Connecting Faith and Football

Raising Awareness in the U.S.

2010-10-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Over the last month, Dagoberto and Dilia Zelaya (Directors of the program) have been traveling throughout the Untied States building awareness a out the children's home. More and more people are show interest in supporting the program by sending their soccer equipment and other resources. The next shipment is soccer equipment is schedule for the January 2011. One of the next steps is to have a group of coaches/players to head down to Honduras and host some camps and clinics. This is in the works. If you are interested, or know of anyone that is interested, please let me know.

New Appointment: Children's Home Directors

2008-08-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, the "connecting faith and football" program is only one part of a larger project going on in Azacualpa. Our football program is one of many outreach programs taking place at the Children's Orphanage. Over the last few months, there are been some exciting developments that we believe will have a big impact on the Children's home, the local community, and the outreach football program. The main news is that Dagoberto and Dilia Zelaya have recently accepted the position of program Director. Both Dago and Dilia bring a tremendous amount of energy and experience to the children's home and, more importantly, they have a deep rooted desire to help the people of Azacualpa. From a football perspective, Dago shares a love for the beautiful game and believes that we can use football as means to help the young children and families of Azacualpa. We are very much excited about this new appointment.

What a goal!

2008-01-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

What a goal! Click here to see the first official goal of league play. There was some excellent build up play, off of a throw-in, which ended with an excellent finish into the far corner of the goal. You can tell by the celebrations that the kids are having a blast. It was a tightly contested match, played in a joyful spirit. The kids were overjoyed at being able to pull on a uniform and play in a semi-organized match. You can see from the smile son the kid’s faces that they are enjoying themselves.

Great save!

2008-01-23T14:19:00.000-08:00

Here is some action form our first official league game. Some great build up play leading to an excellent shot and save. The kids are having a great time!

Youth Teams Added!

2008-01-21T18:51:00.000-08:00

Now that we have the field in place, we have started providing daily opportunities for local children to come and play. The program is directed by Alex (youth teams) and Manuel (Adult teams) both of whom are local leaders. For the children's football program we have, on average, around 20-25 kids who participate each day (most of them regulars). From this core group, we have established two new youth teams (as illustrated in the Iowa and Minnesota jerseys). The players arrive each day around 3pm and are provided with equipment (uniform and football boots) so that they can participate in the daily practice (which consists of mainly scrimmage games). Each day we see a new face as the word spreads throughout the community about the program. Our goal is to work towards having 5-6 teams and developing a local community football league.

Goals: In with the new!

2008-01-21T18:33:00.001-08:00

We achieved one of our targets today by completing the goals. As you can see the new goals look great, especially with the nets that we had donated from PVEO Sports. The Kids love them. Let them games begin!

Goals: Out with the old

2008-01-21T18:10:00.000-08:00

As we look at the field development project, one of the main (short-term) tasks that we hope to accomplish over the next few days, is to design a safe field that will be used as a center for the local community kids to play and develop. One of our main challenges has been removing the old goals (illustrated) and replace them with some new and safer goals.

Game - CFAF Vrs La Peurta (Azacualpa)

2008-01-21T17:45:00.000-08:00

Everyone has arrived safely in Honduras for our January mission. We got the ball rolling and have another official match organized for our youth adult community team. Our opposition was a local team from Azacualpa (called La Puerta). They displayed a mixture of their top team and second team. It was a tightly contested match for the first 55 minutes (1-2 at half time), but as the game progressed into the later stages the local oppositions fitness levels allowed then to take control. The game finished 6-3. A fun and competitive match. Here we are pictured wearing the Iowa Soccer Association jerseys.

Equipment Arrives!

2008-01-08T18:08:00.000-08:00

Jan 8 -We received another big shipment of soccer equipment today that we will take down to Honduras later this month. We received lots of soccer shoes, shin pads, balls, and jerseys that we can use as team uniforms. This equipment will be distributed to the kids within the children's home as well as the kids involved in the program from the surrounding community. We would like to thank Iowa Soccer Association and Minnesota Youth Soccer Association, as well as all of the other people involved and contributing, for their very kind support of the program.

Practicing Free Kicks!

2008-01-03T13:00:00.001-08:00

The kids are getting excited about our next trip later this month. As you can see from the picture they are practicing and having fun. With the help of the staff and children we look forward to getting down there to assist with the field development project. Looks a bit like Beckham if you ask me!

Building momentum!

2008-01-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

Jan. 1st - We have been doing some work behind the scenes and sharing about the program with several colleagues in the soccer community. As a result, we are getting others excited about the program and showing a willingness to get involved. We received some exciting news in that we got two brand new goal nets donated to the program. We would like to thank PEVO Sports Co. who have donated a set of 8x24 goal nets! This is fantastic news as this allows us to move forward with the next phase of the program. The next 'Football in the Community' mission trip is schedule for the middle of January. The main goal of this trip is to start the process of developing a full size soccer field that can host games and practices. We hope to design a field with proper lining and dimensions as well as build two full size goals. As we all know, there is no greater feeling than watching the ball hit the back of the net!

Team Development

2008-01-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

Dec 2007 - We have already established two teams, of mixed age groups, who will play together and against other local teams in Azacualpa. Our hope is to continue to build the program so that we can provide as many children, within the community, with the opportunity to play.

Soccer gear arrives!

2008-01-01T18:40:00.000-08:00

Nov 2007 - We are up and running. Our first shipment of soccer equipment arrived safetly in Honduras. We would like to give a special thank you to Ian Bradley (Iowa Soccer Association) and Ian Barker (Minnesota Youth Soccer Association) for their generous support of the 'Football in the Community Program'. During our first trip we managed to equip several of the players, in the children's home and local community, with soccer shoes, shorts and t-shirts. As you can see the kids are delighted.