Interview with Cesar- From Carly

1) What is your name? Cesar Augusto Morales Rivera

2) How old are you? 23

3) What is your favorite food and why? Gallopinto (a mix of beans and rice with a little bit of crunch), queso frito (fried cheese), and tajadas (fried sweet plantains)

4) What is your favorite place in Nicaragua? Why? Granada y Las Islettas (From Carly: there are 365 little islands surrounding the peninsula near Granada. They are gorgeous!) because it is a beautiful and tranquil place.

5) Do you have brothers and sisters? Yes, I have 4. Claudia, Luis, Ronald, y Carlos.

6) How long have you been involved with Futbol Sin Fronteras? 1 year

7) What do you like most about Futbol Sin Fronteras? I like to help the girls and I like the opportunities it has provided me. Alan (another coach) and I are currently taking part in a special university course for young leaders because of the help of Futbol Sin Fronteras.

8) What have you learned from Futbol Sin Fronteras? I’ve learned to work as a team and that by working together you can accomplish more. I've also met many good people through Futbol Sin Fronteras.

9) What is your favorite class in school and why? Psychology, Civics, and Political Science, because it is interesting to learn how nations are formed and how people have changed.

10) What is your fave hobby? I like to have fun, be happy, and help people.

11) Do you like soccer? Why? Yes, because I like to run and I enjoy the adrenaline.

12) What do you want to do when you grow up? I try to persevere and each day I want to improve and help other people.

13) What would you like to say to people that have helped Futbol Sin Fronteras? Thank you for your help and for all of the work that you have done. I hope you know how much we appreciate your help. This program is important to many people.

14) Who is your favorite team and player? Real Madrid FC and Cesar Morales

14) Vigoron o Pizza? (Vigoron is a National Dish here…fried pork skins and yuca served with vinegar in a banana leaf) Vigoron! Claro!

15) Pele or Maradona? Pele.

Bailamos! Y adios! -from Carly

Unfortunately there are many sad faces down here in Granada because our beloved Boston has left us. Boston has been an awesome volunteer for the past three months and he will certainly be missed. He had a ton of enthusiasm for futbol, helping people, and for having fun. A great mix to say the least!

To send him off in style, we had dance night of epic porportions last Friday night. With the DJ (ya, we have a DJ!) pumping a solid mix of Nicaraugua faves and American dance classics, we gave Boston a send off to remember. It was awesome!

Suyen is our dance leader and provided the core instruction, but make no mistake, these chicas can dance!...check out the pics!

Boston, we'll miss ya!

New video compilation- from Mary

Care of Catherine P., who is working to link her Central Park Rangers team with SWB. Catherine, Dani, and Lea play for CPR in New York City and have been working to set up a fundraiser tournament in the city this fall. Stay tuned for details!

Las Campeonatas! Ole ole ole! -from Carly

This Saturday marked the official end to the first ever girls soccer
league here in Granada, Nicaragua. And boy what a finish we had! We
had a great turn out of over sixty girls who came ready and fighting
for the championship. The coaches, Boston and I had been preparing all
week for the finals and we were just as excited as the girls. Besides
painting the field and making team flags and miniflags for the
championship teams, on game day the coaches wanted to go all out so we
decorated the field with balloons, made yellow cards for the refs, and
one coach even brought homemade confetti. We do it right!

In the younger girls division, Cesar and Las Azules were victorious
over the much bigger Barcelona team, coached by Kevin, who were
heavily favored in the coaches pool. In the second game of the day
Techo's team, Real Madrid, handed Barcelona another loss. For the
third game of the day, Techo's Real faced Cesar's Las Azules in the
final. Real had the match in hand from start to end and pulled off an
easy 4-0 victory. The celebrations were huge and the medal ceremony
was nothing less than Rad. Each team ran through the confetti tunnel
and were then handed their much worked for prize...bomboms!
(Lollypops!) And afterward the winning team posed for pictures.

