it’s so beneficial to them. We’re excited and you really helped spark a lot of that excitement.”

I smiled and my heart softened.

“It’s football man. The kids love it, they NEED it! It’s so universal,” I said.

For how the day had started, things certainly did turn around by the end of our two sessions.

Sessions number 4 and 5 in the bag, I found myself yet again on the back of a motorcycle heading towards the mall nearest to my house – Prima Center, for some post-program shawarma.

My good luck would take a turn, or at least one might think so, as a torrential rain storm fell upon the mall and I ended up waiting there for 2 hours. Eating lunch…. eating dinner… even having a snack of popcorn while the rain still rained on. Finally, it stopped to a light trickle and I decided it was as good a time as any to head back to my flat. I popped my AirPods back in their case, turned my cap back to forwards-facing, and went on my way. Just steps before my house, something caught my eye. It was a set of about a dozen boys playing a spirited game of pickup footy on the street. The rain was falling gently onto their field and the sidelines were riddled with deep, muddy puddles, yet they could care less. I sat there, watched for a while, and smiled. It was pure. It was a gentle reminder after a busy day of football of just exactly why I fell in love with this game in the first place so long ago.

Just kids enjoying the game, enjoying the presence of each other, and finding joy in sport, despite the muddy street, the persistent rain, and the puddle-filled sidelines. What an amazing little tap on the shoulder of how lucky I am to carry out this work on behalf of Around the Worlds, connecting kids (oftentimes so in need of sport’s powerful intervention) to that same joy I felt so long ago.