Winding up, and winding down- from Becky

Action shot!
Saturday practice, with Myra in goal
Well here we are, February 23, 2009 and there are so many countdowns going on I can barely think straight. We've got just over a week until Mary and Ann arrive (woohoo!) about two before other volunteers start flooding in and the camp begins (another woohoo!), but just three weeks left before we say adios (booo). It is a good thing we have so much going on because I wouldn't know how to deal with all the excitement of the coming weeks, but also the dark shadow of the impending goodbyes.

This weekend was another success. We had just over forty girls at Saturday practice along with a handful of enthusiastic and helpful coaches. We saw a lot of familiar faces among the girls, but also a lot of new ones! It is encouraging to see a face that looks familiar, and realize it is a girl who really enjoyed the twenty minutes we spent with her gym class on Wednesday. The gym classes have proven to be a great way to recruit enthusiastic and interested soccer players. We told the girls about Wednesday nights at the office and hope that more will come this week.

Speaking of the office, it is looking great! On Saturday Chepe and a couple of his friends spent about 5 hours building a closet for all of the equipment. They did a fantastic job to say the least! There is now a beautifully sectioned off area that looks so professional you'd think it was there before we rented the space (and they even painted it blue!). The closet/room will be used for all of the equipment (it is kind of like a store – but a store where everything is free and given to kids that really need it). Now Myra, Hubs, and I have the task of finding a system of organization and a place for all the equipment. We'll also be decorating the walls with pictures and posters and making the office a friendly, welcoming place – the fun part!

This week we'll hit up three more schools, host a couple of practices in our barrio, continue to work on the office, and really start to prepare for the camp by sorting through the logistics of twenty volunteers joining us in Granada!