The Soccer Match

Dad and kids making a home visit

Family and Friends,

Day 155 of our Haiti Adventure!

Patchouko, Kester, and I went to a high school soccer match in St. John, a neighboring town which is sort of the county seat, on Sunday afternoon. We took the motorcycle there, and everyone turned and gawked at us as we parked (not because the motorcycle is anything out of the ordinary, but because we are white), paid for our tickets, and entered the stadium.  We had a lot of fun, and it was a good opportunity to get out and meet people in the community. Many people from Ti-Rivier were there, and they were happy to see us at the match.

First of all I have to describe the field. You have to understand that it is almost impossible to find a soccer-field-sized piece of flat ground anywhere in this country. Most of the land is made up of rolling hills and small mountains with the exception of the large plains near Les Cayes. This field was on a fairly flat piece of ground, though, and it looked pretty close to regulation size to me. In some places trees branched out above the playing surface, and there was very little grass on the whole thing. Dust was kicked up wherever the players went.

Someone had chalked out the boundaries to the field before the match began, but soon the edge of the crowd became the out-of-bounds line. There were no bleachers or anything like that, so people lined the entire field to watch the action, and they continued to creep farther and farther over the line. Someone came up with a funny solution to the problem, though. A somewhat crazy-looking guy began walking around the perimeter of the field with a branch, and he would beat the legs of the people who were over the line, both young and old, men, women, and child. It was pretty funny to watch, and effective.

The players were very skilled and extremely athletic. You wouldn’t believe how high they leap for headers and how powerfully their feet can kick in the air. I couldn’t help thinking how hard they must work for this as they grow up here, and how intensely they love to be out there in the middle of the action in front of the big crowd. As one player crumpled after a collision, I thought about how if you blow out a knee on one of these teams, you are probably done for good. No one’s going to pay for your reconstructive surgery and physical rehab. Yet they play with a reckless abandon that is admirable.

The children were the most amazed to see us there. They aren’t afraid to just come up and stare at you from a few feet away. People were especially delighted to see Kester and me together, and they whispered about how much we looked alike. They carefully observed everything we did from watching the game to drinking water to eating a little snack. It was sort of like we were aliens from Mars.

We left before the match was over in order to beat the crowd and get home before dark. Neither team had yet scored when we left. The visiting red team was clearly better, but the home crowd was cheering for the white jerseys, crescendoing to an eruption of cheering whenever their boys barely managed to fend off a scoring attempt. It was a David and Goliath scenario, kind of like Haiti against the world.

Like any high school sports event, it was as much of a social occasion as it was an athletic competition. It was somewhere for people to go and be seen and hang out with friends. But there was a passion there as well. People love this game here, and it was fun to attend and be part of the crowd.

We traveled home on the motorcycle and enjoyed the unbelievable view of the ocean as you come over the mountains at sunset. We arrived home safely and enjoyed some popcorn with the girls. Both girls are looking forward to their chance to ride on the new motorcycle and go somewhere special with Daddy. They’ll get their chance soon enough.

 
God Bless!
-The Grimms