Wednesday was game day for the Illini. The squad had the awesome opportunity to take on the Nicaragua Women's National Team in a friendly match during the evening.
If you haven't been following along, the Illini are in the midst of a 10-day service trip to Nicaragua, partnering with the Soccer Without Borders organization. Read more about Illinois' trip to Nicaragua here, or contribute the trip!
Rising sophomore Lauren Smitherman has all the details about Illinois' seventh day in Nicaragua!
Today was what I would call the beginning of the end of an amazing, life changing experience.
In the morning we woke up early and drove to a local public school to work with more young girls and play soccer. When we got there the kids were initially timid and shy, but as soon as we brought the balls out they smiled and began to run around and laugh and play with us. During our time at the school we played a few games and did some soccer drills and worked on our touches!
I loved going to the school because I felt like we had an opportunity to really get to know girls and relate to them in their own environment. After the school we went back to the hotel and hung out and packed up to head back to Granada. After lunch we headed to the soccer field for the game! Before the game we were visited by two foreign service officers from the United States Embassy.  We were able to connect with them and discuss our trip thus far, and they explained their contributions to the Nicaragua community and their mission statement. The Chargé de Affaires' name was Marta, and she explained to us what her job entailed and also answered questions we had.Â
I appreciated that she was very genuine about the difficulties of her job and how hard it is on her family, however she said that she did not let the people that told her no stop her from pursuing her dream. We talked about empowering women and how sometimes, as women, we can hinder our own abilities to reach our goals. Her main point was to not sell yourself short, dream big and do everything you can to empower other women in the process.
After Marta's pre-game speech we took the field for our final game in Nicaragua. It was hotter than the previous game but this game felt different; it felt like a win.
The game was tough, they were fast and technical, but thanks to the beep test and Coach Zach Boone, we were stronger and faster and could overpower their speed of play. We had a couple opportunities early then finally got a penalty kick that would eventually be the game-winning goal.
The coolest part about this game was that we had been practicing with our opponent, so we could identify each one by name. Another cool part of the game was that a few of the Soccer Without Borders teams and coaches came to cheer us on. Every time one of our teammates touched the ball the girls screamed and cheered for us like they were our little sisters, and honestly, after this trip, I could say that they are.
After the game we gave our jerseys to the national team players. I gave mine to the goalkeeper who I had previously made friends with at the practice the day before. We took pictures with the team and headed back to Granada to our home stays.
Being back in the barrio is so great! I really missed my home stay family more than I thought I would. Our home stay is at Doña Chillo's house, which is in the middle of the barrio. She has a big family that lives with her, and a grandson named Aaron (he is two, and will be three in July) that my roommates and I have really enjoyed playing with! So after dinner we played Simon says with him and laughed until it was time for bed.
