Day 10 - Joes Birthday

Today was the day of Joes birthday! If you're reading this, happy birthday Joe! I hope you had an amazing day, fella!

After the Ruyterwacht Action Soccer League had been delayed for a couple of weeks, today was our first day off since we officially started coaching. It was still incredibly busy.

After waking up at around 7:30, and getting showered and dressed and whatnot, we left our apartment at 8:15, to meet the birthday boy at the Learning Centre at around 9. We then went back to his house and met his family, who were all really nice. Then, before me, Martin, Joe and Jaden (Joes youngest son) set off to see Yonick (Joes oldest son) play in the a couple of play off matches, Jodi (Joes daughter) and Joes wife told me and Martin the we had to keep Joe out of the house until 7pm! Pressure was on.

We arrived at the match at around 10:30, and saw the second half of the first leg of the playoffs, where Yonicks team were unlucky to lose 1-0, before setting off to see our Bothasig team play in their tournament.

After arriving we were introduced to various people, some of which were big Arsenal fans which was nice to see, and we watched out Bothasig team win both games they played, 6-1 and 4-2. Jaden somehow managed to get on the pitch and play for Bothasig in their second game! Unbelievable. 

After having photos taken with some of the kids and parents, we headed back to see Yonicks team play in their second leg of the play offs. This time they didn't play as well, and managed to lose 1-0 again. However the team they were playing we a professional team in South Africa, so they did well to keep the scores at a fairly fine margin, and battled really well. Unfortunately Yonick didn't feature, which was a shame because we got up early especially to see him play!

We checked our watches and realised it was only 2:35! We had to keep Joe out of the house for another 4 and a half hours! Thankfully, after a few calls to Jodi and Joes wife, we managed to get one of Joes good friends to take him off our hands for a few hours, which meant we can go home and get changed for the surprise party, which was an evening of socialising, while eating a really nice meal too. Martin and I both enjoyed it a lot and big thanks goes out to the Africa family for inviting us there, we really appreciate it.

We weren't sure whether we were allowed to use the car or not, and didn't want to ring anyone in case they didn't know about the surprise party, so Martin and I opted to hop on the train, and walked the rest, which didn't take too long. We were planning on getting a taxi back, but Joe refused, as it was too expensive and dangerous, so he gave us a lift back which we both really appreciated.

Jaden was a funny kid aswell, he has so much energy that he just completely wore me out, that when we got back to get changed, I had a half an hour sleep to recuperate! He obviously misses Luke and Jeff too, and kept comparing Martin to Jeff, and me to Luke, which I assume is a compliment(?). He did say he preferred me to Luke, and apparently him and Luke got on really well, so I'll take that with pride!

Harry

Day 9 - Waterfront 5's

Today was the last day of our first official working week, and probably my favourite since we've been out here!

We only had one session planned, but it was our longest one so far at 1 hour and a half for the session, and it was scheduled to be down at the Waterfront, where they had 2 AstroTurf pitches that we were using.

After Lourens met us at Berghof, we jumped in the car and followed him to a little car park, which hidden behind we found the 2 AstroTurf pitches next to a small clubhouse type building. After getting out the car we met a guy called Aaron, who started telling us about his company called African Passion (AP). Which essentially uses football and sport as a way of motivating kids to do well at school. He was telling us that he gets reports sent to him saying whether the kids are attending their classes and passing them. If they are doing both then they are invited to play with AP, which Martin and I thought was a great idea.

While having a look around, all the players got changed into their various coloured kits, all supplied by Aaron and AP, Martin and I started to notice something about the players.

Half of them had no shoes whatsoever.

The few that did, were absolutely battered.

I thought to myself, surely they're not going to play seriously in barefoot, when others are wearing metal studs?! Sure enough, they did. One of the kids with studs accidentally stepped on my foot and that hurt like mad, and I was wearing boots, so I'd hate to experience that completely barefoot. It's amazing how passionate these kids are to play.

We had a quick introduction with the kids, where we explained who we were and what we were doing, then we split the group up so I took 4 teams of 5, and Martin took the other 3 teams. 

