Soccer coaches

Michael McRobert on the left.  Rhys Llewelyn on the right.

For several summers our boys enjoyed the Challenger Sports:  British Soccer Camp, hosted by the Town of Kindersley.  We also signed up each summer to billet the coaches in our home.  What a valuable experience to meet young men from Great Britain, to share our home with others and to learn about another country and its culture.

The first year we hosted Michael & Charlie.  Michael had been with Challenger Sports for about five years; he was quite mature and a great leader.  We were very impressed.  Charlie was new to the organization and his visit to Canada for the summer was the first time away from home.  Needless to say he was rather homesick.  We did our best to make him feel comfortable and welcome.  After their week with us, we received an email letter from Charlie's father, thanking us for the hospitality and letting us know the impact we had made in his son's life.  If we ever to get to Britain we have an invitation to visit Charlie and his family.

The following year we hosted Aston and Daniel.  They were more work and less mature.  It was a tough week for me, cleaning up after these guys who thought they were celebrities and that we were there for them, rather than the other way around.  I was relieved when the week was done.  Yet, the following summer, Aston was traveling through Kindersley en-route to Calgary and he stopped in for a brief visit.  It was nice to touch base with him and catch up a little.

Last summer (2012) we hosted Michael from Scotland and Rhys from Wales.  I almost didn't agree to be a host family again because the previous summer had been so challenging with the other coaches.  These guests were great and renewed my faith in the program and the opportunity it gives to host families.  We enjoyed firesides with these young men.  They interacted well with our boys and other guests that stayed with us.  Rhys very willingly helped in the kitchen and generally wanted to be around us, while Michael was a little more distant, but very readily asked for the iron and board to iron his t-shirts.  This fall we received a message from Michael that he was planning a trip to Canada for a couple of weeks and would like to visit us.  Knowing about my accident, he didn't want to impose, but he did want to visit. 

So he came for Thanksgiving weekend.  He arrived Friday afternoon while I was napping.  Josh & Austin welcomed him and entertained him with their piano pieces they were to be practicing.  He enjoyed movie night with us which featured my homemade pizza.  On Saturday we enjoyed brunch and then John and the boys took Michael to Medicine Hat to enjoy the leisure center, a dinner out, and the plan was to see a "real" Canadian hockey game.  Unfortunately the game was sold out and we hadn't been able to get tickets in advance.  For Sunday we had a relaxing day where I took a long nap and John and the boys walked around the Dam with Michael.  They came home for a big Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, jello, veggies, sweet potato fries, and pumpkin pie.  It was Michael's first Thanksgiving celebration.  We ended the evening at our friends acreage with a fireside and the boys' version of "Man Tracker" in the dark.  Even Michael and the other male adults got in on the game.  Monday morning Michael headed off to visit another host family.  We enjoyed our time with him and felt honoured that he wanted to connect with us again.  We are thankful for his friendship and wish him God's best.