In the older division because David's team, Los Galacticos, have held
almost a perfect record all season, we had the two other teams play in
a semifinal playoff to reach the final vs. Los Galacticos. Team Tico,
Coach Tico's team, and Futbol Sin Fronteritas coached by Allan, faced
off in a very close match in which Team Tico finished a goal in the
last minute to bring home the victory. It was a tough battle and there
were some upset players for sure. Luckily, while the final was
underway we had a co-ed pick up game on the adjacent field and the
Futbol Sin Fronteritas team were able to take their frustrations out
on the boys. As the final creeped on and the thirty nine of the forty
minutes went scoreless, the fans began to cheer for the tie so we
could watch penalties. And penalties we got! Los Galacticos slotted
each of their penalties so well that if I didn't know better I would
have guessed they practiced the night before. Los Galacticos brought
the Championship home in style with a 4-2 penalty victory.

Championship day was a total success and we all can't wait for the
start of the next season. Check out our photos of the days
celebrations.

Preparations! from Carly

Tomorrow is the semifinals and finals of our first ever Futbol Sin Fronteras league. The girls are pumped! To make the day even more special, Chepe, Cesar, Boston, Cindy and I have been hard at working on last minute preparations. We spent the last two mornings painting "the Cage" (the field for the younger girls that is used everyday by the community for futsol). The field was painted last year by Futbol Sin Fronteras volunteers and was in need of a fresh coat. The four of us had a great time painting despite breaking a few rollers and getting paint all over ourselves. We've all had smurf hands the last two days.

In addition to painting the field, we decided that instead of having generic trophies and medals for the girls, we should make something even cooler. I'm going to do a little bragging here because I'm extremely excited about our new Futbol Sin Fronteras flags! Cindy and I got together all of the materials and did the decorations while her brother (extremely talented brother might I add!) made 25 little team flags and two big flags for prizes for the winning teams. The players of the winning teams will each get a little flag and then we are planning on hanging the big flags with the team names in the office. I hope the girls are half as excited about the flags and field as we are!

Interview with Tatiana

1) What is your name? Tatiana Isamar Blanco Valverde

2) How old are you? 15

3) What is your favorite food and why? I like fruit and vegetables because they are healthy and have lots of vitamins.

4) What is your favorite place in Nicaragua? Why? Granada because it has a rich history and a beautiful lake front.

5) Do you have brothers and sisters? Yes.

6) How long have you been involved with Futbol Sin Fronteras? 5 months.

7) What do you like most about Futbol Sin Fronteras? I like it because all of the things we do, we are treated with respect. I get to work with my friends and we collaborate as a team. We can get help for things we don’t understand and get attention from the coaches and volunteers.

8) What have you learned from Futbol Sin Fronteras? I’ve learned to play soccer and that I can do anything I try. I’ve met many new friends and we learn how to play as a team.

9) What is your favorite class in school and why? I like math and English.

10) What is your fave hobby? I like to play soccer, dance, and hang out with my girl friends.

11) Do you like soccer? Why? Yes, because it is fun!

12) What do you want to do when you grow up? I think I want to be a good soccer player and a lawyer.

13) ¿Who is your favorite coach? My favorite coach is Boston because he gives me much attention and he has helped me learn a lot these last three months. I want to thank him because he is great.

14) ¿Vigoron o Pizza? (Vigoron is a National Dish here…fried pork skins and yuca served with vinegar in a banana leaf) Vigoron!

Guerra de poppas! -from Carly

One thing extremely cool about the Futbol Sin Fronteras program is that the volunteers working here get to live with a local family. I have been very lucky to live with Dona Chilo and her big family who have taken me in with open arms. Our barrio is a very close knit group who really do enjoy each other as well as take care of each other. It is a really great community. This last weekend I had the great opportunity to take part in Dia de las Madres (Mother's Day) which is a very big holiday here. Families get together for a big meal, music, dancing, piñatas, and more in front of their houses. It is really neat to see how each family gets together and how important family is here. It was a really great day and it made me miss my family a lot. But I felt lucky to be celebrating with my Nica family.

To show my appreciation and thanks to mi familia, the barrio, and the coaches who have taken me in as one of their own, I planned a big water fight in the street complete with team head bands, face paint, water balloons, and hot dogs after. As word spread that we were closing down the street for a water balloon fight, the party grew bigger and bigger. By 3:00 pm on Sunday, we were ready to party! And boy did we do it right! I think I must have spent 2 hours of straight laughing, yelling, and smiling! These guys really do know how to enjoy themselves and each other. Take a look at a few pics of the day’s festivities. It was awesome! My favorite part was that there were people of all ages participating and even my Nica Grandma was wearing a team head band! And the sack races...they were hysterical.