We started off with possession and passing exercises, where the teams had to keep possession from their opposition for as long as they could. After that we got straight into a mini tournament, where each team played each other, before the winners from my pitch played the winners from Martins pitch, on my pitch, and Martin hosted the runners up game.

After that Aaron came up to us and gave as a third of a Gatsby (assuming that's how it's spelt) which is a traditional South African sandwich that was filled with chips, meat and lettuce, along with what tasted like Nandos sauce. It was absolutely delicious. Although a third of a Gatsby was stupidly big for a sandwich so I'm intrigued to see what a whole one would look like.

After that we headed home to round off your week. We were meant to have a day off tomorrow, but Joe invited us to watch his son's football match, which we're keen to do, then afterwards we've been invited to see our Bothasig kids play in a local tournament, which will be nice to see. It's also Joes birthday tomorrow, so happy birthday for tomorrow, Joe!!

Harry

Day 8 - Bothasig Gardens & Atlantic Football Club

Day 8 of our trip in South Africa, and it's safe to say it was probably the hottest day we've had since we've been out here.

After having a decent lie in, we made our way down to lunch, before leaving to head to the learning centre at about 1:15. When we got there we found Azille, all on her own. Turns out we weren't needed until around 2:45, compared to the 1:45 start Joe and Lourens told us yesterday. Oh well, we just played around on the computers for a bit while we waited for them to arrive.

Eventually, they turned up, so we made our way down to Bothasig Gardens, which is where Azille took us yesterday. Joe took the car in front, and we followed in the car behind him.

We got there and around 12 kids showed up, which was a decent turn out considering there wasn't much notice given to them that we'd be there.

We did a quick passing exercise with them, which they all seemed to enjoy. It was like a 'piggy in the middle' game with 2 players on the inside of the circle trying to get the ball off the rest of the players who were passing it around them.

Afterwards, we went straight into matches, but instead of shooting at the goals to get a point, you had to pass through it, and have someone collect it on the other side. After about 15 minutes we changed it so they could just slot it in though.

Martin and I thought it would be a fun idea to join in and get involved, so we had a team each, and played with them. What a mistake that was. My armpits felt like Niagara Falls, it was so hot. It was horrible. We somehow managed to let the kids use up all our water too, so we were gasping by the end of it.

After Bothasig, we had a quick meeting at Communicare's Drommedaris complex, we headed down to Atlantic Football Club, which from what I gather is an Elite Level football club which the players use as a step to make it professionally. We had a chat with one of the coaches at the club, and he said that the demand for playing there is so high, that for teams from the under 14's and up, if a player isn't good enough in either training or matches, they just get cut from the team, and are replaced almost immediately with someone new. Lethal. We were told that they wanted us to come down every Tuesday to coach a team each, which sounds quite fun. We were told they want us to coach the under 17's and under 19's, which will be weird because I'll be coaching players my own age. Should be fun though.

We also got to meet Joes son too, which was nice. He's around my age and plays for Atlantic. We saw him play a quick 5-a-side game, which he didn't put much effort in because he had an 11-a-side game almost straight after. Looks like a decent player, and is a nice guy, too.

After getting home we headed out for dinner as we were starving! So we headed down to the local Nandos, where we managed to get a chicken burger, 1/2 chicken, with 2 portions of chips and 2 drinks for just under £8! Bargain!

Tomorrow we'll be called by Joe to tell us when he wants us down to the Waterfront for a meeting with him and Lourens. Sounds interesting.

Harry

Day 7 - Communicare Learning Centre

Day 7! 1 week has gone already, since Martin and I swapped an English Winter, with a South African Summer.

Today our schedule was fairly light, as we were scheduled to be at the Communicare learning centre all day, with an "Open Day With The Arsenal Coaches" scheduled there for the afternoon.

We were told to drive ourselves, and get there, for 10am. As we hadn't properly driven there by ourselves yet, we left at 9:15 to make sure we had plenty of time in case we got lost. In the end, after going an extremely long way, we got there at around 9:50ish.

We had a little meeting in Lourens' office where we talked about our free time, and the possible options as to when we wanted to do the touristy things in Cape Town.

