Time Capsule Letter – October 2016
Hey Alfredo, Chandler, Colin, Frankie, Isa, Joely, Max, Owen, Sydney, Tova, and Zenani!
By the time you are reading this, you will all probably be back at school, your memories of surfing, playing sports, and doing service in Bahia Ballena Costa Rica a fond yet distant memory. For those of us who facilitated your trip, we too have wonderful memories of our time spent together. Those of us who live in Bahia Ballena see the evidence of the Sports Service Adventure program every time we pass by the main plaza (soccer field) of Bahia Ballena and see the wonderfully painted and decorated bleachers! We also are reminded of the fun times we had working with the kids of Forjando Alas when we see them out and about and they want to give us a high five and reminisce about the fun times they had this summer.
Our aim was to help teach you how to surf, and during your five surf lessons in the Marino Ballena National Park, you guys impressed us so much with your great listening, tenacity, and constant ability to smile and have fun. Your surf skills developed greatly during your ten days with us and we sincerely hope that you will be able to take that skill forward with you in your lives. More than anything, we were so stoked that you all began to understand why it’s so important for surfers and anyone who spends a lot of time in or near the ocean to work together to keep the marine environment clean, healthy, and beautiful. We learned that everything ends up in the sea, so we can all do our part regardless of where we live by cutting back on plastic use, reducing our consumption, and preserving energy and water. All of these actions will help to protect our wonderful Planet Earth — the place that we call home — as well as the world’s oceans.
Your aim this summer was to help create a space where the local kids could practice and perfect their sporting abilities, and you guys were oh-so-successful in this mission. Through these camps, our program made a very positive impact on the local kids in the community of Bahia Ballena this summer by showing kids from all walks of life that sports are fun and can bring people together. You guys worked a lot, learned a lot, and we hope also had a lot of fun.
We will never forget about hearing all of your stories during the “Story of Self” activity, watching you play soccer with the locals in Esteban’s family’s indoor soccer field, pulling together as a team to teach the kids at Forjando Alas foursquare, going on an epic rafting trip down the Coto Brus river, paddling out to ride the green waves on surf lessons four and five, having a good laugh together when we watched the plastic bag video, and having an intense game of jeopardy on the last night! For us, it was a blast and even better because we got to share it with all you guys — our second Costa Rica Sports Service Adventure group!
Thank you so much for all your dedication this summer!
~Adrianne, Emi, and Gibran
Sports Service Adventure 2016, Costa Rica
Summer Blog Posts
9 July 2016
Our epic Sports Service Adventurers are here in Costa Rica! We spent our first evening together checking out a local park with a street fair and tasting local cuisine at a typical Costa Rican restaurant. Everyone is happy, safe, and ready to get started! We are so excited to have Franky, Chandler, Alfredo, Sydney, Zenani, Isabella, Joely, Tova, Owen, Colin, and Max with us for the next 10 days! Local Directors Gibran and Adrianne are amazing souls and we are all so excited to begin our journey together as an empowered group of individual and collective positive change-makers. Y lo sabes!
Abrazos desde Costa Rica!
Emi
July 10
Overall, our GLA experience has been extremely positive; however, Sunday was the most eventful because we got to start surfing!
Costa Rica has such incredible scenery that the whole morning was jaw-dropping. The waves were calming and just right for new surfers. We were introduced into surfing slowly and thoroughly, first learning how to position ourselves from the prone position and then given a chance to advance and stand after a delicious watermelon intermission.
The group used our remaining energy to stagger back to the GLA Home Base to recuperate and eat lunch before our planned service to enrich the local soccer field.
After a good time of re-painting with laughs and new friends, we were able to generate a pick-up game and refresh our soccer skills with a few locals.
The warm summer rain was far from intimidating. With a fresh fish dinner and exotic stories from each student, we were ready for bed, but also ready for more adventures.
July 11
Today was a slightly rainy day. We woke up, stumbled to breakfast, and ate up. We had pancakes, scrambled eggs, fruit, and rice with beans.
After breakfast we had a few minutes to change, to get ready for surfing. We walked to surfing and saw Costa Rica waking up.
When we got to the surfing destination, Gibran gave us a quick look into the physics of waves. Then we surfed.
Everyone was able to stand up on the board at least once. We took a snack break and after snack, we surfed for another 30 minutes before heading home.
We had a half hour of break and then we had lunch. Once lunch was over, we headed out to the after school program for kids. We hung out with them, bonded, laughed, played volleyball, and played some four square.
We were with them for 3 hours and then we headed home. When we got home we had one hour for rest and free time. After free time we ate dinner and then watched a movie, before heading off to bed.
July 13
July 14
July 15
