HARARE, Zimbabwe --- Recent alums Chris Swieca and Jared Osborn got the opportunity to travel half-a-world away to the country of Zimbabwe and bring their water polo skills and coaching to the youth of the area. The duo took in everything the continent of Africa had to give them, and took account of the things they did and saw. Here is their story:
January 9
Jared and I are two days into our experience here in Zimbabwe and I'm sure I speak for both of us when I say, so far, it's exceeded our high expectations. The trip over here was one of the least fun things I've ever had to deal with, however. After doing the math, it took us, roughly, 42 hours door-to-door. Sitting economy for that long definitely gives two 6'3" guys a reason to work hard so we can afford first class one day.
We landed in Harare on Thursday around midday, and we were eager to get to a camp that we had been asked to help with that was hosting secondary school (high school) kids from around Zimbabwe. I got hassled a little bit by customs before we got a chance because I brought a bag of American candy for some of the kids, but eventually I made it through.
We headed straight to Hellenic Academy, which is where the camp was being held, and the drive over immediately makes you realize you aren't in Kansas anymore. The roads are full of potholes and people pretty much make their own rules on how they drive. Unemployment is somewhere above 90% so people are just hanging out on the side of the road, and all homes are surrounded by 10-foot walls and barbed wire. We haven't been outside the city, but I'm sure it won't take very far to turn into the African bush.
When we eventually got to the camp, it was really cool to see people playing and learning water polo in place so far from home. The pools are way different from those in the US. They're made out of tile and brick, no plaster, which makes them really nice looking. There also a ton of trees and bushes around that you'd only expect to see in Africa.
The skill level of the kids here is pretty similar. The level ranges from absolute beginner to national level, which is nice because it allows us to teach a really wide range of skills. Jared and I jumped in played with the kids and showed them a few things that way. It was a pretty difficult considering it was first last time in the pool since MPSF. We still got our goals though. They seem to listen to us really intently because of our "foreign accents". Not because they don't understand us, Lovre, and Pablo, but because it's different and interesting.
Jared and I then went to our respective host homes to eat, rest, and learn the rules of rugby and cricket. Both the Barnes and Sharwood families have been incredibly welcoming, generous, and helpful letting us stay in their homes and getting us settled into Zimbabwe. They got us involved in this charity mud run, which was awesome because it was another chance for us to interact with players and coaches from around the area, not to mention the run itself was a blast.
The parents also decided to have a Bry, which is their word for barbecue, to welcome the new American coaches. The food was fantastic and there was a bunch of it. They made us refill our plates until we thought we would definitely burst. It was a ton of fun hanging out and getting to know everyone in another non-athletic environment. This water polo community is a close and tight-knit as I've ever seen, but they've welcomed us with open arms and have already asked when we're coming back to visit them in the future.
Tomorrow, we head to Marondera, which is about an hour outside of Harare and is where Peterhouse is located. There's another Bry, specifically for staff and faculty to catch up and meet new members, i.e. the Americans. Then the students all move back into the school on Monday. Tuesday is when instruction begins and we meet the boys and girls we'll be coaching for the next few months. We still don't quite know what our duties are or who we'll be coaching, but we're excited to teach a new generation of polo players regardless.
I'll try to write entries as often as possible, but who knows how busy we'll be. We'll keep everyone updated on the results and progress of the Peterhouse boys and girls, and any other adventures Jared and I experience along the way.
January 13
So it's Wednesday night and Jared and I have just finished our first full day of coaching. We're unwinding the same way the rest of the faculty unwinds after a long day, in the school pub. Yes, this place has its own pub. I wish my high school had a pub.
Anyway, the day started at 4:30 a.m. with an hour long conditioning work out for the boys. Their schedule is jam packed with things to do. They have roll calls twice a day, dorm inspections, outfit inspections, classes, and numerous sports, so our practice times are very structured. We also have a few hours of afternoon practice with the various teams starting at 1:30 p.m. We've been working out, reading, and doing other productive things in between to keep us busy. The wifi isn't very good, so we have to stay off our phones/laptops. It's probably a good thing.
When it comes to the boys and their play, there's a lot to look forward to. They are all decently fit, some have a ton of skill, and the guys all want to win. What more could a coach want? Maybe a pool where we don't have to worry about players standing on the bottom. Peterhouse doesn't have that.
