Day: February 21, 2018

I know nothing about soccer, but watching the President Day Tournament today at the Sportsplex in Half Moon, New York, I saw how draining a game it is, the player’s are in constant motion, twisting and jumping and running,  using their whole bodies including their heads.

I would never have been good at this time, but it is the RISSE kids whole life, in many ways. On their break outside between games, they kicked a soccer ball back and forth, they never tire of it, never take their eyes off it, show no emotion of any kind, even when goals are scored.

It is a serious thing to them, something I am just beginning to understand. It is a grounding thing and a healing thing. It was a good choice to get them uniforms and  equipment bags, it gives them dignity and pride. I hope to attend more games in the Spring, and bring Red. The boys and girl on team love him.

I am committed to supporting this team in any way that I can, and at Ali’s direction. I want to do the best I can for as long as I can. Friday, they are coming to meet the Mansion residents and have some fudge sundae and then visit Bedlam Farm.

I am not a surrogate parent or father to them, but we are getting to know and love one another. In one sense, they are my kids, too. And they are coming to understand the power and spirit of the Army Of Good, which reaches across time and space to hold them and support them.

At halftime, Ali calls for a huddle, and praises the players. He also tells them how they might do better. They listen and learn, and go do better.

Ali takes his coaching very seriously. Soccer, he says, is everything to the RISSE kids, “it’s a big part of their lives.” They have played soccer their entire lives, and in a way, he says, it has sustained them. Many of these kids have lost a parent or left close relatives behind, sometimes trapped in refugee camps, sometimes dead.

In a sense, Ali seems himself as a second father or a surrogate father, he is available to the kids 24 hours a day, and protects them with a ferocity and commitment that is sometimes breathtaking.

Woe to anyone who threatens them or mistreats them. Ali asks a lot for them on the soccer team. He is proud of them when they play well, win or not, he is blunt when they lose focus or get distracted. Ali and I work very well together as a team.

We just seem to be on the same page, brothers of different mothers. He tells me I seem to know what he is thinking before he says it, and while that is not really true, we just are in sync with one another. I love Ali’s openness and faithfulness to “his kids.” I have seen him when he is defending and protecting them – that is an awesome sight – and when he is loving them.

I have seen their total trust and devotion to him. These families have little money, work hard and grueling jobs, speak little English and are nearly overwhelmed trying to get through the acclimation  process. Many of these kids have no clothes, are mourning dead parents or relatives, are taunted and harassed in school.

Ali is always there for them, and on the soccer field he demands everyone’s best behavior and effort. Coach Ali does not ever smile, and misses nothing. After the tournament, I said, “you need to take the kids out to a good restaurant to celebrate,” and I called ahead and paid the restaurant bill with a credit card, because I knew Ali would not ask me for any money to go there.

I told him it was all done. “How did you know we wanted to do this?, he asked. I don’t know, I said, I just did. This group needs one another and is happy together, it is their safe and healing space.

The soccer field is long and the game is grueling, constant running back and forth, kicking, blocking, twisting and turning, soccer players use every bit of their body and stamina. On the bench, concentration on the players and the game.

More great news. Todd Van Epps, the co-founder of WickedSmartApparel of Watervliet, N.Y., told me today that he was providing the uniforms for the new RISSE girls basketball team free of charge and as a donation. Todd has already given the soccer team some hot new soccer shoes, and given us a great discount to stencil the team’s

equipment bags with the names of the players.

The uniforms – we’ll bring the girls to the Wicked Smart showroom to pick out their uniforms – are a great boost to the new team, I have been asking for donations and will apply the money I’ve already received to sneakers and other accessories – jackets, perhaps, I have to talk to Ali.

Wicked Smart is one of the largest and most successful makers of sports apparel in the country. Todd is an exceptionally fine human being. If you wish to reinforce this message,you can e-mail him yourself at [email protected].

Todd is already receiving messages from the Army Of Good from all over the country, thanks.

He has the heart of an angel. He might even be an angel.