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Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Women's Soccer Spends Break with Soccer Without Borders in Nicaragua
April 02, 2010 | Women's Soccer
Sara Chehrehsa, Rachel Sheehy, Alyssa Pont, Alison Nabatoff, Rebecca Shmoys and Stephanie Iantorno spent their spring break in Nicaragua with Soccer Without Borders. Above, Chehrehsa with local kids.
Here is a daily log of their trip:
Day 1- Sunday, March 14th
We left Princeton at 3am and arrived at the airport in Managua, Nicaragua at noon. We met some of the volunteers at the airport, who took us into Granada to meet our host family, Doña Bertha and her two daughters and son. After having our first local mangos, which were in season, with Doña Bertha we headed to the Futbol Sin Fronteras office. To get to know the local youth volunteers we had a huge scavenger hunt followed by a dinner with the whole neighborhood.
Day 2- Monday, March 15th
After a breakfast of piko (a local type of bread) and fresh fruit, we walked down to the fields for volunteer training and team building. Once we finished headed to the market for lunch, where we got a heaping plate of food for only 20 córdobas (1 dollar). We then went straight back to the field for a game of pick-up, boys versus girls (we tied). That night we first met all the little girls, when we had "Noche de Salud" at the office, teaching the girls about health, passing out basic health necessities such as toothbrushes, and face-painting.
Day 3- Tuesday, March 16th
We woke up earlier to walk to some of the local school and run the gym classes- teaching the students soccer skills and playing games like "manos-cabeza" (Spanish head-catch, in which you have to head the ball when someone shouts catch and catch the ball when someone shouts head). We then took a break for lunch at the Market again and headed over to the fields to coach soccer practice for the girls. That evening, we had dinner with Doña Bertha, who taught us how to make tortillas.
Day 4- Wednesday, March 17th
Suyen, one of the local volunteers, took us on a tour of Granada and then to the inactive volcano, Mombacho, where we went zip-lining and saw a monkey! That afternoon, we all piled into a van and headed to some schools a bit further from the office to run the gym classes there. As soon as we got back to the office, the girls had a surprise talent show for us, with some very impressive traditional Nicaraguan dancing, modern dancing, and poetry.
Day 5- Thursday, March 18th
In the morning we headed out to different schools to run gym classes. In one of the schools, it was the girls' first time playing soccer (normally they marched around the field during gym class) and their enthusiasm got us all really excited. After the gym classes, all the foreign volunteers were paired off with local volunteers and each group prepared a different food for the potluck that evening (including foods like pinto gayo, a fried rice, and guacamole). Before the potluck, we went back to the office to run "Noche de idiomas;" all the girls had read a book about the different senses, so we did a reading and writing activity about them, and then played games like charades for the girls to learn about the different senses.
Day 6- Friday, March 19th
For our last full day in Nicaragua, we all went to a big local market outside of Granada and then went to the Laguna (a beach formed by a volcanic crater). That night we all went to a local restaurant to reflect on the week and say our goodbyes before we left next morning.