After that, we were told that, while at the Learning Centre, we'd be required to help people write their CV's, search for jobs, and use the computers in general. As it was relatively quiet, we ended up just going on the computers ourselves and starting to set up a CV template for people to use while we were out.

Around half an hour after we started, Azille, who works alongside Joe and Lourens, saved us by offering to take us round Bothasig, which is the place we'd be coaching at tomorrow. Of course we accepted the offer.

After jumping in the car we set off. We had to make one stop at the Communicare head office in the main town first, as Azille had to drop off some documents. After that, she showed us a bit around Cape Town, pointing out bits which are good to go to and places to go and eat which was nice, before heading straight to Bothasig Gardens so we could visit where we are going to coach tomorrow. It looks like a massive village surrounded by gates, with the odd patches of grass here and there. The houses all look relatively nice and modern though, so it doesn't seem like a bad place to live. Especially compared to some of the other parts of Cape Town that we've checked out. Azille pointed us to the area we'll be coaching on, which was a small bit of grass, but enough to get a decent session going which is nice to see.

Before getting back to the learning centre we went to a local butchers, which Azelle recommended, and tried some Biltong, which is like dried meat strips. It. Was. Amazing. It was dry and salty but for some reason it was so addictive. The butcher said that they can vaccuum pack it, so I can take some home with me, and i intend to take LOADS home.

We got back to the Learning Centre where we had some lunch and chilled out for a bit, then Joe took us into the conference room, where kids starting coming in their numbers for the Q&A session. 

We spent about 45mins talking to the kids and answering various questions. Most of them about the Arsenal players, and different perks we got coaching with Arsenal. After the session, when all the kids left, one of the dads, called Brendon, came and chatted to us, telling us he coaches a local team here, and does loads of amazing things with them, like they're planning to tour Sweden, before heading to Spain for a tour. Which is amazing, especially as most of the kids here haven't been out of the country.

After we gave him our emails addresses, and agreeing to give him some exercises that we use with the kids, he left with his son and daughter, meaning our day was over! After saying goodbyes to the staff, we then managed to successfully drive him with ease, after yesterday's slight complication.

After a tiring couple of days we just chilled out for the evening, making full use of the wifi downstairs, and watched Tottenham scrape through a win against Sheffield United in the Capital One Cup, winning 3-2 on aggregate.

Also, news reached us that we finally signed Gabriel from Villarreal! Seems like a top signing, and is young for a defender at 24, but has been doing well this season for Villarreal. Let's hope he can help sort out our weak defence!

Harry

Day 6 - Goodwood Crèche & Ruyterwacht Action Soccer Club

Our first full day of actual coaching!

Yesterday was an amazing start to our working programme, and today continued this good start.

We were told we had to meet Joe at a place called Vasco at 8am, and after looking up how to get there, alarms were set and we were up and about at 6am, leaving our apartment at 6:30.

We weren't too sure how long it would take to walk down to the station to catch a train to Vasco, so we decided to jog the first half of it, but were exhausted after about 10 minutes because we stupidly put our coats on, after looking at the cloudy skies, forgetting how warm and humid it would be. 

We eventually made it to the station at around 7am, and got our tickets, which were 10.50Rand each, which comes to just over £1 together. We had no idea what train we had to get, but luckily we saw a receptionist from our retirement complex, who helped us in the right direction. The train system itself was confusing, as almost everything was delayed, and there were no maps saying where each train was stopping, so we had to almost guess what train to get on.

After being picked up by Joe at Vasco, we stopped off at the Communicare Learning Centre, where we signed a couple of documents that allowed us to take the car, spoke to Joe and Lourens about a product they want help with called the 'Ponjoe', before heading off to Goodwood crèche to start coaching.

Goodwood crèche is essentially a nursery/kindergarten, where kids from all over Cape Town come to learn basic skills needed for school. It's also run by Lourens' wife.

Our first class were a group of around 20 5/6 year olds. It was the Afrikaans speaking half of the year group, so Joe gave us a big hand in translating what we were saying to the kids.

We started off with a game of pairs tag, where the kids are in pairs, 1 persons the tagger, 1 the runner. As soon as the tagger catches the runner, they swap roles. That seemed to go down well with the kids, which was nice to see.

