Children of the Mist

Part III: Challenges and unity.

On the following day, Lemuel and I arrived early on the playing field. I have set up the training session and checked the safety of the equipment. I gave clear and brief guidelines for relays. I prepared lane of cones for players to follow through. One player will go far line touches the second player to run back to the start line and to touch the 3rd player and will go to the far end. It was a relay done repeatedly until everyone was back to the start line. After sometime, I needed to change cones positioning, I put three cones apart at the far line with three balls in the gap of each cone, each player needed to run beyond far line to get the ball with their feet and dribbled the ball back to the start line with the rest of the player taking turns to do the relay. I also trained the children in chasing and dodging, as these techniques will develop their skill of faking then moving in the opposite direction. As I wanted to have a little fun along with the practice, I made up lively exercises where players in pairs will run around into the positioned cones as gates to pass through with each player dribbling the ball and pass it through the gates to each other until they have passed through each gate. Until they get used of this drill, we switched to another exercise, where each team can start stealing balls from the other team's safe, the stealer will take the ball and passes it to another teammate then passes it to the team's collector, who puts the ball in their safe. Their opponents will be doing the same to steal and put most balls in their safe. The children also practiced the receiving and controlling of the ball from the air using the head, shoulders, chest, legs, and feet. I told them also to practice to dribble, pass, and shoot the ball with their non-dominant foot. The ability of a player to switch from dominant to the non-dominant foot will be a great advantage. I told them also not to chase the ball in a pack rather they should know that each has to play a different spot on the game. A player with the best position to kick the ball for a goal should not waste time to take that opportunity and the other should be on his or her own spot to play their position. The kids' anticipatory or perceptive thinking will help develop their spatial awareness of where his teammates and his opponents are. I told them also where scored goals most often went into the goal. They have a better chance of scoring if they shoot low into the corner but the most important thing to remember was just shooting if they saw an opportunity. I taught the children how to handle different situations, how to quickly assess and to choose the right decision. As training escalated, the children became more passionate to hone their craft. The event did not only open a new hope for these children but created new intimacy with the teammates. As a way to relieve fatigue from long training, we decided to go out of town to establish strong bonding and rapport to help reinforce trust. That in every competition, it was nice to feel unruffled that you know someone was at your back to keep you going forward. It was vigorous for players to bond off the field to get to know each other. We traveled to the theme park as well as to recreational park. The children have a wonderful day, eating together, walking and tramping no matter how far as long as they get in touch with nature. On one spot, Lemuel found a well, bending head down into the water well to make an echo sound of this phrase: I am fine, are you well? He did this just for fun, expecting the well will conversely echo what he said. Inspired of what Lemuel did, I gave him a coin to toss to make a wish. It was more exciting to travel by bus. They have a chance to talk, escaped boredom while experiencing a breathtaking ride of going through narrow roads and were sloping uphill, while dew covered our path. Moreover, after long hours of ride, we arrived at our destination. The place was entirely an idyllic hideaway, with hills descending into lush green valleys, while everyone wants to be tucked away from the noisy city even for a few days. The place we have come to has many interesting cultural beliefs; one thing that intrigued the children was the strange tradition of burying the dead by suspending coffins on the cliff. Was it safe to put the dead hanging on the cliff's wall? Why are they doing this? Lemuel asked. The indigenous tribe believed that it is a way to get their deceased loved ones closer to the gods. It is also believed that it is to safeguard the dead bodies from headhunting, as it was a rampant custom to take home human heads as their claim for victory. I explained. We posed for a team photo at the Kiltepan peak where trekkers got the best view of the sunrise and the famous Kiltepan Rice Terraces. We wrapped up our journey sitting around by the campfire, listening to others telling crazy stories, while one teenager played Beatles song on his guitar which attracted Lemuel to ask if he knew the song "In my life." Both collaborated well to sing that beautiful song which the group enjoyed listening. Lemuel felt on singing it like his personal life reminiscing places and people that he met. At daybreak, we left the place and headed back home.

Team bonding is bridging the expanse of brotherhood and getting out from a wrong mindset of "all by myself" into "us" mindset. The outdoor event resulted in strong trust and unity, which will later transform into good performance in the field. Remember our motto "make it happen today for tomorrow will be a bigger day to face." I shared with the team.

Lemuel voluntarily enrolled in an evening class to continue his study, this gave him time to study and a chance to train football. Lemuel has the mindset that anything is possible and truly in the development of his ways that went smoothly. In between school session and training, he conquered his tough decision to combine playing and study.