What Peterhouse does have, is about 500 boys that always tip their hat and say "Good day sir" when you walk by. It's actually really cool to see that, and be called sir. The faculty are all very nice and welcoming as well. When we initially met them at the faculty bry, we thought there was absolutely no way we would be able to remember them all, but it's getting easier the longer we stay here.
The school also has 2 game parks, or wildlife preserves, that faculty members can visit as they please. We went to one named Gosho Game park with Chris Davison and his family the night we arrived. Chris was in charge of water polo before Jared and I arrived and is taking care of us here. We took our car into the park and rode a number of trails looking for the different types of animals in the park. We saw a bunch of different animals with strange names that I can't remember. At one point we saw a giraffe a ways off through some trees, and we complained out not being able to see, Chris simply jumped out of the car and started walking towards it. Apparently that's allowed, and we got within 20 yards of the thing before it ran off.
The place we're staying at is about as basic as you can get. One bedroom, a sitting room, and a bathroom. It's basically just walls and a roof. They supplied us with beds, so I guess that's something to be happy about. It's also really close to the dining hall and the pool so it's fine for the time we're here.
When we have some free time on the weekends, we want to try and head back, or try another park to see what other wildlife Africa has to offer. This weekend though, we have our first games. We have our u15s (13/14s) on Friday and our u17s (15/16s), and open division (17 and up) on Saturday. It should be interesting to see the level of competition and how the game is officiated on the other side of the world. It should also be interesting to see if Coach Chris and Coach Jared can get their first career win. Wish us luck!
January 17
We've just finished our first weekend of games, and overall, it was a really good weekend. We started on Friday with our u14s and u15s. They had one loss, one win, and two draws. It didn't really matter though because they were just excited to be out there and playing, which made it really fun to coach.
We stayed in town on Friday night with one of the boy's family. As nice as the school is, it's really nice to get out of there for a couple nights after a long week. Plus it saves us the commute for the next morning.
Saturday is the day when the u17s and the First Team play. The first team is like Varsity back in the states. They had 2 games which we split. We beat St. George's College 6-2 and lost to St. John's 8-1. The team was really good about doing the things that we worked on all week in practice, and a couple of the guys really stepped up their play in ways we weren't expecting.
The boys were really jazzed about the win because it was the first time that this group of boys had beaten this team, and from what we've gathered, it may have been the first time some of these boys had even won a game. The only people more excited than the boys were the parents who then preceded to buy Jared and I drinks at the bar they have on the pool deck.
Afterwards, we had a birthday party for Chris Sheppard, who is the head of Zimbabwe water polo. It was another opportunity to meet with more people from the Zim water polo community. Everyone seems to be genuinely interested in what we're doing here and happy that we're helping a team that has needed some guidance. The most common question we get is "How the hell did you end up in Zimbabwe?" And our answer is always, "Greg Enloe." To which everyone always responds, "You mean Thor." Yeah, Thor. So thanks Enloe for helping us get out here.
Next weekend we're heading 10 hours south to Bulawayo for a national tournament. We're traveling by bus to it should be pretty tight. We just keep saying it's going to be a really good way to see the country. We'll see if that makes the crowded bus with 60 high school boys any better. I doubt it, but I'll let you know.
January 24
It's been a week since my last journal. We've gotten into a groove here and developed a routine so we've become pretty busy. Not to mention the wifi here is quite bad which makes it difficult to get things sent.
Anyway, there's a ton of things that have happened. After last weekend, the boys were eager to get back in the pool to train after the success of their first games. They don't train water polo year round so we've been spending time getting their fitness up. There's also a lot of basic water polo moves that these boys haven't been taught, so once they get those down, their game should improve greatly, and they can start learning more water polo strategy.
Although we've settled in nicely, something happens almost every day that make Jared and I look at each other and say, "Dude. We're in freaking Africa". The other day, we were walking home from practice and weren't really paying too much attention to the area around us. We got about 30 feet from our front door when we noticed a monkey hanging out eating whatever monkeys like to eat. I couldn't help but laugh at the fact that a wild monkey was at our front door which scared it away.