We then moved on to a simpler version of what Arsenal call the "Highbury Game", where you have a square, and each side represents a stadium. The players run round in the middle of the square, and when a stadium was called, they run to that side. For the kids at Goodwood, we only used 2 sides, and named them 'Arsenal' and 'Cape Town'. This seemed to work pretty well, but I'm not sure whether the kids actually understood what was going on, but simply enjoyed running around.

We then tried a game called "Domes and Dishes", where the players are split into 4 teams, and 1 at a time in their teams, have to dribble out with a ball, flip over a cone and go back. This turned out to be way too complex for the kids, so we simplified it majorly for the other 3 groups.

The next group were mainly English speaking, but to be honest, the difference between the groups was marginal. We didn't have as much time with this group so we played the Highbury game, along with the simplified Domes and Dishes, where they simply have to run to the middle and back.

For the 4th and 5th groups, we had 4/5 year olds. Half spoke English, half Afrikaans. We did pretty much the same thing as we did with the older group, the only difference was that we had to explain it to pretty much every kid to see if they understood. It's safe to say this morning was a tough rewelcoming to community coaching, after a month of lazing about.

After having lunch at the crèche we went back to the Learning Centre, where we had a few hours to kick back and relax, before going down to the "Ruyterwacht Circle" to start our Ruyterwacht Action Soccer Club coaching.

The Ruyterwacht Circle, is officially called something else in Afrikaans but I forget the name. But it used to be a massive drug ring, where drug dealers made their various trades and whatnot. But around July last year, Joe, along with many other volunteers, cleaned it all up, laid fresh concrete and bricks down, and made a small football pitch there for the kids to play on.

We expected around 4 or 5 to turn up, but ended up with around 14 kids, which was a nice surprise. So after a few passing exercises we went straight into matches, which all the kids seemed to have a lot of fun playing in. Even Martin managed to show off his skills (or lack of! ;)).

After that the car was officially handed over to us, so Martin drove home while I gave him completely useless directional advice, but after going a bit stray, we managed to get ourselves home in reasonable time.

At around 6:45ish, while sitting downstairs, George, one of the residents who took care of Luke and Jeff last year, came and offered to take us round to see the sights of Cape Town at night, which Martin and I were both excited to do. So an hour later, we all got in George's car, and he took us to around half way up Table Mountain, and round different hidden sights to be seen in Cape Town, which was really cool to see.

Tomorrow we're at the Communicare Learning Centre all day, so hopefully I won't have as much to write in my blog, as each day seems to end up in my writing longer and longer posts! We'll find out tomorrow.

Harry

Day 5 - Victory Outreach Rehabilitation Centre

Five days in, and it's now time to put the Arsenal gear on and get started with what we came here to do!

We had to wake up early today, at 8am, in order to allow the cleaner in to clean our apartment before we left. However, as we both needed showers, we had to use the communal shower opposite our apartment, and it was the weakest shower I've ever had. The water practically dribbled out! I'm gonna be glad to use our normal shower tomorrow.

Joe came and picked us up at around 10:30, and it was now my turn to drive the Tazz! Martin was right, the steering while was crazy stiff, you had to put a lot more force into turning it than you would with cars that actually has power steering.

The speed is measured in kilometres per hour too, which is a bit of a head spinner, but you gradually get used to it.

After driving Martin and Joe to the Communicare Learning Centre, in Ruyterwacht, Martin and I sat down in Lourens' office where we had a chat about how our weekends went, and what the schedule for the week would be like.

Lourens then asked us about what kind of things we wanted to do while out here, so they can organise it all to suit our schedule. Martin suggested that he wanted to go on a Safari, which we both agreed we wanted to do, and I said I wanted to go shark cage diving which, funnily enough, Martin wasn't too keen on. Lourens said that they've already planned for us to go to Robbin Island, and climb Table Mountain, as well as hang gliding off Lions Head mountain in the coming weeks, which we were keen to do aswell.

After a bit of a natter, Martin, Joe, Lourens and I headed off to the shops to pick up some footballs for us to use when coaching, then came back to the Learning Centre for some hot dogs for lunch.

