I am very happy to share that this Saturday the Ra'ey Football club held its first open practice for its new woman's team. While the boys team played (and won) two friendly matches against a rival Addis club, Kahlyn and I lead the girls through a variety of drills and a four on four scrimmage. The eight girls that showed up were enthusiastic about the opportunity to play and be coached by a couple of ferengies. The practice lasted nearly an hour and a half and culminated with the girls joining the Ra'ey boys team in happily cheering on the second half of the friendly match.
At the match's conclusion, the coach and I had a moment to talk with a few of the girls about their first football practice experience. Each of the four we spoke with were very happy and incredibly thankful for the chance to join the Ra'ey football club. All told stories of having very limited access to playing the sport they loved; overt discrimination, lack of materials and field access would soon be a thing of the past. The girls are all very excited for next weeks practice, and have vowed to find other young woman to join in on the fun. 8 is a great start, but everyone is looking forward to that number growing exponentially in the coming weeks.
Kahyln and I are proud to be a part of something so positive for the young woman of Addis Ababa.
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| Some of the ladies after practice with their coaches |
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| Sun was pretty vicious |
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