The kids on the team have also warmed up to us more than when we first got here. I think the younger kids on the team were initially more intimidated of us than the older kids, but by the end of our 10-hour bus ride to Bulawayo, this was not the case. We left at 5 in the morning so we slept as well as we possibly could in a small Japanese-made bus, but the next 5 hours were full of incredibly important questions from our u15s. Questions like "Do you have McDonalds in the US", or "Have you ever met Chris Brown?", and even "Do you live in Hollywood?" I think our answers were all pretty disappointing.
The bus ride itself was also a good reminder of how different Africa is than the U.S. Over the course of the ride, we were stopped at least 10 times by police to see if there was anything they could fine us for. Fortunately, the school bus had everything in order so none of the stops took too long. There were also numerous stops for cattle relaxing on the highway, food, and restrooms because the boys were drinking Cokes the entire time. Thankfully we didn't have to ride back. We caught a flight from the ever-reliable airline, Zimbabwe Air.
Bulawayo was more like the Africa you see on the Discovery Channel. While Harare and Marondera are green, wet, and wooded, Bulawayo is brown, dry, and plain. It reminds me of the area out in Indio, but there aren't lions, elephants, or black mambas in Indio.
The games were at Falcon College, and they're considered one of the top teams in the country. It's called a college, but it's really a high school. The campus was similar to Peterhouse in that it was much older and impressive than anything in the US, but, again, it was much more of what you'd expect from Africa. The pool was much nicer, which is why they can host a national tournament.
The Peterhouse first team had disappointing bracket results. They came last in their bracket losing to Christian Brothers College and St. John's again. St. John's ended up winning the tournament, but still gave us a pretty disheartening beat down. However, it gave the boys a chance to pick themselves up off the mat and fight for their last W. They pulled out a 7-6 victory against St. George's for 5th which was a good way to end the weekend. We still have a ton of work to do.
Our u15 boys on the other hand came in 2nd in their bracket to the surprise of most people at the tourney. Their excitement and enthusiasm for each other and the game made it really fun for us to coach. They ended up getting 4th, but that didn't really matter to them because they just enjoyed being there.
Now that we're coaching, it's funny how many things make more sense than when we were players. Almost every situation calls for something that you've heard one of your coaches say a hundred times. It's like when you start to sound like your parents and you think "Oh god, I did not just say that." Thanks a lot, Hunt.
The highlight of the weekend came in the championship game between Falcon and St. John's. The game was close for the first half, and wasn't overly exciting in the second, but the environment was unlike anything I've ever seen. Especially at a high school event. The stands and deck were completely packed, and the students in attendance for each side were doing soccer style chants and cheers the entire time. They literally never stopped. It made me want to jump in and play.
After the games on Friday and Saturday, most of the coaches hung around on the pool deck. Story is the Zimbabwe coaches got too rowdy a few years ago at this tournament, so now they're banned from all Bulawayo bars. Their solution is to set up their own bar on the pool deck and throw down some sleeping bags. We stayed in a lodge a few minutes away. When we were trying to sleep, we could hear the lions roaring and doing their lion thing out in the night. Dude, we're in freaking Africa.
Now we just have to buckle down and keep trying to teach these boys some water polo. We have more games this weekend and everyone is important because we aren't here for that long. At the moment though, our house is being invaded by more monkeys, so I think I'll join Jared in taking pictures and feeding them grapes. I'll try to write the next journal in less than a week. Shouldn't be a problem as long as these monkeys don't carry me away.
January 30
This last week has been very similar to the other weeks we've spent here in Zimbabwe. We have morning workouts and afternoon workouts every day, and on the weekend we head into town for games.
The interesting thing about this week was that we had to deal with some pretty serious rain storms. It's supposed to be the rainy season here, but it's been pretty light and the country is experiencing a drought so the rain was welcomed by everyone.
It's crazy how quickly the weather can turn from warm and sunny to the most serious downpour I've ever seen. It is literally just like standing in a shower. The amount of water that comes down is seriously impressive, but before you know it, the sun will come out and the water will dry up.
Unfortunately, the weather left us without power for about 3 days. It's not that big of a deal because we don't have much in our place to be plugged in and there's a huge generator that powers the school and some of the more important faculty's homes.