After that, we went off to Victory Outreach Rehabilitation Centre, which is a place where people come to try and put there life back on track, after living the life of crime. They have accommodation facilities, which are free of charge, and allows the residents to have shelter for the night. They also have a kitchen, computer facilities and recreational space, so it's a really good place for people to try and turn their lives around. The only criteria for staying there is that they have to show that they want to become better people, and ditch that life of crime and violence for good. We met all kinds of people, ex drug dealers, gangsters, prostitutes, robbers. It was amazing to see and hear the kinds of lives they lived, and how low they felt before coming to Victory Outreach. We put all the chairs in a circle formation, so everyone could see everyone and, after Joe and Lourens explained why we were here and what we do, there was a big Q&A session, where the residents asked us all kinds of questions for us to answer.

After all questions were asked, it was their turn. 2 guys and 2 girls told us their stories and their lives before coming to Victory Outreach, and why they wanted to turn their life around. It was incredible to hear what they had been through. After that, one of the main managers/pastors gave a speech about how everyone has a potential, and that it's never too late to fulfil that potential. Before the whole group sang a few songs for us which truly was an amazing experience, one I won't forget.

After saying our goodbyes and posing for a few pictures, Joe drove Martin and I home, where we had a couple of hours before we were being picked up by Martins friends' cousin, Elias, to go out for dinner. During those couple of hours we got changed, went to the shops to grab a few bits, and planned our first coaching session for tomorrow!

Elias picked us up at around 7, and took us down to the waterfront where we had a really nice dinner with him and his mate. I went all English and opted for a traditional Fish and Chips!

I've written a long post today so I'll wrap it up here, especially as I still have to Skype the girlfriend, and have to somehow wake up at around 6am tomorrow, to get a train to meet Joe at a place called Vasco!

Also, just saw the FA Cup draw, and Arsenal have been drawn against Middlesborough in the 5th round! A game we should win, but can't be too confident about after Middlesborough beat City in the last round, but that's not hard these days, eh?

Harry

Day 4 - The Jolly Rodger

Day 4! Match day! Arsenal vs Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup!

As mentioned in yesterday's blog, Martin and I had been invited down to the Arsenal Cape Town Supporters Club, based at a pub called the Jolly Rodger, to watch the game.

After looking at the map and possible routes to take, Martin concluded that if we wanted to go down to the Jolly Rodger pub to watch it, we'd have to rely on someone being extremely nice and giving us a lift there. Luckily, Conan came to the rescue!

After blowing him off last night due to extreme tiredness, we called Conan this morning to apologise for not getting back to him, and said that we weren't going to be able to make it to the pub to watch the game. Thankfully he offered to drive us there and back which, of course, we accepted. 

He came and picked us up around an hour before kick off, along with his wife and nephew, and drove us all down to the Jolly Rodger. It wasn't too nice as a pub, as it's just a room with a bar in the corner, but it was perfect for a supporters club. The atmosphere there was so much better than we expected, and everyone was so welcoming to us, which was nice, but every time Arsenal scored it went crazy! It was amazing! Thankfully we won 3-2, so everyone was happy when leaving, and the general mood was high.

After the game, Conan's wife mentioned taking us out to dinner, so we travelled about 15 minutes down the road to a some restaurant that she recommended. We all had loads to eat, for around 288Rand, which works out at around £17 for 5 of us which was really good value. I had the BBQ wings with chips, and I struggled to finish it, there was so much!

After that, Conan drove us both home, during which he offered to have us for a birthday meal (his birthdays in early March), and to have us whenever we had a free night, which Martin and I will definitely take advantage of!

Anyway, tomorrow we start our first day of work! With an early morning meeting with the Communicare staff, followed by a 'motivational talk' to a group called the Victory Outreach! I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow!

Also, after winning today, Arsenal are through to the next round of the FA Cup! With Chelsea, City and Spurs all crashing out, and with Man Utd and Liverpool earning replays, the feel around the supporters club is that we have a strong chance to win the trophy for a second year running! Let's hope tomorrow's draw is kind to us!

Harry