I am building a fire, and everyday I train, I add more fuel. At just the right moment, I light the match.

-Mia Hamm

As North Americans, we sometimes fail to realize how fortunate we are. We take small things for granted; running water, access to education, political stability but even more than that we have the ability to make choices and follow them through. I recently decided to take up soccer which for me meant going to Wal Mart to buy a $6 dollar soccer ball, calling my friends who had been soccer coaches and heading over to a well maintained, nearby field. I could even use TeamPages to set up a team page that would send us all notifications about our weekly games. But what if you lived in a country with no soccer balls, no grassy fields and no one who even knew how to play the game? What if you lived in a poverty ridden neighborhood where your daily worries were not where to buy the cheapest soccer ball but how you were going to find food for the day?

An organization called Opportunitas Aequa not only asked these questions but came up with a solution. Inspired by a passage in Romeo Dallaire’s shake hands with the Devil, OA set out to bring soccer to communities who would otherwise be without it. The passage they read described the terror and desperation felt by those living in Rwanda, an African country which saw the genocide of over 800,000 people in 100 days during 1994. Yet amidst the horror and chaos children were smiling, smiling because they were kicking a ball made of twigs and vines. It was this that prompted the 5 university students to set out and bring these smiles to other communities in need.

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“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

 

-Olympic Creed 

This post comes to you live from Whistler, B.C. host of the 2010 winter Olympics.

Where will you be in 2010? If you are fortunate enough to purchase one of the 1.8 million tickets being sold for the winter Olympics, you will be in Whistler or Vancouver. However, as I wondered around the village one very important question kept circling in my mind, where will every one fit?

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“Here’s wishing you the top o’ life without a single tumble.
Here’s wishing you the smiles o’ life and not a single grumble.
Here’s wishing you the best o’ life and not a claw about it.
Here’s wishing you the joy in life and not a day without it.”

– Irish Blessing

This week we are launching our first ever community of the week on video. This video highlights coach Derek, a dedicated coach using TeamPages to simplify his coaching needs and coach William, a coach who tries to stay on top of his team but finds it difficult to manage everything on his own. I will let the video speak for itself but for the record you are in for a laugh!

“What counts in sports is not the victory, but the magnificence of the struggle.”

-Joe Paterno

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This weeks blog has focused a lot on dealing with challenges (the community of the week) and doing the impossible (the quote of the week). I figured a fitting and motivating post this week would be to discuss the four minute mile, a historical moment which reinforces the age old proverb “where there’s a will there’s a way.”

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Twenty-six year old Stephanie Perkins understands what it is like to be part of a team. “I love being part of a team” she says, “we all have different strengths but we come together to achieve a common goal. You can’t play selfishly, you have to give it your all or else you are letting the whole team down.” This is why she was devastated when she tore her ACL right before the BC summer games. “I just kept thinking how badly I wanted to play and to help my team win the gold.”

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It is difficult to say what is impossible,
for the dream of yesterday is the hope of
today and the reality of tomorrow.”

-Bob Hope