The value of people

The chain of people, the value of favours, the mixture of phrases that help us move forward.

"I surprised everyone with my speciality,
pasta salad, for Christmas dinner" 

Today, I want to talk about the people, people that are vital to me in India. New friends who make me laugh, friends that explain ancient Punjabi traditions or translate interesting conversations. They are my “Pajis”, a term meaning “big brothers”.

I’ll be honest, during the Christmas season, I missed family, friends, the turrones, the roscones, and of course, thought lots about Ti… However, I took refuge in the smile of the residents of the academy. Like me, they were far from their loved ones but did not understand the reason for my sadness.

Sunny Paji, is the president of Rurka Kalan, but also a great friend who wishes me a good morning everyday. He greets me with a genuine smile and asks me if I need anything. He is a friend who in the evening joins me for a stroll around the football field, talking and dreaming of great projects. He is the friend who invites me for dinner and speaks to me with trust.

Gurinder Sir, is the operations manager, but also the friend who makes me laugh in the office and patiently translates and explains anything I do not understand.

Prateek Chawla is the project and development manager. He is young and passionate about football. He is a friend who stays up late with me to watch live games. He’s always willing to learn and develop.

Gary Paji, is the star man, not because he has over 1 million followers on facebook, but because he is a friend that talks to me about the needs of his village.

Badhu Paji, speaks Spanish and teaches me Punjabi. He is a person that you could spend hours listening to his stories. Budhu, lived in Boliva for two years, and travelled around South and Central America for 18 months.

I would also like to mention, Biri Paji, my Punjabi teacher…Raju Paji our driver… Shandip Paji, secretary and friend who is always full of optimisum…. and more, many more.

The rest is fine. A lot of children, a lot of football, courses with coaches that are willing to learn, celebrations for the “happy Lorhi” or “Maghi Festival”, and the start of the EFL, a football tournament for kids.

From somewhere within the Punjab valleys, where crops grow and sugar canes are cut, the Spanish coach that rides a bicycle is always passionate about telling his story.

Keep smiling!!!

Written by Xabi Martin Nebreda, Sport Network's volunteer

Behind the mist the Sun is waiting for us…

At 9:30 am local time in Delhi, on Saturday 30 November, the dream became reality. After landing in India, in the arrival’s zone at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, Suki is waiting for me. A young Indian, who as a good host shows me the bus I have to take and gives me the final instructions on how to get to Rurka Kalan.

I really enjoy my journey, on both sides of the highway there’s a different world: colorful turbans, endless beards, cows crossing the highway, but I always receive a smile and friendly greeting from everybody with whom I make eye contact. Ten hours later, here I am in the rural Rurka Kalan, greeted by Suny, the architect of my trip and a man full of energy whose effort and enthusiasm is contagious to all who participate in the project of the YFC academy. 

This project aims to create a center for youngsters of the region, hard working people, passionate about football and sports. I believe my role can support the organization and sports development, by contributing what I can in the training of physical education monitors, who one day may become great football coaches.

These two weeks in the Punjab valley have allowed me to experience a different society, a rural environment where one can easily miss aspects of a Western lifestyle, but where you can find tranquility and peace to continue to create a working model based on personal growth.  

Every day I hear a new language, Punjabi, which is like Euskera (the Basque language) for an elderly man from Seville. The children and the adult population do not really understand English, and although the trainers help with translations, I would really like to engage in conversations with people, learn about their worries or simply chat during mealtime with the academy’s residents.

"The day starts misty but all of us know that behind the mist,
the sun is waiting for us"

I wake up at six in the morning and take the first training session until eight, after having a nice Indian tea, thanks to my friend and great chef Sunu. After having breakfast with my colleagues, the children go to school and I stay in the office, to get a better understanding of the infrastructure and needs of this project. After enjoying a really spicy lunch, at 16:30 I complete the second training session of the day, every day with a different group, every day a different experience.   

At the moment, everything is going well. The community is starting to accept me as one of them, the Spanish coach that cycles a bike. I have discovered Kabbadi, a traditional wrestling sport played in Punjab that just celebrated its fourth World Cup.

Satsriakal friends!!!

Keep smiling!!!

Written by Xabi Martin Nebreda, Sport Network's volunteer

Pre-departure: Xabi's expectations

I will begin with a short introduction, my name is Xabi Martin, I am from Bilbao, Spain, and I am starting an exciting project with Sport and Cooperation Network (SCN) in the distant and colorful India.  I hope this trip will be magical, will continue to give me the opportunity to learn new ways of life, and to see if it is always as valid and correct as others think.

I have high expectations to continue training as a person and as a coach, to meet people that will share their life experiences with me and I am sure we will become friends for the rest of our lives, and I will be proud every time I tell a story of my time with them.

I have known the impact of cooperation for several years after taking the specific course in INEF in Madrid, together with the group DIM, a new field where licensed Physical Education teachers and coaches are continuing our variety of work.  The level of the cooperation that fills a person, makes one feel valuable and useful.  The long projects through SCN are a challenge for me, I hope being with the kids in India is a good experience for everyone, and we can open many doors for future collaborations.

Now to discuss the project in India, YFC Rurka Kalan, I hope the people are passionate for football; therefore we will already have something in common.  I hope to learn their football, their sports, and their organization, to be able to see spectacular sports together with them, something that I am passionate about.  If everything goes well, we will watch the Athletic Bilbao matches and I can recruit new supporters!

In 2008, I had a very rewarding experience when I worked on a cooperation project in Peru together with the people of ADDVES, their president, and my friend Juan Abanto, at the head.  We worked on the Villagol Project, where they created sports schools in the human settlement Villa el Salvador, where they performed instructional training course for sports educators and encouraged female football with the participation of a girls team in various tournaments.

Sports are my life and I have made my passion my profession. I always see the good side of education through sports and the positive values generated by of team sports, such as football.  Values like the sense of belonging in a group, team values, being together with a friend, and being able to do something for him, which in turn is good for you; there is no better sensation than that, being together in victory and defeat.

In conclusion, I would like to talk about the factor that I see as the most important and most popular these days, the role of the coaches, instructors, and trainers, with their performances, they represent a person very important in child’s education, not only in their sports education, but also personal growth.  The example will always be in a sporting group, knowing how to interpret the needs of each environment, each family, and each child.

That is all…LONG LIVE FOOTBALL!  LET’S GO YFC RURKA KALAN!

SMILE!

Written by Xabi Martin Nebreda, Sport Network's volunteer