A Sunny Day on the Soccer Pitch

So, what exactly does teaching girls’ soccer in Benin look like? Well, to the untrained eye it may appear to be utter mayhem; girls flailing their limbs in attempt to connect with the ball; boys on the sidelines chasing after the wayward balls; the pitch surrounded by dozens of onlookers young and old, all giving a steady commentary on the quality of the practice and coaching techniques; and a single white girl at the centre of the chaos, using a whistle and her astonishingly loud voice to direct traffic.

My sports mornings start at 6:30am; after finishing my cup of coffee, I grab the hockey bag full of soccer balls and pylons, plus the duffel bag with first aid supplies and water, and finally my helmet and sunglasses, and race out the door. This morning I only had one hockey bag of equipment, which is fairly simple to balance over my shoulder on my scooter – it gets tricky with two bags and the 1x1M whiteboard! Unfortunately my scooter’s gas tank was nearly empty and the school is on the outskirts of town, so I decided to make a quick fill up at one of the many “gas ‘n’ go” stops along the way. I have never run out of gas on my scooter, but if I ever do, I don’t think I’ll have to walk far to find fuel because there are little “gas ‘n’ go” stands set up every couple hundred meters along even the most obscure routes. These entrepreneurs purchase the fuel in large barrels, and sell it by the liter, measured into many whisky and coke bottles. I normally fuel up at the pumps, to ensure the quality of fuel being poured into my bike, but on the rare occasion, it is simply more convenient to fill up at the local “gas ‘n’ go”.

Another 2 liters in my gas tank, and I’m on the road again, balancing my oversized bags and dodging the potholes, chickens, and goats along the way. I’m greeted/assaulted (depending on the tone) with the usual calls of “Yovo!” or “Baturi!” (white person) from the many kids and adults that I pass along the way, and every so often I’ll hear the familiar “Coach!” called out by one of the many kids who come out to Saturday soccer, and I try to wave back without endangering the balance of the load on my bike.

I arrive at the soccer field at 7am and park under the “coach’s tree” to wait for the other sports teacher to arrive. This morning I was to be assisting with a small co-ed class (10-15 students) from a nearby private school. The private school uses a section of the public school’s sports field, and earlier in the week I had taught a class of girls in the public school on the same soccer field, so several of the public school students recognized me and came over to greet as they were on their way to class. The sports teacher from the private school showed up shortly after I arrived, and we quickly reviewed the practice we had planned out together the day before.

It is good to make plans, but one must learn not to depend on any such wonderful plans…

I noticed more and more young spectators gathering around the tree as we were talking, and finally the sports teacher turned to the girls gathering and told them to go to class (they were from the public school). The girls replied that they had come for class, soccer class, just as their sports teacher had instructed them to. I asked them where their sports teacher was, because I had talked with him earlier in the week and we had both agreed that soccer would only be once a week with the public school, on Tuesday mornings, not Thursdays. Well, the public school sports teacher was at the stadium with the boys’ soccer team for a tournament, and I now had a dozen barefoot girls, dressed and ready to play soccer.

Change of plans, the private school kids can stay with their teacher, and I’m taking the public school sports class for the morning.

Thankfully I came with a half dozen balls and one set of practice pinnies, because as the girls finished their laps and gathered around me, I discovered that the “dozen girls” had somehow multiplied during the five laps, and I now had 60 girls!

Change is good, change is good, change is GOOD. I am flexible, adaptable and totally ready for anything, even if it involves tearing up my practice plan and tossing it aside.

After introducing myself and explaining why I am teaching soccer for girls, I start off with names to break the ice, tossing the ball to each girl to catch as she calls out her name. Unfortunately the soccer pitch is already occupied by the 10^th grade boys’ class, and they are playing a full soccer game since their sports teacher is absent, so we are relegated to the washed out sidelines. All of the girls are in 6^th grade, but there are some noticeable size and age differences, so I quickly line them up according the age and split the group into 10-13 years and 14-16 year olds. Quite an age range for one grade, but fairly typical as class attendance is low and the pass ratio is poor.

Form two circles with the groups, and demonstrate basic passing in each group; simple, right? It could be, but the area we are using is scattered with broken bits of bricks, dissected by several sandy stream beds, and the term “large circle” does not seem to translate very well for this group. I begin picking up the broken bricks and tossing them to the side, and suddenly the girls jump into action and within seconds the area is cleared of bricks, mango pits, plastic bags, and pebbles. Next, I trace a circle for each of the two groups, indicating precisely how large the circle should be and where they stand. Ok, now to introduce the ball and see if the circle maintains its form… It doesn’t help matters that we are constantly surrounding by a pressing and growing crowd of curious onlookers, mostly young boys who are enviously eying the bag of soccer balls by my feet that I am carefully guarding.

 

After demonstrating the basic passing technique to both groups, I have the girls split into smaller groups so they continue working with the balls. It is now 8am and the school yard is packed with students coming and going, the crowd of boys around our soccer practice has grown substantially, and I need to keep a steady eye on the six balls that are now flying here and there, to make sure that none of the balls suddenly disappear into some lucky kid’s backpack.

In the middle of training I had a surprise visit from the school director, so I quickly excused myself from the chaos and ran over to greet him. He asked me to come see him in his office after the class – brings back memories of my own high school days and the many times I was “invited” to the principal’s office, some things never change…

Ok, 8:30am and the 10^th grade boys have finally relinquished the field, so now to create teams with 60 girls who have never played a soccer game before! I was about to ask the girls to split into teams based on their birthday month, but then realized that might not be very effective because birthdays are not exactly marked or celebrated much, so I divided the girls according their first names and the alphabet (A-G; H-P; Q-Z) – that was more or less effective, except for the girls who weren’t too clear on the alphabet order... Also surprising to find out how many first names begin with the letter Z! Zouwératou, Zoubérnatou, Zouliatou, Zouléhatou, Zoubératou, Zénabou, Zoulfaou… the list goes on! Try calling out that roster, trust me, it’s tricky, and normally results in lots of giggles from the girls as I repeatedly mispronounce and mix up their names!

Most of the girls got to play during the next 45 minutes, only a few incidents with toes kicking shins, and we ended with the always popular shoot-out to break the tie game. Wrap up practice with a cool down lap and stretching, sign up the girls who intend to come next week, quick count to confirm all balls and jerseys are back in the bag, load up my scooter, and off I go!

Ah, 10am back at home for a shower and my long awaited second cup of coffee with breakfast. Next week I’ll be bringing reinforcements, enlisting the assistance of my senior soccer players as junior coaches!

(Sorry the photos are from prior events; no time to take photos when I'm the only coach on the field!!)