Over the course of 3 weeks in June, CFDP and Coaches Across Continents came together both as participants and partners for 3 trainings that were held in the Southwest region of Cameroon. Three sites were chosen in the Southwest by CAC to take part in this year’s training: Mamfe, Buea, and Kumba. Several management team members were involved as participants in the trainings in Mamfe and Buea, including Ngoeh Wallace, Akom Caroline, and Kingsley Kama.
Together with Akom Caroline, I traveled to Buea to take part in the 2nd week of training in the Southwest region with CAC. These trainings included discussions on child’s and women’s rights, using football as a method for social impact, and the training introduced many new drills to utilize during training sessions. One of my favorite drills which was taught to us was Balotelli For Health and Wellness. When I thought of the name Balotelli it made me proud to be African as he was the first African player to play on the Italian national team.
The goal of the game and ultimate lesson to take from it was one of proper nutrition and eating habits. Teams would attempt to pass their opponents to score goals. When a goal was scored participants were to choose essential nutrients and components of a healthy meal and shout them out. For example after a goal was scored the player would yell, “Protein! Eggs or beans!” with “Carbohydrates! Plantain or Cocoyam!” and “Fruits! Bananas or Pineapple!”.
The first team to score three goals and create three healthy meals wins the drill. As this is a topic which CFDP includes in many of our sessions, I was able to assist each of the teams in understanding the concept of the drill and how it relates to a valuable Life Skill topic; not only just a healthy diet but how that healthy diet affects our lives on a day to day basis.