The Power of Play

I went to all of the practices last week to watch and learn and then think about how the life skills curriculum is going to evolve. Norman, one of the coaches came over to me to tell me that they had a lot of trouble with this one girl last year. I was thinking "trouble" in the disobedient mischevious sense. I looked at who he was pointing to, but it was this girl who seemed scared to move a muscle. I couldn't imagine how she was causing "trouble". I learned that she was too shy and scared to even try. I went over to her, smiled and asked in my very broken Spanish if I could help.  Within a few minutes and a little encouragement, she was throwing and catching consistently. As praise and encouragement spilled out of my mouth, a huge grin broke onto her face. I'm realizing that this program has had a profound impact on a number of these kids, and has the potential to help not only the mischievous boys, but also the lost, shy girls as well. I can't wait to watch her grow.

Pictures to come this week!