On the evening of July 4, most residents of Mahomet were spending time with family and friends, watching fireworks, eating hot dogs and celebrating our country’s birth. A group of 30 or more Mahomet residents were also celebrating, but they knew in the next 24 hours, they would no longer be on US soil.
At 12:30 a.m. July 5, a group embarked on a journey that started at Grace Church’s parking lot, and ended on the island of Hispaniola. Hispaniola, an island in the Caribbean Sea, houses the nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Since 1999, Mahomet resident Mike King has traveled to the Dominican Republic as a part of GO Ministries. While in the Dominican, he has built churches and brought others, including his wife, Brandy, to share his love of the people there and God’s love. One by one, King said he has taken his children on the summer mission trips to introduce them to serving the people of the tiny nation. Last year, it occurred to him to bring members of another of his families: his soccer family.
King is a coach for one of the Mahomet-Seymour Soccer Club (MSSC) soccer teams. MSSC is a travel soccer club that serves kids from first grade through high school. The idea to open the annual trip up to MSSC players and parents came to King during his trip last year. He said he was noticing more and more soccer goals popping up through the landscape, mainly in the outfield of baseball fields.
King said he took inspiration from the “Matheny Manifesto,” which refers to a letter written by St. Louis Cardinal’s manager Mike Matheny. In his writing to the parents of the first little league team he coached, Matheny talked about what it takes to develop a young athlete of character.
King said he used Matheny’s words as his inspiration to come up with a way for his players to engage in something outside of soccer.
“There are two types of professional athletes,” King summarized what he took away from the Manifesto. “One type of athlete is an ‘all me’ athlete who is in it for the glamour.”Another type of professional athlete is a more philanthropic person. This person uses his or her talent, fame and fortune for the benefit of others, King continued.
“That starts as a developing player,” he said. After reading the Manifesto, “I wondered how I could guide my players on the right path so they would give back when they are older.” He then said he thought “why not do a soccer trip?”
It may seem strange that a group of kids from Middle America teach soccer to children in Latin America. To us, children growing up in the Caribbean have had a soccer ball at their feet since they could walk. But in the Dominican Republic, according to King, that is not the case.
Soccer, he explains, is a sport they play in neighboring Haiti. And the Dominicans like to distinguish themselves from the Haitians. They have done this by popularizing baseball and basketball in their country. But soccer is becoming more popular in the Dominican Republic. This gave King the idea to have young American soccer players teach children in the Dominican Republic the sport they love while spreading God’s word.
King approached the MSSC board and the wheels were in motion. Eventually 36 people, mostly from MSSC, but a few were players from the St. Joseph Football Club and two players from Streator, IL, committed to the trip.
It was an idea that MSSC board member, Kristen Claybrooke, decided would not only work for the Club, but also for her and her daughter Maddi. Maddi celebrated her 13th birthday while on the trip.
“Neither Maddi nor I had ever done anything like this trip before,” Claybrooke said. “Mike King, whose family has served through GO Ministries in the Dominican Republic for a number of years, approached MSSC about this opportunity to partner with GO Ministries to serve in Hato del Yaque. One component of GO is to use sports to reach out to many kids in the community, and no one had ever done a soccer camp there before.”
Ultimately, Claybrooke said she felt the trip was right.
“The MSSC board was excited for the opportunity, and I thought that this would be a great chance to broaden Maddi’s scope of the world and would allow us to serve together.”
Participants on the trip raised their own funds to travel. The total cost was $1,800 per person, $900 of which was the flight to Santiago. The remaining $900 went toward food, lodging, ground transportation, and incidentals, such as colored t-shirts for the Dominican campers. Any excess funds were donated to the church in Hato del Yaque to be used as the need arises.
“Even those who had the means to fund the trip on their own were encouraged to fundraise,” he said. He added by having to ask people for donations it creates humility in participants and helps open their hearts to others who have to ask for help.
People who went on the trip held garage sales, appealed to friends and family via direct letter and Facebook, and contributed their own money. Soccer Planet in Urbana held a fundraiser called “24 hours of soccer” to help offset the cost.
