Amity Soccer Academy

Corey home teaches a family that we have become friends with. The father and one of the sons have organized a soccer camp for underprivileged children called Amity Soccer Academy. Corey made a donation to the cause and was invited to attend the final game and awards ceremony. Thinking nothing of it, we accepted the invitation and planned to attend and sit on the sidelines.

Upon arrival, we saw a platform with 4 chairs for the "chief guests" on the side of the field. How surprised we were to find out that Corey was one of the chief guests!!! Trying to be respectful and not show how awkward he really felt, he was persuaded to sit on the platform. They tried to get me to sit up there too, but I preferred to take pictures on the sidelines. However, after the game, I sat up there with him for moral support.

He was treated like a king and was even asked to say a few words to the participants. His first words were "Good Evening" in Tamil and the whole group let out a big cheer! I'm gonna say it was because they were excited to hear an American greeting them in their native tongue and not just laughing at him. He gave a brief message about teamwork which was well received. Corey was happy to be there for them, but felt all the attention was not necessary - it certainly wasn't expected.

We made it through the night and felt honored to be a part of our friends special occasion.



This is the older team getting ready to play the final match



Corey greeted them all with a handshake



He was honored to blow the starting whistle
(our branch president is standing to the left of Corey and the father of his home teaching family is standing to the right)




They played at a community park. Most of the parks do not have grass - I think because it's too difficult/expensive to maintain it. This is a shot of the goalie.

As you can see, it is very different playing on the dirt. It becomes a cloud of dust as the players run around. Plus, there are several divots in the ground - prime for spraining an ankle.

It is customary to present the honored guests with a shawl.

Here's a shot of Corey with the other chief guests and the younger children

It was a great experience. Our only regret is that we didn't bring Eric and Paige. We thought it was just going to be an awards ceremony that we could slip in and slip out of rather inconspicuously. I'm learning that I should know better than that. Because we're American, it's hard to do anything inconspicuously, in India.