On Friday, we made a trip out to the Imire Game Park which is about an hour from Peterhouse. We got VIP treatment because some of the people we've met are friends with the owners. Not quite sure what that meant, but that's what they were saying.
The park was over 2,500 acres and had all the cool animals you expect to see in Africa. Imire specializes in rhino, of which they have 7. They have 4 black and 3 white, and each rhino has its own 24-hour armed guard walking with it in order to protect them from poachers. It's sad that they have to do that, but it's necessary and I'd imagine it works pretty well.
We also saw antelope, giraffe, hyenas, lions, buffalo, crocodiles, elephants, and more that I'm forgetting. We were able to drive or walk up as close as we wanted, or the animals wanted, and really get a good look at everything. I was really impressed by elephants. Seeing them at the zoo does not even come close to seeing them in the wild. They were so damn big and walked right up to the car looking for treats.
We also saw a crocodile that was at least 16 feet long. Just looking at that thing made me uncomfortable. It's safe to say I won't be going for any swims in the local lakes or rivers. There was a fence between the crocodile and us, but it was old, rusty, and had holes everywhere. It basically wouldn't do anything if the croc decided it wanted to leave.
After Imire, we headed into Harare for the young kids games. The u14s won their game 4-2 and the u15s won 11-1. Both groups are a good mix of talent and enthusiasm which will surely lead to future success. And, as always, they were a blast to coach.
Saturday we had the first team games. They had 1 against St. John's, again, and another school much closer to their skill level. They played very well against St. John's and only lost 5-9, which was amazing considering the result last weekend. They were all happy about their effort, but still disappointed at losing.
The next game against Hellenic Academy was a 5-8 loss. It's a game they could have won, but they didn't come out with the intensity a team needs if they want to win a game. The team just doesn't know what it takes to win and they don't know how to approach games that they can do well in. That's been the biggest issue we've come across so far.
After all the high school games were done, they asked if the coaches would jump in to play St. Johns to give them a close game. Jared and I spent the first half in our postgame talk with Peterhouse, and when we jumped in the coaches were down 4-0. The coaches lost 9-6 with Jared or I accounting for 5 of our goals. 3 months retired and we still have a few good moves left. I'm not making excuses, but if we'd have played the whole game, the coaches would have won.
This next week will be our last at Peterhouse because water polo training ends after our next and last tournament. Peterhouse has the best rugby team in the country and takes that very seriously so once that season starts, all other sports take a backseat. We'll head back to Harare then and help train the schools that continue their polo.
Hopefully we can get some good training in this week and sneak out some wins before the games are all finished, but we'll see. Building a good team is a process and the results you want may not come immediately, but they'll come down the road if you work at it. That's what we've been trying to tell the team. Hopefully they buy in and work hard while we're back home so the next time we come out, they can win a few more games.
February 7
As we're moving toward the end of our time at Peterhouse we decided that this week that we would try and see the last few things we hadn't seen yet. With all of our down time we haven't missed much, but there were still a couple things we wanted to try.
The first thing was to check out Caldwell Park, which is the school's game park. The park can only be accessed from the school and people affiliated with the school. We had a nice run through there and saw a little of what this area of African bush looks like. We followed trails for the most part, but we made a couple of detours to explore on our own. We quickly realized how easily people can get lost in the wild and got back to the trails ASAP. The park has some animals, but we weren't able to see any.
We also had to honor an agreement we made with another guy our age at Peterhouse who coaches Cricket. His name is Shakes and he doesn't know how to swim. We offered our services and spent about an hour and a half on the pool deck listening to music, having some drinks, enjoying the sunset, and teaching Shakes to swim. He's not going to win any races anytime soon, but he's not going to drown either.
In return, he said he'd set us up in the Cricket center taking batting practice with the machines. This is the other thing we wanted to try and we'll jump in there tomorrow. Hopefully we can reach back and use our old t-ball skills to get some hits. Probably not.
We also had to renew our visas because our initial 30 days was almost up and we'd prefer to not spend any time in an African prison.
We had to drive through downtown Harare to get to the immigration office and we got to see all their important government buildings. We drove by Robert Mugabe's office and saw his car, which is the most armored car in the world. We saw the parliament building, which looked like it had been converted from and old bar. And we also got to see the Zimbabwe Reserve Bank, which, in the last week, has become incapable of paying for anything outside the country since Zimbabwe has 0 exports. Most people we've talked to aren't too excited about that.
