University of Miami Football and the community of Cabezu, Dominican Republic unite to overcome challenges and get the job done
Going into our program’s first Courts for Kids trip, we weren’t entirely sure what to expect. Our team has always prided itself on helping our community in Miami but the opportunity to impact a community hundreds of miles away was something that excited us.
This week challenged us mentally and physically in ways that we haven’t been challenged before but that’s what this project was all about. Helping people while exposing ourselves to an environment that we’d never experienced before. The construction of the court itself was a grind. Unfortunate weather conditions made everything more difficult. Sand and gravel were placed a distance away from the court, cement bags were always at risk of getting too wet, and the court itself would essentially become a mud pile when it rained. But through all of it, with the help of locals young and old, we were able to accomplish our goal of getting the court finished.
Something about a challenge that seems so difficult to accomplish always seems to rally people together and I think that’s what this project did with our group. New connections were made every single day with different members of the community and bonds were formed that will extend after we leave Cabezu. An experience like this shows you that in a material world, no matter how much you have or what you have, you can always find happiness through friends and family. That’s one of the biggest takeaways we got from this trip.
Some of our fondest memories from this experience didn’t happen on the court, though. They happened after work. At the mango tree where the kids hangout, at the store in town that supplied us with cold Gatorades during breaks, at the school where we played with the kids, the street where we’d race and hangout, and more. As the trip comes to a close we leave with a heightened appreciation for our lives back in Miami but also an appreciation for the people that we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know this past week. We can’t thank Courts for Kids, Marlennis, Vanessa, Veronica, Jesus, Pastor Juan and his family, and every other person who made us feel like we were a part of this community enough.
- Jorge, Daryl, Wesley, Akheem, Terrell, and Reggie, University of Miami Football
“My grandma used to go on mission trips to Haiti all the time and before I came here she told me that I wouldn’t return the same, and she was right, This experience has given me an appreciation for what I have and what I do but also for the people I love. Take all of the material things away and you can still find happiness through friends and family.”
-Justin Fitzpatrick, University of Miami Football
Community Quotes:
“My favorite memories from this trip was watch the volunteers interact with the students/ locals in the community and the school. Watching them form these friendship in such a short amount of time has been amazing. I’ve also really enjoyed watching the volunteers learn about the community and how people live here.”
-Veronica Ibáñez PCV
“I can only say that it was a pleasure to have shared this experience with that group of young people, capable of giving their energy, their work, their collaboration so that this project becomes a reality in a community that really needs it. I was very pleased to see the work of the kids from COURTS FOR KIDS, that although they are from different cultures than ours, they mixed in such a natural way with the community. I hope God continues to bless each of them.”
- With love: Noemí de la Rosa 🌹
“For me it was a pleasure to have had the football group of the University of Miami here in my community to know their culture, work together, collaborate and learn from them a whole new experience, where it was nice because to meet people who are from other cultures. They taught us many things that we did not know and that they were here with us, it was something so valuable to see them every day to get up to work with a strong spirit with Joy and such a resplendent face always playing happily. They taught us words in English, dance games and in the end having such a beautiful experience like that is something that can't be described. Seeing teamwork and join our community. After so long to see the dream of having a court which we had never had was something too beautiful and it is an experience that my community will never forget nor will I.”
-Jesus Ramirez
