By Michael Small:
I would much rather fill my life up with experiences, rather than things…things are nice to have but do nothing for me and are just for show…Experiences make your life rich and give you a story to tell
– Dana Linn Bailey
I have been trying to live my life by this quote, and is the primary reason why I embraced this opportunity to travel across the world to a place I’ve never been before. Since my arrival to Gaborone, Botswana I have experienced many new exciting things, like rock climbing, traditional African weddings, game resorts, to mention a few, all of which can be seen in the photos below. However, most of my enjoyment of this adventure did not come from what I did in my off time, but rather the work I was doing. I was finally in a position of significance, no more inappreciable summer jobs between semesters! Now I was finally able to take what I have been learning all my life to proper use. There is nothing more gratifying than knowing your hard work is going to the benefit of someone else.
My job here is to assist in the rolling out of the Botswana Long Term Athlete Development plan, adapted from the Canadian Sport For Life program. I found this job satisfying because I was involved in piloting a change that will forever benefit Botswana by changing the landscape of sport by providing age appropriate training in the effort of achieving long term success on the world stage. To this affect we have already started to make some headway for we have now not only trained 20 coaches on the Grassroots framework of the BLTAD, but have also trained 15 coach educators in various codes to also be able to train the BLTAD concepts themselves.
It is a truly difficult task to convey into words the experiences I have had so far, but hopefully I have been able to give you a preview of what it is like to be working and living here. Until next time…