Day 7 - Volleyball Clinics, a Basketball Clinic, and a Basketball Game

Today we woke up EARLY - breakfast at 5:00 and on the road at 5:30 to head to an elementary school to lead PE classes. In San Jose school starts at 7 AM and there is a TON of traffic, so we had to get on the road early to make it there on time. On the drive over, most students and staff were sleeping, but Señora Harrison mentioned it took us 30 minutes to get through a one mile stretch of road due to school traffic! 

When we got to the school we unpacked and got ready for our first of three volleyball clinics. We were taking over the PE classes for the day and were able to teach a class to the 2nd - 6th graders in three different groups. Every group that came into the gym was so excited to play volleyball and learn something new. Our first group were the smallest kids - 2nd and 3rd graders - and while they are SO cute, volleyball is a little bit tough for kids that age/size and they were beginners. As we increased in age our job teaching got a little bit easier and clinics were a little more interactive because the students not only had more knowledge of volleyball, but also of English, so between our broken Spanish and their broken English we were able to communicate a bit better. 

During the clinics Kate did an amazing job teaching students how to pass and Carolyn did an incredible job teaching the students how to set. Clausen came in to help teach serving and Kalei and Alena also helped us demonstrate skills, which was great! We also had the ultimate high-fivers with Brenden and Keira and we had the best assistants ever with the rest of the team running and participating in every single drill. Teaching three hour-long PE classes in another language is exhausting and our kids did an amazing job teaching, encouraging, and having fun all morning. After each clinic we were able to get a photo with the group, then pass out some VC bracelets as well as Christian stickers. 

Once our clinics were over we were able to eat lunch in the school cafeteria. As we walked into the school for lunch you would have though celebrities were walking into the building. Our kids were greeted by screams, hugs, requests for photos, and requests for autographs! It was pretty fun and super cool to see the impact our kids had in short hour PE class. 

After lunch we left the school to head to the supermarket for some snacks and drinks then came back to the house where most of us napped for an hour. We then packed up again to head to the IEM school where we were partnering with Power Basketball Academy to host a clinic for about 25 kids. BT took the lead on running this clinic and Dylan and Cooper get a huge shoutout for running the court with the little ones, but MVP of the day has to go to Jose for being our translator! Because we were split in two groups, Ronny helped translate on one side, and Jose translated on the other side. He did an incredible job! 

The basketball clinic was a great time and at the end each group wanted to play the VC teams, so we had several short 5 minute games where almost everyone played against all of the kids attending the clinic. Super fun.

After the clinic our boys plus Kate and Hannah played an official basketball game against the Power Basketball Men’s team. While it was close at times, we came out on top, thanks to our MVP Grant. His goal was to get 30 points tonight and he blew it out of the water with 40! Our team was exhausted after playing 5 quarters of basketball after the very long day we had. It was a good day though! 

We headed back to the house for dinner, debrief, and devos - more to come on today’s devotions tomorrow on the blog! 

Debrief Notes:

• Andre - Kids seemed very excited that we were there, they were screaming and jumping before we even started playing volleyball. 
• Dylan - The kids all thought we were celebrities and asked for autographs.
• Grant - This was kind of random, but one kid asked him (through Ronny translating) if he was from North or South Korea
• Clausen - After the littlest group walked back to their classroom, the PE teacher returned and told us they were all saying “we want to keep playing volleyball! We want to be volleyball players!”, which was pretty cool to hear. After the older group one of the 4th graders told me “That was the best PE class we’ve had all year! Thank you for coming and teaching us!”
• Cooper - Thought it was cool that he and a littler girl had exact same necklace.
• Jose - There was a little girl hanging out on the side that Clausen asked him to go talk to since he can speak Spanish. She told him she didn’t feel good and that something in her stomach made her feel bad. Jose felt really bad and went and sat with her on the side until the PE teacher said, “Don’t believe anything she says, she always has a new excuse
• Harrison - There was a little boy after lunch that came up to the fence and said, “When are we going to get to go over and play” - He was so looking forward to playing with us and was disappointed he couldn’t. Unfortunately our schedule didn’t allow us to do all 4 PE classes, so there was one chunk of kids we missed. 
• Kate - Said this was the most useful Spanish she has ever used and the most Spanish she’s ever used. The group agreed these were some of the most common phrases we said today: Aqui! Suiiiii!!!! Circulo! Muy Bien! Gracias! Esta Bien! Da me Cinco! Otra Vez! Fuerto! Buen Trabajo! Also, the kid in the purple shirt at the basketball clinic were so cute!!
• Harrison - Props to Keira, Alena, Kalei who were working with the little girls - they gave out so many high fives! 
• Brenden - Was told he looked like a YouTuber. 
• Jose - Once of the differences in the basketball game was that the refs all of the sudden were players and were taking cheap shots
• Cooper - Said the way they played basketball was just different. They shot zero three pointers the whole time and Jose said they ran the same play every time. Hannah added that it was interesting that they didn’t have a 3 point line, so they just decided in the moment if they thought it was a 3 pointer or not.
• Riley - Thought the basketball facility was really cool. Both gyms we played in today had only two walls with two open air walls. Most gyms are like this in Costa Rica so you don’t have to use lights as much and don’t have to run the air conditioner - overall it is just much cheaper. Also, shoutout to the two really good volleyball players in the older group! They play club and were very good. 
• Kate - Thought it was interesting that at the school the gym was separated by a street from the school. We noticed this school was established in 1908, so we assume it outgrew its space and had to expand. 
• Finally, we talked about how today we didn’t blatantly share the gospel, but what were some ways that we did that through sports ministry. 
• Sharing God’s light through our joy and the way we interact with one another 
• Stickers with Christian messages, which led to conversations from kids asking what they said/meant. Hannah asked a kid if he believed in Jesus (from the sticker), and he said yes, then she asked him if he went to church and he said no, then that was the extent of her Spanish :)
• Clausen mentioned Instagram - so many players/coaches ask for our kids instagrams. And while social media can have definite pros and cons, we are living in a time where it is a platform that is widely used and can be used to spread Christ’s message. I know several of our kids have their profiles public, which means any random person can follow them. What if when these people we met today who asked to follow them actually see us living out/posting about our faith in our public profiles? That could be a powerful tool of evangelism! 

Praises:

• We were able to get into the schools with no COVID restrictions/delays/issues. 
• Our kids did an amazing job pouring into others today. Even thought it was along and exhausting day, they seemed to have the energy to get through it, so thanks for your prayers!! 

Prayer Requests:

• Korah was feeling really sick today. We ended up having her stay home this evening with Senora Harrison, but please pray for her stomach to heal up quickly so she can join us in the volleyball games tomorrow! 
• COVID tests - this is probably our biggest prayer request, but we are getting tested tomorrow at 1:00 PM. Please pray that every single test would come back negative so we can get into the country with no issue. 
• Just for one more great day of ministry and fellowship. It has been a great trip and we want to finish strong! 

Tomorrow we are heading to the Widow’s Ministry in the morning. We will go grab groceries for about 10 families then will drop them off with the leaders of the ministry and have a time of worship and fellowship. After that we will have our COVID tests and a indoor volleyball game. We will then have our final farewell dinner/party over at the Rodriguez’s friends house. They have a beach volleyball court in their backyard and are actually the national champions in beach in Costa Rica, so if Korah is feeling better, we’re looking forward to a good matchup between them, Kate, and Korah! Finally, we will come back to the house, hopefully have the Great Costa Rican Ping Pong Tournament, then will stay up late and head to the airport at 3 AM! It’s going to be a great last day of the trip!