Visit to American Nicarguan School

Last week a group of 21 grandes and five staff members went on a field trip to American Nicaraguan School. American Nicaraguan School is a K-12 college-prep school in Managua, the capital. All classes are given in English and students are largely children of Nicaraguan diplomats/government officials or international students. A former Soccer Without Borders volunteer, Hailey McCarthy is currently a teacher there and started a Soccer Without Borders Club among her seventh and eighth grade students. In an effort to introduce the Fútbol sin Fronteras Granada group to the Soccer Without Borders Club, the school invited our group to their campus for a friendly soccer tournament and diversity day celebration.

The day began VERY early. I was really impressed that all 21 girls and 5 staff members (César, Cindy, Karen, Larkin and I) were there and ready to go by 6:45! We experienced a minor hiccup when we got to the bus station and there were no buses, nor any busses coming in the future. César ended up going to a different bus station, getting a bus for us and we met him and the bus driver in the center of town. In morning traffic it takes a little over an hour to get from Granada to Nicaragua. The girls were very excited for our big city adventure, and spent nearly the entire bus ride shrieking at every turn or practicing our new FSF cheer.

The ANS campus is physically impressive and clearly well funded. If any of you readers have ever watched the TV series the O.C., it reminds me a lot of that, terraced land, open-air classrooms, multiple sports fields, a pool, etc. We were a little worried about the visual shock/intimidation value that might impact our girls upon walking into the school and interacting with kids their age of such different economic backgrounds. Because of that apprehension we spent the two activity nights before the field trip talking about respect for others and diversity.


To encourage the two groups to get to know each other, upon arriving at the school, we split the kids up into four mixed teams (half FSF Granada and half ANS Soccer Without Borders Club). The fútbol sala tournament was organized so that each team played each team. As the games progressed you could see the two groups beginning to interact a bit. Even though our girls were a bit hesitant and nervous to interact with the kids from ANS,

The kids from ANS did a great job of being welcoming; including our girls and asking them a lot of questions about Granada and Fútbol sin Fronteras. Our girls were definitely hesitant and nervous initially, but by the end of the mini-tournament many of them were engaging more with the kids from ANS. It was great that they had soccer to rely on as well. Most of our girls are very competent soccer players and some our really good. I think having soccer to rely on throughout the process of meeting new people gave them some confidence.



Once the soccer-playing portion of the day ended we watched the school's assembly to celebrate diversity day. The event was quite varied, ranging from poetry readings to electronic music performances to a rendition of "I Have a Dream." Unfortunately, most of the program was in English, so our group generally had no idea of what was going on. The eighth graders did the finale and sang Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror"...a little bizarre but enjoyed by all.

Once the assembly wrapped up, we headed back to the bus station and back to Granada. The event was pretty typical of how events have been unfolding here: seemingly well planned out, very chaotic at first (especially when we couldn't find a bus) but ultimately ends well. The girls definitely enjoyed themselves, the opportunity to go to Managua and the soccer tournament. All in all un éxito.