Bolton

This week was different from last week at ABK. This camp was a day camp, which means we were billeted out (we actually got some sleep) and it was just the four of us (Darren, Alicia, Rueben, and myself) because the other team was at another church camp. It was a great week, bonding with the team, learning how the camps are going to be run for the rest of summer, and just getting into a routine. But it was more than that – it was the openness and excitement the church and their community had. It’s amazing to see how excited a community can get for a week of soccer camp. This past week we were in Bolton, and everyone there is amazing: the host families, the volunteers, the organizers, the parents, and most importantly the kids.

Right from the beginning, I felt like I was at home. Our host family was amazing! Their girls made my week. Everyday, after camp Lish and I would come home to three little girls attacking us and giving us huge hugs and begging us to play with them – there was no way we could say no. They were amazing, there’s no other way to describe them. Their parents were amazing as well, always making sure we had everything we wanted, allowing us to use their car for the week so that we could get to and from the field everyday, and staying up late to talk with us about anything and everything. They were real. Everything about their lives was real, and it showed. That’s what really hit me.

The camp was awesome. We had 60 kids from ages 7-14. Getting to know these kids and watching them improve over the week and to see how excited they were to be at camp: what a great feeling. Seeing Emily telling Tina (her nanny) how she got warmed up, and then having Tina thank us at the end of the week for giving Emily and Hunter an awesome week and how she’s never seen them so happy, free, and independent. There were soo many other stories like that, but Emily and Hunter touched me the most.

And then there was my birthday. Honestly, I’ve never been so spoiled in my whole life. I woke up to balloons everywhere in my room. The girls made me a card and gave me earrings and huge hugs. Once at camp I didn’t think too much about it being my birthday, it was just another day at camp, but Emily came up to me right away in the morning with a card that she made the night before. It was amazing!! The camp sang Happy Birthday to me in the morning and the campers gave me a HUGE card with some pictures and they got most of the campers to sign it. At the end of the day, they sang Happy Birthday to me again, this time they gave me a cupcake. Now D was eyeing this cupcake and all the icing it had on top if it – not good news! Lucky for me, I was too quick for D and most of the icing ended up on him….only there was more than one cupcake. But the end, D, Lish, Rueben, and myself, and some of the campers had icing and cupcakes all over their faces and even in their hair. It was great! For dinner, we all went to D and Rueben’s host family for pizza and a swim. The assistant coaches and our host family were also there. It was a great time of relaxing and having fun. And then there was ice cream cake and more cards. I’ll never forget my birthday in Bolton!

Friday night was really cool, because they put on a bbq for all the campers and their families. We got to meet the families and spend some more time with the campers. We gave out awards to all the campers and just had a great time. One thing that hit me (and the rest of the coaches) the most was how Bolton thanked us for doing this for them. Seriously, it felt like we really did nothing. All we did was go out there, have fun, teaching soccer to the campers. They were the ones who organized it, planned it, were there bringing us water, and snacks, and making sure everything ran smoothly, and they will be the ones who follows up on the campers for the rest of the year. They are the real champions.

It was really hard to leave Bolton. It was hard, because they showed us what a real community can look like and what it was like to be real in all aspect of life. I’ll never forget Bolton: the relationships I made and the memories that we have.