It’s a cold, blustery Tuesday at the Otis M. Andrews Sports Complex — the kind of weather that would make most Floridians complain and go indoors.
There’s no complaining to be found on the soccer pitch, however, even from a group of kids who are running around out there, clad in yellow pinnies and playing competitive soccer for the sixth time ever.
The Faith Christian Academy Falcons don’t play the prettiest game on the pitch, and they would go on to lose after allowing several goals in the second half. And although the sun begins to set at the park, the players’ smiles are just as bright as they were before they first set foot in the park that afternoon.
This is exactly what head coach Beni Jombai wants to see from this team, more than anything else: an appreciation for the world’s most popular sport.
“I want them to develop a love for the game,” Jombai says. “Right now, this was our sixth game. We’re 0-6. I really don’t mind the losing record — the main thing is, they have a love for the game. If they have a love for the game, they’ll want to practice whether it’s rain, sun or snow, whatever the case is.”
For a young school, looking to establish whatever traditions it can, this is good news. Faith Christian Academy is three years old and, by Jombai’s estimation, has a total of 60 students enrolled. Jombai himself teaches 17 fourth- and fifth-graders, and 12 of them make up his entire roster.
“At the end of the day, it’s like, ‘Soccer team, get ready,’” he says.
All of them are new to this, in some way, shape or form.
“Some of them, it’s their first time ever kicking a ball,” Jombai says. “Some of them, it’s their first time ever playing on a field like this. Some of them, it’s their first time even saying, ‘Let’s try this sport out.’”
The school gave Jombai an opportunity to do what he loves, too.
Born and raised in Nigeria, where soccer is extremely popular, he latched onto the game at an early age and never looked back. It is, in his own words, all he’s known.
“I love soccer,” he says. “I played in high school. We would wake up at 5:30 in the morning for practices, and we’d be out there for hours. But, once you love the game — once you love anything — you’ll give anything up for that thing.”
At Faith Christian, he was given the opportunity to build the school’s soccer program from the ground up.
“It’s something I love to do, so I figured, ‘Why not?’ It’s definitely God-give, and it’s opening new things in my life,” Jombai says.
He knew that getting the kids to love the game, which isn’t nearly as popular in the U.S. as in Nigeria, was his best shot at creating something good. To do this, Jombai hasn’t been acting in a disciplinarian’s role, running grueling practice schedules. Instead, he’s been encouraging the kids to simply be kids.
“I try to let them be in the moment,” he says. “I tell my 9-year-olds to be 9-year-olds and my 10-year-olds to be 10-year-olds. Don’t be a 15-year-old, don’t be a 5-year-old.”
It sounds as though the approach has worked.
Take Dekari Green, a recent Plant City Times & Observer Athlete of the Week. He had never played soccer before joining the team this year and, after getting more comfortable as the team’s goalkeeper, can’t wait to learn as much as possible. Part of that desire is to help the team reach another level, hopefully improving upon the team’s current 0-8 mark in the Tampa Bay Christian Athletic League.
“I think we’re going to try hard next year,” Green says. “We’re going to try and go to the playoffs. We’ll try our hardest.”
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
ANOTHER WORLD
In the U.S., kids are used to having a wealth of options. In other countries, that’s not always the case.
Head coach Beni Jombai, who was born in Nigeria and lived there until 2002, remembers that he and his childhood friends didn’t have many other sports to play while growing up. So soccer was the most popular game, with track and field at a distant second.
“My fifth grade P.E. teacher wanted to get us into baseball,” Jombai says. “I had an arm, so he wanted me as a pitcher. But, I wanted to play something else — I wanted to be a batter. My dad bought a bat for me, and that was the only bat we had in the entire school. So, the teacher said to me, ‘You can bat, but who’s going to pitch?’”