THE LITTLE PUMPKINS WIN!

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

love and happiness from namibia!  today there was a
soccer tournament as part of world aids awareness day,
december 1st.  i was asked to bring an Under 16 girls
team.  but, since all my most dedicated players are 10
and 12 years old, i brought them!  THE LITTLE
PUMPKINS!!  i wore my orange shirt and black shorts,
too, and had my pumpkin earrings hanging from my
earlobes!!

well, we got to the field and the girls had to play
BIG GIRLS!!!  like my size!  and they won!  they were
heading the ball, trapping, passing, crossing,
shooting and they won 3-0!!  you would not believe it!
 the crouds all over the field marvelled at their
skills and poise!  they were so under control and i
was the proudest coach in the world!!  

you have to understand that every saturday i am
running a soccer program for 500 kids and i cant give
any attention to my little pumpkins.  i just send them
off to the far field and watch from a distance while
they argue and complain about the referees and bicker
amongst themselves.  today i was NOT organizing the
tournament for the first time, ever!!  so, i could be
their 100% dedicated coach!  it was magnificent!  just
constant encouragement from the sidelines for whatever
they did right!  and they just got more and more
confident!!  it was a beautiful transformation and the
crowd cheered and applauded for them from beginning to
end!  they could not stop talking about the little
pumpkins!!

in their second game they also played their hearts out
and tied 0-0 against an even BIGGER AND STRONGER team.
 we went into penalties, and made the first two, but
missed the last 3 and lost by one goal!  oh well, it
didnt dampen their spirits!  they were singing, 
chanting and cheering their hearts out all the way
home!  and when they got back to the center the kids
were waving and jumping up and down!  you would have
thought we had just won the world cup!  and to them,
we did!

tomorrow we play another BIG team to go for the bronze
medal!  no matter what happens, these little pumpkins
have won the respect of all the fans and have taken
girls soccer to a new level!  and this coach is the
proudest in all of namibia!!

xoxoxoxxoxo
mb :)

PS CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS!! :)