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“There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life.” – Mary Rose McGeady
The mission of Ball Project is to help children play.
We believe that relationships are the most valuable things that we have.
Ball Project is a resource partner – which means we connect people, resources & opportunities.
Sometimes that means connecting coaches with other coaches. Recently it meant connecting more or less neighbors in the Pacific Northwest. NW Football Ministries & Redwine Soccer are both in the Seattle-Tacoma area. Both love children & soccer, but they had not connected.
Ball Project was able to help them connect & hopefully more Pacific Northwest communities will be impacted & more children will be playing very soon.
Several years ago, Redwine Soccer introduced Ball Project to Kefa Project‘s great work in Rwanda with children & soccer. Since then Kefa Project & Ball Project have partnered together a couple of times.
Sometimes all you can do is the thing right in front of you. & sometimes the thing right in front of you is to connect two people. & hopefully that will help children play.
I have a week of meetings with lots of Ball Project partners from around the world.
Partnerships are just doing something together that comes out of relationships plus trust.
Relationships are based on length of time knowing someone plus shared experiences plus communication. Relationships = Time + Experiences + Communication (at least that is how I think about it).
Face to face time is always incredibly helpful to continue working & communicating effectively together.
I can’t work with someone I don’t trust.
It is hard to work over a long distance & long time period if you can’t effectively communicate with them.
So I am always grateful for face to face time either hosting partners where I live or visiting them where they live or even meeting someplace in-between. I like to see where people live & work & know their friends & family. I like for people to see where I live & work & know my friends & family. Those kind of shared experiences build trust & understanding which allows for better communication & stronger relationships & ultimately better partnerships.
& if we have better partnerships then ultimately we get more done, which in this case means that we help children by helping children play.
We are back home again in Indiana after 2 weeks in Namibia & South Africa.
It was a great trip meeting with existing & potential partners.
These trips are always exhausting but encouraging. & I’m grateful that I get to go on them.
We spent 2 days training at an international sports leadership school & a community transformation school on how to be effective at partnering.
We met with old friends & long time partners from Fiji, Egypt, Singapore, South Africa & Malaysia. I think we even turned a couple of old friends into new Ball Project partners.
Lots of opportunities, lots of work, lots of friends, lots of partners….
We may get the opportunity to partner with an ultimate Frisbee league in Cape Town & with a group that works with deaf students in South Africa.
Relationships are the foundation of a good partnership. Face to face time with friends & partners in their homes & offices is a key to keeping relationships & therefore partnerships strong.
I am grateful for our amazing partners, advisors & donors who work so hard to help children by helping children play.
The Ball Project 