Years ago, I had the good fortune to be a chaperone on my son’s high school trip to Costa Rica. I had never been to this beautiful country, and my only experience was watching their national soccer team play the beautiful game. I could tell how important soccer was to their country by the support they gave their team.
The trip would be educational, mission-driven, and fun for the kids. This meant we would tour the Arenal Volcano area, the rainforests, and plant trees as a service project. We would visit a remote school and give our students the opportunity to interact with students in this small village. But it wasn’t all work, we would play soccer on the beach, ride ziplines (a future post), and do a night tour of the jungle to see tarantulas and scorpions, ick.
I had an idea for goodwill that I ran by the school to get their support. Since soccer is so popular in Costa Rica, I thought it would be nice to bring brand-new soccer balls to give as gifts wherever we visited. As this was a high school trip, we were limited to carry-on suitcases only; space was tight. I bought a dozen soccer balls (deflated) and used the kids’ backpacks to get them to our first stop, where we could start inflating them.
Our official tour guide, once we arrived, and our bus driver supported our idea. The bus driver provided a compressor to inflate the balls, so we didn’t have to use the hand pump I brought.
The school we visited was anxious for our arrival and performed a song for us. The children were excited to see the Americans and nearly lost their minds when we brought out two soccer balls as gifts. All thoughts of instruction were immediately dismissed and replaced with impromptu games on the field adjacent to the school. I watched our students go from awkward, not knowing what to do, to having the time of their lives with these young people. The first gift was a huge success.
One of the next gifts was when we were driving in a very remote area, and our driver noticed a dad and his young daughter walking along the road. It was his idea that this girl would be our next recipient. We needed a volunteer to step off the bus and deliver the practiced line, “Con tu permiso, un regalo para tu hija.” With your permission, a gift for your daughter. One young man’s hand shot up, and he grabbed a ball and headed to the door. We all watched as the exchange outside our windows took place. When he stepped back on the bus, you could tell something had happened. He shared with all of us, “I have never in my life seen the joy that I saw in that girl’s eyes.” Success.
Finally, we found a large, proper soccer field in a mid-sized town with a few teenagers gathering around. Our boys, especially the ones on the team, could not wait for a real match, and this seemed like the opportunity to do just that. A bunch of us, myself included, approached the group and asked if they wanted to play. Of course. One of the leaders of their group suggested we split the teams in a mixed fashion. Instead of us vs them, we blended the teams, and the language barrier disappeared. We played for about an hour, when we had to go back and get ready for dinner. When we finished, we shook hands and gave them the game ball. You would have thought we gave them a million dollars. As a chaperone and observer, I could tell that for the first time, our boys didn’t feel like visitors; they felt like peers.
Another time, we were killing time in the square of a small town in between activities. My son and I were kicking a ball back and forth in this square. An older gentleman joined us, and we had to be careful around others who wanted to use this park. I noticed a shy boy watching us near the church behind a tree. Soon the bus was loading up, and we had to go. My son approached the little boy and asked if he would like the ball. His dad appeared, and we got his permission. This is the photo for the blog.
Our last few nights were spent in an urban area, closer to the airport. The bellman from our hotel learned of our gifting and came over and introduced himself. He was a former player on the Costa Rican National Team. He thanked us for our visit and regaled us with stories from his days. It really is a small world, and soccer is one way in which I have made connections with people from different countries. I have watched the game long enough to have learned the players from almost every country and use this as common ground with taxi drivers, strangers, or even pilgrims on the camino.
I enjoyed being a chaperone on this trip, not just because of the adventures and the chance to learn about a different culture, but also because of the young people I was traveling with. They were bright, fun, lovable, and warm. On our bus ride back to Leelanau County, I shared that I was so proud of them and would travel anywhere and anytime with them. This is high praise indeed and not just a trite expression. Sadly, we all knew that this was our one shot as they would soon be heading off to college, getting married, and starting their own lives. I only hope that in some small way, they remembered the joy of giving and learned to appreciate how similar we all really are.