A Day of Triumph and a Day of Victory in Defeat

       Football (soccer) is a way of life in Kenya. Just like you can always find children and grown men playing baseball, basketball or football in the city streets, city parks, country fields and back yards all around the country, you cannot go more than a few hours without seeing barefoot footballers shuffling around on makeshift football pitches in Kenya. For the past two weeks I watched from a safe distance as OLG's mens football team prepared for their distract tournament. On one of my first days a primary school student (Middle School) warned me not to play with the big guys, "don't play with them, they will break your legs." After watching them practice for about five minutes I was happy to sit on the sidelines and stick to my comfortable game with the primary school students, who still proved to be a challenge.
       Saturday after mass and good breakfast we pilled in the school Land Rover and followed the carrying the athletes to the outskirts of Kisumu to watch the men's and women's football teams compete in the distract tournament. Their goal, to win the tournament and advance to provincials, one step closer to nationals and representing Kenya in the East Africa games. Armed with new uniforms and some new gear, all generously fundraised by Kevin, a Providence College student in Kenya with us, the men dismounted the bus to a sea of spectators blowing horns and waving flags. Although some of the boys had to make alterations to the youth sized shin guards they were extremely grateful to have use of them. The fields, located at a larger school in the rural outskirts of Kisumu, had two regulation sized fields with patchy grass and a bumpy surface at best. The first game, played in the scorching mid-day heat looked like it was going to be a challenge. But the men from OLG came out flying with two quick goals in the first ten minutes  Although they did not score for the rest of the game, they maintained control until the end when fatigue and mussel cramps set in and they let up one goal in the final minutes.
        After a rest and some refueling the men prepared to take the main field, this time against a more challenging opponent. After only a few minutes, it became evident that this match was not going to be easy. The first half was a stalemate with both teams having no solid shots on goal until the final minutes of the half. With time winding down we were looking for a quick strike to go ahead before half. One of our forwards, we will call him Ronald, was obviously injured and limping around the pitch. We all shook our heads as the coach refused to remove him from the game.  We were all calling for a substitute, a fresh pair of legs in for the final minutes to ignite a spark and push the pace against the tiring defense. As we pleaded for a substitution the ball came up the left wing, played forward with a beautiful pass from one of our midfielders. Ronald turned, grit his teeth and fought through the pain to make a powerful turn towards the middle of the field and take a strong running, bouncing drive towards the bottom left corner of the net. The ball jumped off his boot and skipped past the outstretched hands of the goal keeper. He ran the best he could arms outstretched as his teammates tailed behind and patted him on the back. The captain ran to the sidelines one arm extended pointing at us and cheering.
        The team was confident coming out of the half with a one to nil lead. They continued to control the game despite losing Ronald and our first striker, who sat on the field unable to move due to massive cramps. With time waining and the end in sight a quick ball was played out of the midfield and found a opposing striker streaking towards the goal. Our goal keeper was back on his heals as he attempted to deal with the charging opponent. When he got within striking range he drove the ball in the corner and equalized the game at one to one. The game ended in a draw.
      The men needed to either draw or win their game on Sunday morning to advance. We were not able to make the game. We all knew the result when the men and women came back early on Sunday afternoon. The woman's team lost their match against a challenging opponent and the men lost a rough hard fought battle against a tough team one to nil. They marched through the compound with heads held high, proud of their performance. They lost with class, no complaints, temper tantrums, tears, hung heads or excuses. It took me a while and a bit of prodding to find out about the questionable officiating. It was not given as an excuse but just as another fact of the game, an odd bounce or odd turn of luck. The officials accused our team of having club players playing for them and cut the game short because our team came a little late to the match due to Kisumu traffic. One player shrugged his shoulders as he said, "eh they were against us from the beginning but what can you do? I am happy about how we played." I was extremely impressed with all of our players class and pride. They know what it means to win and lose and one loss at a football match fails in comparison to the disappointment some of theses students have experienced in their lives.

            Football is a way of life here in Kenya but for the men and women at OLG it is not life itself. They have the right perspective on things and know that success comes in effort and the pride of knowing they gave it their all and left their hearts on the field. Our footballers ability to roll a tough loss and shoddy officiating off their sturdy shoulders is just another testament to Kenya and her people's incredible resilience.