Not all the adults who traveled were soccer players, and not all the kids who showed up for camp wanted to play soccer. For that reason, Mahomet-Seymour residents not only had the opportunity to contribute monetarily, but also could donate supplies, such as coloring books, jump ropes, bubbles and stickers.
Several participants brought down extra suitcases of clothing their children had outgrown, and many of the Mahomet Seymour residents left their linens and towels at the center as a donation rather than carry them back home.
Darren Clare, coach of MSSC’s U13 girls’ team, sought donations from his employer, Upper 90 Soccer/Gill Athletics, according to King. This yielded necessary equipment like soccer balls and pop up goals.
The soccer camp itself was broken into two sessions. A morning session was geared toward kids ages 5-12. Following lunch, provided by GO Ministries and served by Mahomet-Seymour travelers, the afternoon session was designed for those aged 13 and up. “The pastor played with them too,” recalled King.
Local children are used to GO Ministries’ presence at their community center, so they naturally congregate there, said King.
“Many of the kids would show up at the church where we stayed early in the morning and would still be there at dark,” Claybrooke said.
“The soccer camp was geared towards the children of Hato del Yaque, a community on the outskirts of Santiago,” said Claybrooke. “In the morning, we ran a session for younger kids, and in the afternoon, we ran a session for the older kids. We also helped serve at the nutrition center at the church in Hato, where many of the kids in the community come to receive a hot meal 6 days a week.”
MSSC families also shared devotions with the Dominican people through a translator.
“On the last day (coach) Mike Larson shared a devotion about obedience,” King recalled. “Mike ended his devotion with a challenge to the older kids to obey what God has called them to do.” King continued.
Following Larson’s challenge and the local pastor’s words, three of the young men stepped up and proclaimed they wanted to follow Christ, said King.
“The seeds were planted and watered long before we were there,” King commented. “But we were there to watch those boys sprout.”
After soccer camp was done for the day, travelers had free time where they had an opportunity to “chill out,” but not always literally, according to King.
Participants slept in either a men’s dormitory or a women’s dormitory, each designed to sleep 30 people. Unfortunately, the electricity wasn’t reliable so a lot of times, MSSC families were left without not only lights, but also without a working fan.
“You can’t really plan evening activities if you don’t know if you’ll have power,” King said.
On one evening, there was a trip to the local store to purchase souvenirs. On another evening, people went out for ice cream.
The church grounds where MSSC families stayed, ate and slept also had volleyball and basketball courts, in addition to a soccer field, and a gazebo for shade, according to Claybrooke.
King said he was one of the builders of the church complex in 2006, and he has enjoyed seeing how it has evolved over the past decade.
King said he hopes the soccer camp will continue next year. He estimates MSSC served between 150 and 160 children and adults.
“I hope we can do it again,” King said. “The people who went want to do it again.”
Planning for next summer’s trip could start as early as this fall, he added.
When asked what she would say to someone considering going on the next trip, Claybrooke said “Take the leap. This is an experience that will capture your heart and will stick with you always.”
It was hard for Claybrooke and the other travelers to leave the children of Hato.
“The hardest part for me was leaving the children on the day we left. We grew really attached to many of the kids in the short time we were there. There was another team coming in the day we left, but you wonder how much emotional support the kids are getting when the mission teams thin out.”
Luckily, she added, GO is active with the communities year round.
Claybrooke said she saw similarities between the Hato community and her own. They have a strong sense of community, she said.
“You would see kids looking out for other kids,” she said.
Other similarities are “lots of kiddos that love to play sports. The Pastor who allows a safe place to worship, and kids who respond positively to love and affection,” she said.
Despite those similarities the differences are harder to overcome.
“Differences: rocky dirt roads, houses the size of my dining room, kids having to wear the same clothes several days in a row, kids without shoes that fit, kids taking baths in large tubs in alley ways…” Claybrooke listed.
But despite the poverty and the worry as to what will happen to the children of Hato after she leaves, Claybrooke said what she took away from the trip is simple.
“Love is love, no matter the language or socioeconomic status.”
