Recap: Arizona Training Camp 2019

In the football sense, the primary focus was to train and continue to strengthen and even grow the pool of players who could potentially travel and compete on the first squad of the Darfur United team. Within this group of players were some who had already been evaluated and notified that they would be potentially traveling to compete in the future. There were also several new players who would be trying out for a spot. Regardless of their situation, there would be some way in which they became either a member of the team, squad, or the community.

The week proved to be very successful. When speaking to Mark, we reflected on not only this group of boys but what the team could look like when the core of this group joined the boys in Sweden. If I ask myself how the trip went in a deeper sense, I think about Coach Mark and myself stepping away from the group after team talks. One or two of the boys would always jump in and take the floor before the group could break apart. The entire group would huddle back in and have another final word before a loud “Darfur United!” or “United!” was heard. How does this further answer the question of the weekend’s success? It tells us that they are empowered. It tells us that our action and their actions are having an impact!