Barefoot State of Mind: 4 Months In

Celebrating a successful HCT and a successful year

This last weekend I had another opportunity to watch the power of the beautiful game in action. On Saturday, November 30, we held another HIV Counseling and Testing soccer tournament (HCT tournament). The tournament was held in a community on the outskirts of Kimberley called Roodepan. Roodepan is a small, somewhat scattered community. Getting to the fields in the center of town involves weaving through large potholes in the road, taking short cuts along dirt paths, and avoiding any dogs, cows, goats, or people that happen to be occupying the road.

The two adjacent fields are separated by a long row of tin shacks and houses. The main field has a frenzied atmosphere with loud music, barefoot kids with hardened feet chasing each other, fans yelling for their team, and of course the Grassroot Soccer coaches shouting, laughing and dancing. The other field is somewhat secluded from the frenzy. You walk along a dirt path from the main field that opens up to a more serene, open area that has a completely different feel. Here, it is just the game being played with no distractions. There is a group of about 10-15 men that sit under the shade of a large bush watching the games and some other fans scattered amongst the shade of other bushes. Some of the teams have large umbrellas to protect themselves from the draining intensity of the sun, and others set up under the shade of the bushes. Kickoff for the first game is supposed to be 9AM but teams show up late as expected (T.I.A. time in Africa) so the first whistle blows at 10:30.

I was busy running back and forth between the two fields for most of the morning. Of course my favorite part of the tournament is watching the soccer games, but the most important part of the event is in the interaction between the Grassroot Soccer coaches and their teams. Throughout the course of the day, GRS coaches have vital discussions with their team about the importance of the HCT theme "know your status." The fight against HIV in communities like the one we were working in is largely against the community stigmatization. Many myths are circulated about HIV within communities, and people who are HIV-positive have been largely estranged from communities in the past. This is changing. HIV is still a problem that effects communities in ways that I could not understand until being immersed here, but the dangerous silence that the stigma has caused is being broken.

This past weekend, I saw that in action as I was waiting with some GRS coaches and their team at the line for testing. Two young men from one of the teams were talking. They were speaking in another language that I couldn't understand, but one of our coaches explained what was going on to me. She told me how one of the boys was concerned about getting tested, but the other one was telling him that it was important for him to get tested now. That whether the result was positive or negative, he could still live a positive life, and he would still have support, but he needed to test now so that he could take the next steps towards achieving his goals. It is this kind of tight-knit support that GRS coaches encourage and inspire when they talk with their teams and the community and it was awesome to see the result going on in front of my eyes.

By the afternoon, I was able to sit down and enjoy the semi-finals and the final match between Sporting FC and Juventus. The two teams in the final both had some very talented players and the game kept me on the edge of my cinderblock seat. It was the fourth game of the day for both teams under intensely hot conditions so I expected both teams to look tired, but when the whistle blew, it was clear that none of the players were concerned about that. They played with the same excited intensity that they had the whole day and it was an awesome game to watch. Sporting FC ended up beating Juventus 2-0. The highlight of the game had to be the second goal. Sporting built their attack through the middle of the field, connecting with a forward who then found the left side winger streaking down the side. The winger collected the ball just inside the box, far to the left of the goal. It was an almost impossible angle but his first touch popped the ball in front of him perfectly. He took one simple stride before striking a top spinning volley over the keeper into the far side netting. The celebration was an almost equally impressive cartwheel to backflip combo. At the end of the day, over 150 participants and community members got tested at the event, fulfilling the GRS Kimberley year-end target goal.

The HCT was one of many happenings as we wrap up this year. This week there are week-long holiday programs running, and next week the GRS coaches will be holding a round-table discussion with community leaders about the state of youth unemployment in Kimberley. By the end of this week, I will finish the year-end "Kimba Times" newsletter that will cover all of the success from this year, as well as the goals for next year. Planning for next year is in process, but we are still figuring out which new directions our programs will be going in. There will be some challenging and exciting weeks to come.

Meanwhile, there is less than a week left to get your tickets for the fundraiser! GRS gear, South African national team gear, DVDs of the film "Pelada", and more are all up for grabs. Follow this link to find out more: grassrootsoccerfunds.ticketbud.org

As always, thanks for reading and caring about what we are doing here.