Our first academy has sadly come to an end and we have said our goodbyes – for the time being – to our very first volunteers. We felt a bit selfish keeping the volunteers and their characters to ourselves so we thought we would share with you some of their experiences and memories during their time with Girls United FA. We caught up with a few of the coaches to ask them some questions about their time with us, and here they are….
If you could describe Girls United FA in 3 words, what would they be?
Hannah - Bubbly, Smart, Determined.
Checo - Commitment, Happiness and Dedication.
WILL:
Can you tell us a funny story about your time in Bacalar as a volunteer?
The funniest thing to happen has to be a few of the pranks Sergio and I played on the girls (Naomi and Hannah, who were in the room next door). Things like… turning their air conditioning off and stealing the remote, or…waking them up late at night by playing loud music through a Bluetooth speaker.
What was it like coaching at the academies? How did the girls respond to your coaching?
The players seemed keen to learn, yet at times it was difficult to get the point across, even with a perfect translation. All along I had been playing simple games that were relevant to football, as we were fighting on two fronts; the language barrier for one, as well as novice footballers. Games like 4v4 scoring into an end zone were difficult for the girls to understand – not because they were incompetent but because most of them were so new to football. However, once they got the hang of it they performed really well and there were definite EUREKA moments.
You could tell that some of the girls weren’t used to seeing silliness from ‘adults’ and we enjoyed having fun with the kids. Many of the girls come from an environment where parents or teachers are strict, but soon enough they were giggling, telling jokes and playing childish games. The girls really started to come out of their shells and were interacting socially.
How would you describe your experience with Girls United FA to a friend or family member?
I would describe the experience as worthwhile and uplifting. The location is truly an undiscovered paradise. If you want to give something back and do something meaningful, then GU is the place to go. At times it could be interesting, humbling and shocking. As a coach, I have a lot of new equipment and kit but one day when we were playing a game with the locals; some of them were playing without any shoes. I was in full Adidas kit with brand new boots… It’s a world away from what we become used to back home.
NAOMI:
How did it feel arriving in Bacalar? Can you tell us a bit what is it like.
When I first arrived in Bacalar I was surprised; first by the beauty of the place, it is an amazing little town, but also it was impressive how gentle and easy going the people are, they were friendly at all times and were always doing their best to help the academy. I also loved that everything is so near, you can just walk everywhere (that is if you can deal with the heat). It's such a great place to be, it was so great to get to work there.
Cuando llegué a Bacalar, me sorprendí muchísimo por la belleza del lugar, es un pueblo increíble; sin embargo, me quedé impresionada con la amabilidad y sencillez de la gente, siempre fueron muy amigables con la organización, y además siempre hicieron lo posible por ayudar a la academia. También me encantó que todo está tan cerca que puedes caminar a todos lados (si aguantas el calor). Me encantó haber tenido la oportunidad de trabajar ahí, fue increíble.
What was the highlight of the trip for you?
The highlight of my trip was definitely being able to play with the girls, they are all such great people, and I don’t know about them, but I had tonnes of fun at every training.
Lo que más me gusto del viaje, fue definitivamente el poder jugar con las niñas, todas estaban muy dispuestas a aprender cosas nuevas y seguir mejorando, además de que son súper divertidas, no sé ellas, pero yo me divertí en cada uno de los entrenamientos.
What was it that initially made you want to volunteer in Bacalar?
The thing that made me want to go to Bacalar was the fact that I was going to be able to teach at least the basics of soccer to the girls. It is unbelievable how difficult life can be for girls living in not very developed places and I thought that this was a great opportunity to show the girls how amazing they were, and how they also have the chance to achieve whatever they want.
Una de las cosas que me convenció de ir a Bacalar fue el hecho de que iba a poder enseñar lo poco que sé del juego y que iba a ayudar a que las niñas empezaran a jugar. Es impresionante lo difícil que la vida puede llegar a ser para las niñas que viven en lugares poco desarrollados y por lo mismo pensé que esta iba a ser una gran oportunidad para enseñarles a las niñas lo increíbles que pueden ser y cómo pueden llegar a lograr lo que ellas se propongan.
What was your favourite food or meal during your trip?
It’s hard to choose my favourite food, but the things I liked the most were the quesadillas next to the central park, the lady that cooks is amazing; and I also loved the panuchos, which is like a fried tortilla served with black beans, lettuce, red onion, tomato and a bit of avocado, it is delicious.
Me es muy difícil decidir cuál fue mi comida preferida, pero entre las cosas que más me gustaron son las quesadillas que están al lado de parque en el centro, la señora que cocina es maravillosa; los panuchos también son de mis comidas favoritas, y es una clase de tortilla frita con frijoles, lechuga, cebolla morada, jitomate y un poco de aguacate, y es deliciosa.
CHECO:
What has been the highlight of your volunteering experience?
The highlight of my volunteering experience was the sensation and the motivating the girls to learn and play football. The commitment of the whole team to transmit their learning to the young girls. Also, the joy that Girls United created in every person who participated in this project was super exciting.
What have you learned from volunteering with Girls United?
What I’ve learned from Girls United was that whenever you want to help someone or make a change in this world, you don’t really need to make huge things. If you are dedicated and want to help others, simple things such as football are enough to make that change.
What was the biggest challenge during your time as a volunteer?
My biggest challenge during my time as a volunteer was to transmit the young girls authority and respect without being tough, you always had to be gentle and show respect to the girls, but at the same time play with them and they the training sessions.
HANNAH:
What have you learned from volunteering with Girls United?
I think I’ve discovered football as a language. I was telling my mom recently about one of the local volunteers, Beto. He’s from Chetumal – which is a city about 30 minutes from Bacalar. At first he was pretty quiet and I was shy with my Spanish, so we didn’t talk much. Recently though we’ve had some time to kick around a ball on the pitch before practice. I don’t know what it was exactly but it felt like we were communicating as we were passing around. Like our movements were in sync. This was the first time I’d experienced this and it finally felt like we were having a conversation – but like an experiential conversation. That was pretty cool.
What was the hardest adjustment that you had to make when living in Bacalar?
I think the hardest adjustment that I had to make was with language. It seemed to be a thread throguht my experience here. At the beginning especially, and at period through my time in Bacalar I felt so isolated because of my language skills. It’s funny though because I’ve been back in the states for a few days now and my first instinct is to speak to people in Spanish! There was a little girls in a playground watching my cousin and I. I turned to her to ask if she wanted to join us, but it almost came out at “quieres jugar?”… Something that I often asked the players who came to practice in Bacalar.