Winter Break Soccer Tournament - Primary Students

To start with, Costa Rica is in the northern hemisphere and it is technically summer here now.  But to go with cultural norms I will refer to the two week break from classes we just had here as winter break.  The days seem shorter now, and it's cold after it rains to the point that I often cannot feel my fingers at night if I am not under the covers or exercising.

So just after I got back from my trip to the states I ingeniously planned a soccer tournament to start on July 4th without realizing it would restrict me from celebrating with any other gringos.  The first week of the two week break was for elementary students and the second for high school students.  We met from 8:30-11 am from Monday through Thursday of each week.  We trained and practiced from Monday-Wednesday and had our finishing game Thursday.



The elementary group was composed of about 22 elementary aged students with a few high school students who came to help and lead by example which was a huge help.  I had had kids sign up on a list beforehand and called most of their parents to explain to them what it was to entail exactly.  One of the neighboring town's school didn't get the list back to me so I didn't get anyone from there which was sad for me because I work with those students but I got a chance to meet a ton of new kids from other towns.

I had planned on having our local ex-professional soccer player and the high school students train but somehow I recalled a bunch of the drills we had done in soccer practice the one year I played in high school and it turned out amazingly!  It took some effort to expose the kids to an actual practice feel, getting them to jog a lap, stretch together and then do soccer drills.  The experience levels varied a ton but everyone was light hearted and ready to learn.  At the end of the practices we would have "mejengas" or informal games and put to work all that they learned.  It was funny trying to keep them from bunching up so much but they had fun.

Finally, on the Thursday of the elementary school students' games they had already been put into their groups and wore their blue or white shirt.  The teams that I had created turned out to be a little unfair and we added one of the high school boys watching to one of the teams creating the rule that none of the high school kids could score a goal, so they served mostly to get the ball out of the masses formed of little boys and girls and move it up the field.  They wound up being a gigantic help that way.

After they all bought snacks at the pulperia and we headed to the school to watch Cars 2 together and give them more of a camp feel.  For my first camp that I put together on my own and organized before I went on vacation got back and had three days to tie up all loose ends it turned out really well.  All of the kids really had fun and had something positive to do.  I made sure to teach them some basic health stuff such as stretching properly and not laying down after jogging and I know that that stuff will have the largest impact on them that lasts.  I look forward to arranging more of the kind in the future.