Posted: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 10:44 pm

Clay Watson at El Olam orphage where Ordinary Hero donated equipment and played soccer with the children.

RHS soccer coach visits Ethiopia
Clay Watson, teacher and soccer coach at Ravenwood High School, had the experience of a lifetime this summer.  He joined a group called Ordinary Hero traveling to Ethiopia on a mission trip with the theme, Kicking and Dreaming.

Watson met Kelly and Shane Putty when their daughter, Lauren, played soccer for RHS.  Their idea for the trip came from a conversation around the dinner table on a team road trip to Oak Ridge, TN.  Kelly Putty had been to Africa four times and wanted to organize a trip around a soccer theme to relate to the children in Ethiopia.  Putty’s communications about the needs for adoptions have spread from middle Tennessee to country-wide and then global.

“It turned out our group dynamic consisted of 22 people, 12 from middle Tennessee,” said Watson.  “Others were from

Young men at an orphanage in the countryside where Ordinary Hero brought jerseys and played soccer.

Blake Cooper, Clay Watson and Ethiopian children whom with they played soccer at the trash dump.

Phoenix, Chicago, Blacksburg, VA, and Salt Lake City.  We met in Washington, D.C. and flew from there.”

Former RHS assistant coach, Blake Cooper, and Lauren Putty were on the trip for soccer but most of the other team members were focused on adopting a child.  The ladies on the trip worked on arts and crafts with the smaller children while the older kids played soccer with part of the team.

Watson shared that the team brought loads of clothes from clothing drives here in the states, baby formula, diapers, and toys for all ages.  But soccer was where the communication lit up.

“We arrived right after the World Cup so soccer fever was a manic,” shared Watson.  “They were familiar with soccer but even with interpreters it was difficult to communicate with so many people.  Soccer is a universal language.  Throw out a ball and they would be playing.”

The group didn’t just bring balls to play soccer.  They also brought jerseys and cleats to the kids who had no shoes themselves.

Watson talked about the strange places the team members played soccer.  There was a hillside field with donkeys grazing amongst trees and a trash dump where many societal outcasts were living.  Watson smiled as he told how he was shoved in to a tree during an intense match by a 15-year-old boy.

“When we pulled up or drove by the kids would be playing with anything for a ball.  They even used a rolled up t-shirt as a ball.  We’d drive up to an orphanage and they would be playing soccer with an orange or a tennis ball,” he said.

Watson explained that although Ethiopia is an extremely impoverished country, they know soccer.  You see billboards of famous players and posters in restaurants. 

As a soccer coach, Watson was impressed with the tactical skills and their advanced knowledge of the game.  He explained that just having the ball at their feet all day provided great accuracy and technical skills.  Even when they watch television, they are watching soccer and learning.

“There is a big trend in coaching to ‘teach the game through the game.’  That is what these kids are doing.  They become great players by playing all the time,” said Watson.

Watson told his favorite take-home story from Ethiopia.  He and several team members had purposely driven to a downtown area to seek out kids to play soccer.  They found a group of kids, presumably homeless, on the street in the post office district. 

“We played in the pouring rain for three hours,” said Watson. “This one kid was on my team the whole time and he was about 13-years-old.  We made a connection.

“Six days later as we were preparing to leave the country, we went to shop in another part of town.  That 13-year-old boy was selling gum and we saw him on the street.  He came running over to us.  He was selling gum because that is how he survived being homeless.

“I paid him for the gum but gave him all I had left because I was on my way to the airport.  He was so thankful. 

“Once I was back in the car, his friend came running over and put a cross through the open window.  That was his product to sell, his livelihood and survival, and he wanted to give it to me.”

The symbolism of the cross was not lost on Watson who said this was the most amazing experience of his life.  He cannot wait to go back and shared that Putty was planning another trip for the summer of 2011.

Watson in the meantime shares his stories with players on his RHS team who have been very curious.  He shows pictures of the kids playing soccer and the conditions in Ethiopia.

There is so much more to this story and I plan to share more about Putty’s organization, www.ordinaryhero.org next week.  In the mean time, check out their website and see the amazing miracles happening through this network of faithful followers.