One of the stories I’ve been privileged to be part of in my time at Ruel is Mr F’s soccer story. Mr F is a little 8-year-old guy, and he just loves his soccer.
It all started with a guy called Dom. We met at United Evangelical Church, and he told me about a free soccer clinic he was planning to run for some kids associated with the church. So I turned up with Mr F to Divine Word College one Saturday back in March. Coach Dom wasn’t there that day, but Coach Jay from the Oriental Mindoro Football Association was, and he allowed Mr F to train the next couple of Saturdays.
On about the third week, he asked if I could enrol Mr F in the club. It would involve training two hours a day, six days a week for four weeks, with a tournament at the end. The cost was the equivalent of $40. How could I say no to that? So I enrolled him, paid up, and Mr F’s soccer journey had begun.
When I told the Ruel director Pauline about the soccer, she was interested in it for her 10-year-old adopted son Mr R and enrolled him also. So for the next three weeks I took both lads along. Along the way they were both given free pairs of soccer spikes, and we found some generous sponsors who covered the costs of their training, registration, travel, uniform, new socks and shin guards.
During the course of the training, since I was just sitting there, I offered to help out. I’m not a huge fan of soccer, much preferring the far superior sport of Australian Football, but I’d coached junior basketball for years. So I took a few sessions with the little guys, with mixed results. I think the language barrier didn’t help, even though most of the kids spoke some English. One day Coach Jay asked me if I would be willing to coach at the tournament. I agreed.
The tournament was on Sunday May 25 and came around very quickly. It was held at University of the Philippines (UP), Los Banos, which was on a different island. It involved a 1am ferry ride and then a three hour bus trip.
We had breakfast at Jollibee’s and arrived at the ground at about 7.30. They had an opening ceremony, and then it was game time. I was coaching the Oriental Mindoro 8-and-under team, including Mr F. Mr R was in the 12-and-unders.
It was a seven-a-side tournament, with each game two 10-minute halves. We had six teams in our division, which meant we played five games. We only had six players, so Coach Jay offered his youngest daughter, who is about four. She lasted for maybe 5 minutes.
Our first game was an honourable 0-1 loss. Considering how little the kids had actually trained together, they played quite well. My biggest teaching point was for them to spread out and not all chase the ball. However, you can coach with the best of intentions, but once the kids are out on the field they do whatever the heck they want. I did my best to allocate them positions, with mixed results.
Game #2 was a very controversial part of the day. It had just started raining, and we were out on the field and ready to play. We waited for maybe five minutes for the other team to show up, and they didn’t. The referee declared a forfeit and gave the game to us. The kids (and parents) were rapt! I guess you take a win any way you can.
When we were sheltering from the rain we heard an announcement over the PA: “Oriental Mindoro 8s have 30 seconds to get to the pitch or you forfeit” WHAT!? Amid some confusion we raced over and the game started. We soon realised we only had five players. It turned out one of them had wanted to go get an ice cream, so that’s exactly what he and his mum did. Never mind that you’re here to play soccer.
The game was a bit of a disaster, with the kids going down 5-0. I had no hesitation in lodging a protest. I went over to the registration area while the game was going on and explained to the coordinator what happened. After the game, he met with the other coach and the ref, and my story was verified. The coordinator overturned the result and gave us the win. The actual game that was played was declared a “practise match.”
The weather during the day was a bit too much like my hometown Melbourne. We went from being viciously burned by a blazing sun, to being soaking wet with thunder and lightning in the space of a few minutes.
Game #3 was very exciting. Our little ice-cream man was back, so we had six players again. Mr F scored the team’s first (and only) goal, and we managed to hold on for a 1-0 win, despite a ridiculously tense last minute that was spent with all players around the ball, right in front of our goal. Fortunately they just couldn’t break through and we held on for the win.
I got a bit of a heart twinge at one point during the day. We were in between games and I headed over to one of the other fields to watch the older kids play. When I got back to the group Mr F was distraught on the ground and wouldn't talk. I was told he was upset because he didn't know where I went, and thought he'd lost me. I quickly assured him that we were with people who cared about him, and they would look after him.
It was another reminder of the importance of the job we have of caring for kids who have been neglected and abandoned. The need to feel safe and loved is the most important thing in their lives, and I guess I can't take that for granted. I enjoyed the experience of being a "father" to Mr F, from helping him pack his clothes, to making sure he wasn't hungry or thirsty, just caring for him in general.
Game #4 saw a hard-fought 0-0 draw, and we were back to five players, since our little ice-cream guy had gone missing again. His mum said later he was asleep, and I thought (but didn’t say) “Well, why don’t you wake him up??” She didn’t wake him up for the fifth game either. I just can’t understand why you would bring your kid all that way for a tournament, then only play two games.
In the fifth game they worked so hard, but the lack of numbers, plus an injured player during the game which left us with four versus seven, resulted in a 2-0 loss, still a fantastic effort.
So we finished with 2 wins, 2 losses and a draw, overall a great result, considering their age and the amount of travel we did. We then had a one-hour wait while the other games went on, to find out if we had made the semi-finals. Normally a team would be excited at the prospect of playing semi-finals, but most of these kids were distraught. They’d had enough and just wanted to go home, and I couldn’t blame them.
After waiting for an hour, it turned out we missed out on the semis. I was quite baffled, since I thought 2 wins and a draw would surely get us through in a six team comp. The only reason I can think of is that they didn’t give us any points for the forfeit win, then it would make sense.
Mr R went to Manila with his Mum who had some Ruel business to do, so Mr F came back on the bus with me and the rest of the Oriental Mindoro crew. Before getting on the ferry at Batangas we stopped at a mall, and had a nice McDonalds (or “MacDo” as they call it) dinner. The happy meal toy was a car that transformed and turned inside out, so Mr F was pretty happy with that. He also had a go on a carousel and a mini ferris wheel.
On the ferry we were treated to a lightning show, and just as we got back to Calapan it started bucketing down with rain. Fortunately we were given a ride by a wonderful family and arrived back at Ruel at 1.30am.
Despite my overall dislike for the sport of soccer, I really enjoyed the coaching experience. It was hard for a couple of reasons. I come from a basketball background, and in Under 8s the coaches are allowed on the court. At that age group I believe coaches should be allowed on the field, since the kids really need to be shown what do and where to stand. It was just too hard to give them instructions without feeling like I was yelling at them. There also wasn’t a lot of time to actually coach them and give them instructions and encouragement, whereas in basketball you have a couple of timeouts per half.
It was very special to be able to give Mr R and Mr F this experience, and it’s one they will never forget. Mr R loves his soccer and has some skills, but goes to a school that apparently doesn’t even have any soccer balls, so the opportunity to play is very rare. Mr F is going to be adopted to Spain very soon with his two sisters, so it’s good that he has a skill like soccer that will help him make friends in his new land.
I wasn't really able to take many good photos during the day, as I was too busy coaching and looking after Mr F, but for what it's worth, hopefully these will give you a glimpse into what our day was like.
