2023 recap (so far...)

1. ????Internship????

In April I successfully finished my 10-week-long operational internship at FC BAFA in Buenos Aires, Argentina.?

Fc BAFA is organizing daily pick-up football games around Buenos Aires. Players can sign up through an app and play football with a constantly evolving and growing community of local and international players. A new approach to playing football - flexibly, customizable, exciting - that allows players to play in various settings and meet new people. A great concept that I have made good use of myself during my Internship.

Personally, my tasks and responsibilities included:

- Creating and executing a social media marketing strategy and making a social media playbook for further use

- Establishing partnerships with (international) organizations and institutions through which FC BAFA can consistently reach new students

- Improving overall experience and implementing gamification in the App in order to keep players engaged

- Hosting and overseeing games as an FC BAFA coordinator

An educational experience that helped me develop in new areas and develop new skills as well as connect learned theory into a practical setting. It goes without saying that working in a vastly different cultural setting on the other side of the world in a language I barely speak comes with its challenges. It is very liberating to see those challenges turn into learnings and growth.

One person I want to express my gratitude towards is?Anne Marie van Beusekom?who enabled me to do my internship and throughout was an immense help, professionally and personally - Thank you!

In my time in Argentina, I did not only develop and my professional skills but next to my internship was fortunate enough to fulfill childhood dreams like visiting la Bombera or seeing Messi play for Argentina (and lift the World Cup trophy), obtaining my A2 Spanish Spanish language certificate, meeting amazing people and experiencing the vibrant and fascinating Argentine culture.?

- Voy a volver!

2.???Orange Veins??

In late April/early May I was fortunate enough to again work with Orange Veins.

During this time I functioned as Team Liaison Officer for the Eastside FC soccer academy. The team from Seattle traveled to The Netherlands for 8 days. During the stay, we played friendlies all across the country, visited the Feyenoord Stadium, and of course the highlight: participated in the Rood-Wit U10 Tournament tournament. One of the biggest International youth football tournaments in the Netherlands with 24 teams from all over the world competing.

Working with young children in a high-performance setting was a nice change of pace. I was able to observe many different coaching styles and methods. Together with an excellent organized tournament and all-around trip for Eastside FC, this made for another great learning experience.

I am happy to have contributed to a lifetime experience for the players that helped their performance on the pitch and created personal memories that will last a long time.

A special thank you and congratulations to a successful event goes to?Leonardo Mouwen?&?Ricardo Homan

3.?????Honors Programm "Pamoja Kenya"????

In the past 2 weeks, I traveled to Kenya with the HvA honors module “Pamoja Kenya”. As the 12. Generation of the project I and 15 fellow honors students were fundraising about 15.000€ during the past year in close partnership with A-STEP (Africa Sports and Talent Empowerment Programm) and its founder?Timothy?Lusala (Tim Tim). To finalize the program we traveled to Kenya and together with Timothy experienced a very unique side of a beautiful country.

Our group traveled through 5 different counties while playing with communities, visiting schools, talking to government officials, meeting and running with ex-marathons winners, helping build the A-Step talent house, hosting a boys and girls football tournament, assisting in a medical camp, and much more.

While not easy, an incredibly insightful, rewarding, and grounding trip. A time filled with the heartwarming positivity and the welcoming culture of Kenya but likewise filled with seeing the lack of perspective and structures, difficulties for many people, hunger, and a very challenging political and historical landscape.

A truly exceptional and unique experience. Working, playing, discussing, laughing, dancing, and being frustrated together with Timothy, his friends, family, and communities made for a trip that is hard to put into words.

?-Asante Sana?Timothy Lusala (Tim Tim),?Rob Conradi?& Kenya?