My new team!

Well, I managed to remain "retired" from coaching for a few months, but God has directed me to my new team.  They look a little different from my last squad, to say the least!  But what an outstanding group of young men!

A few months ago, I received an e mail from a friend, who received an e mail from a friend, and I came close to deleting it (whenever I see 2 FWD's in the subject line, I tend to lean towards the trash can icon as most of us do).  It was from a University of Tennessee professor, who represented a group of Burundians refugees that live in Knoxville (and YES, I too had to look up where Burundi actually is,too.  See if you can find it!).  I had no idea that we had refugees in Knoxville, let alone over 200!   They were looking for a Christian coach who could mentor them, and train them to prepare for their season with the African soccer league (again... we have an AFRICAN soccer league in Knoxville???).  Turns out they travel around the south east, playing other refugee teams!  I e mailed back that I might be able to help, not knowing at that time, what on earth I could do outside of being  their coach. 

This is what I have been wanting to do, but thought I would have to wait until I came on to full time staff with the Eagles.  But an opportunity arose with the Knoxville Force, which is the new semi pro team here in Knoxville.  The were looking for someone who could use soccer as a ministry in and around Knoxville!  What an amazing "God" thing!  I met with the president of the Force, and proposed working with the refugees.  They loved the idea!  So I met with the  African team last week.  About 15 young African men came to the meeting, somewhat skeptical on why I would do this for them.  They kept on asking "what do we pay you?" and "you mean you would even come to practices and help?".  I told them that God has always supplied my needs, and that all I wanted from them was an opportunity to build relationships with their community.  I further explained that I was a missionary, of sorts, that used soccer as the platform of my work.  They seemed to understand that. Once they saw that my motives were genuine, and I really wanted to help, they were very excited about the possibilities!

We have our first "practice" this weekend.  There is a long road ahead of us, with budget proposals, and approaching local businesses to see if they would like to pair with us in this local outreach.  But it is a step.  The first step, in what I hope to be a long walk towards building a relationship with a culture that I didn't even know existed here in Tennessee.