Reece blogs on day 1 of coaching in Gulu…
Yesterday saw the team encounter a very tiring 5 hour trip from Arua to Gulu. The roads were extremely shakey and bumpy and it is surprising that the bus made it!
On arrival Steve and Grace made contact with the local AIDS support organisation called Taso to ensure that they would be involved in testing at the festival day on Monday. Steve and Grace were tasked with sourcing a tent/marquee a task which was almost written off until this evening. During a walk out into town after coaching me and Adam stumbled upon a tents for hire sign…. This is currently being looked into!
For the first of the training days in Gulu the team split into two. The first group coached teachers and the second group visited Negri School in the morning and St. Joseph’s school in the afternoon.
The team were greeted at Negri school by a headmaster reading a paper which set the tone for the next two hours. 200 children were presented to the group and a further 100 children subsequently joined throughout the session.
The ensuing two hours proved extremely difficult for the team. The children displayed lots of ill discipline and were very unresponsive to simple instructions. The group first set out five coaching stations the majority of which were abandoned after the first twenty minutes. On my particular station 15 balls and nearly all the cones had vanished within 20 minutes. The team resorted to improvised games involving less equipment as they feared that there would be very little left for the remainder of the trip.
One of the improvised games in my group of approximately 45 children involved lots of reference to guns. A simple game of duck duck goose nearly turned into tap tap shoot. At the end of the session the team learned that the majority of the children in the all boys school are from South Sudan, a country currently ripped apart by civil war. From my very limited experience it was the worst disciplined school I had attended throughout my experiences of Uganda.
The afternoon could not have been more of a contrast. The team consisting of Sara, Lee and Emmanuel returned to the coach education and the second team consisting of Grace, Steve, Mark, Adam and myself went on to the next school.
At St. Joseph’s school we arrived to children playing cricket watched on by a teacher in their CWB coach education tee shirt from a previous trip. The children were very welcoming and respective of our group. Again the team carried out the same five sessions from the morning with a resounding effect. Time absolutely flew and I could not believe that we had been coaching for two hours. I certainly did not want my time to end at this school.
The session ended with a CWB ABC T wrap up followed by an impromptu song which I led. Over 150 children totally engaged with listening and repeating my song a truly amazing and memorable experience one which will be hard to beat.
We are all looking forward to what tomorrow may bring!
Well done Reece and team.