being part of the blind side

tonite shane and his wife katie-jo and the village people [me, tbV, erica, beth… A-Ron was still at Papa Fest] attended the Timoteo flag football season awards banquet… well we left before the banquet cos people had to be places [pancakes were had by those who didn’t!] but we got to watch the awards happen…

the front of the Timoteo brochure i picked up reads, “Timoteo supports communities by empowering men to mentor youth through athletics, spiritual formation and partnerships with local churches and organizations.”

this was the 7th annual awards dinner – Timoteo started with 40 athletes, 12 coaches and 3 churches involved – this year there were over 200 young men, around 50 coaches and ten different local churches getting involved in the process.

for those not in the know, flag football is to american football what touch rugby is to rugby – the players have a number of ‘flags’ (belt type coloures pieces of material) attached to their shorts and you ‘tackle’ a player by grabbing one of the flags off him…

it really felt like being a part of the sandra bullock movie ‘the blind side’ or any one of those dramatic sporting movies except that this one is real and it is being lived out in the neighborhood around us… we went specifically to support Kassim, a 16 year old guy from the area who attended Papa Fest with us and who i’ve really grown to love even in such a short time… and then i discovered when i was there that the Simple Way (the community we are now a part of) is an overseer of Timoteo, so this is one of the things we do. [can check it out on http://www.timoteofootball.com]

Timoteo specifically addresses young men in crisis and their mission is to support at risk communities by mentoring their young men through flag football – so the vision is much bigger than just a sports thing or even just a young men thing. In terms of community, this is what the brochure says,

“By engaging 200 youth and 40 adults each year, lives are being transformed. During the season and off season, teams practice, host youth rallies and go on outings together. Coaches invest in individual players and their families, encouraging them to work hard and stay in school. We seek to creatively empower young men by giving them responsibilities that prepare them to be leaders in their communities. Timoteo is also in the process of establishing vocational and educational advocates to connect youth with local businesses and colleges for jobs, internships, and college scholarships.”

i love so much about this program. after a full day and night at Papa Fest we were all completely drained [KZN type humidity and much heat interspersed with much rain plus, of course, avoiding the ticks] and so i was not particularly amped to go, but i’m so glad we did – church unity, intentional mentorship, community upliftment… this is what we signed up for…

tbV and i are definitely in the right place – is it all easy and comfortable? absolutely not. there have been some things that have been really tough and some adjustments that still very much need to happen. but every day i see new reasons to be absolutely stoked that we’re here and we haven’t even started our work yet [happens after wild goose fest next week]…