Soccer in Swakop

The price tag read forty-seven Namibian dollars ($7 US) for a tacky South Africa soccer ball at the local Pick n’Pay. Sam gave me fifteen dollars, not half of forty-seven, and said we should get it. I didn’t feel particularly good about being sucked into paying for two thirds of the ball, especially since I would always be using it with someone at least twice as good as me at soccer. Needless to say, we got it, and it was magical.

The first test of our new ball took place immediately after the purchase. Sam and I walked down to the beach and began passing while the wind blew veraciously off the Atlantic. Our first soccer session ended with little excitement and we walked back up the streets to meet our group. As we walked a number of men would signal for the ball and we would pass it to them only to watch a few standard ball handling skills and then receive the ball back to continue our walk. We moved on with our tour of Swakopmund and soon enough we found ourselves running around, arms spread, celebrating goals we had scored on a make shift goal at an after school program Walvis Bay. The ball was already beginning to egg but it didn’t matter. The more the ball expanded into an oval, the more people it drew. After our last stop of the day, at another mine funded youth program, we started a game of keep away with a group of six or seven kids on the street. The streets on the coast of Namibia are wide and constructed with a mixture of clay, mud and dirt. We formed a large circle in the vacant street and began to pass around the man/boy in the middle. Style and skills were a must, for just passing it was far too easy, for them… I threw the ball in the air and tested my slowly improving soccer skills yet usually ended up in the middle. The young shoeless kids, maybe 11 or 12 would use all of their favorite tricks and cut quickly around the road, desperately trying not to lose the ball. The game went on for quite some time until we were called to get back in the van, only to sit there sweating as I yearned for Passat to drive faster so the wind could race through the window and erase the beads of sweat on my face. As the van pulled up to our backpackers hostel right on the water, Sam and I turned simultaneously and said “ocean.” We ran in and changed into our suits and ran down the street toward the freezing water and howling wind. Sam was a few strides ahead of me, as usual, and was in the water before I could feel the sand on my feet. Consequently I was standing there questioning if wanted to feel as cold as I could tell Sam was. That said, I jumped in and was it terrible but mostly enjoyable. People walking by looked at us like we had just figured how to get out of our straight jackets but it didn’t matter, when in Africa right… We then met a group of Namibian students who were in training to become teachers and also testing the temperature of the water on the beach. It was too cold for them and it quickly became Sam and my job to fill up their jugs full of salt water, which we were told had some special use in the rural north. And of course as our day had gone, we began playing soccer with the group. We juggled and laughed around the circle while the waves would rush up and usually wipe the ball away. You’d think we’d be “soccered-out,” as I was, but Sam still had some left and he spent the next hour juggling with the owner and a guest of our hostel. Our days in Swakopmund continued on pace with our first and in turn they were fantastic and full of new encounters and ever improving juggling skills. The power of the soccer ball and sports has struck me more than just in Swakopmund. I see it three times a week when I intern at Physically Active Youth (PAY) and I even see it in every day interactions at home and in Africa.

People often separate themselves by those teams or sports they support, yet it is only when we remove these divisions and rivalries that we find the true power of sport. Sport is universal, it is a language, it is a great insight into a culture while also being a great venue to enter one. This was never more apparent than the connection Sam had with a deaf man who supported his beloved Liverpool at our hostel. A group of us sat in front of the minuscule TV watching the red of Liverpool dash across the screen while the deaf man pointed to the patch on his shirt as Sam did the same. The two shared thumbs ups and smiles throughout the game, and although it ended undesirably, they both agreed silently, there is always next year….

Our soccer ball introduced us to probably 20 or 30 people is Swakopmund while at the same time it helps teach kids at PAY necessary life skills like honesty and how to lose. Ideally the purchase of our $7 dollar soccer ball will continue to be the catalyst of many more relationships and juggling sessions but most importantly it will hopefully even teach us a few life skills along the way.