The immigration office was really interesting because we had to walk through a shopping mall, a clothing store, and up 4 flights of narrow stairs to get to the office. There were also no signs to direct us. Once we found the place, getting an extension was as easy as asking for an extension. No questions asked. It took maybe 3 minutes. Say what you want about African politics, but their offices are efficient.
This week was our last week of training before water polo ends for the term, and the team was pretty split between wanting to coast this last bit and wanting to really work. We had to deal with a few boys missing practice, but after a couple serious talks and the boys spanking each other with their flip flops (boarding school self-discipline) we had a team ready for their last weekend.
We had a team BBQ/Braai Friday night before our games and we had lots of fun hanging out with the boys without coaching them and getting to meet all their parents. We've also gotten to the point where all the boys want to trade for our USA and UCI gear. Most of the time we're just willing to give them the shirts they want. It's less stuff for us to bring home, and they'll have something to remember their super cool American coaches by.
The games were incredibly bittersweet. We lost all 3 of our games, but in every single one the boys played hard, showed that they had improved, and gave themselves legitimate chances to win.
Jared and I both almost got red cards in our first game. Win, and we're in the top 4. Lose, and we're in the bottom. It was the 4th quarter and we were tied at 2-2. We were on defense and the ball came into set. Our guard went underneath the center and popped the ball behind the play. The center then sunk underwater, went under our guard, and pushed off the bottom to get to the ball before we could take it. Offensive, right? Wrong. He got there first and flicked the ball in for the go-ahead goal. The ref LET IT STAND! We could not believe what we saw. Just ridiculous. It's really tough to coach a team into a position where they can win and lose the chance of earning what you've worked toward and not getting it because of something like that. Life goes on, I guess.
Overall, the weekend showed everyone that Peterhouse is capable of winning games and with a little more time and coaching can be one of the best teams in Zimbabwe. I know I'm biased but we were hearing this from numerous people who are involved in Zim water polo all year long. I think that made the boys feel a little better. Would have been nice to get a win though.
Tonight, Jared and I are just waiting for the Super Bowl to start. Kickoff is at 1:30 a.m. so we're just watching rugby as a warm up. We also got the best ingredients available for nachos. There wasn't much to choose from, but I'm sure they'll taste ok. It's going to be a long night and we have to leave for Peterhouse at 5:30 a.m. Monday is our last day before we spend our last 2 weeks seeing the Zimbabwe sights.
We have a week in the Lowveld, a weekend on a tobacco farm, and a few days at Victoria Falls before we head home. We're excited to see the touristy parts of Zim and see the Africa that everyone sees in text books. I'm most excited to see the African bush, but apparently the elephants have really bad tempers where we're going, so if I don't send another journal, you'll all know how we went out. (Just kidding, Mom). Elephants haven't killed anyone since yesterday morning. I'm sure we'll be just fine.
February 13
I don't know why it took me so long to think of this, but if there was one place in the world that I could get the furthest away from home, I would think Zimbabwe would be pretty close. Fortunately for me, there's a website that can confirm that. The city furthest away from Riverside, Calif. with more than 1,000,000 people is, in fact, Harare, Zimbabwe. The furthest away from Fresno is the capital of Zambia, which is just north of Zimbabwe.
Our final day at Peterhouse was interesting. First thing we did was sleep from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. because we were up all Sunday night watching the Super Bowl. We thought it was a decent game, but it just isn't the same without the hype and all your family and friends. I'm still glad we watched it though.
When we finally woke up, we had a couple hours to kill so we made our way to the cricket center. Andy Blignaut, who is in charge of Peterhouse cricket and was once one of the best cricketers in the world, set us up with full pads and gear. He turned down the velocity on the bowling machines, but the balls still seemed to be moving pretty fast. Especially since they bounce before you hit/block them. Our wickets got knocked down a few times, but we got the hang of it before we called it quits.
That night we had one last Braai with the team for them to say bye, get our emails, tell us they were glad we were leaving, what have you. The boys told us about their plans to come to the U.S. in the future and we told them all that they had to at least make a quick stop in Newps when they came. We also collected all the UCI/NWPF shirts we had and we handed them out to the team. Now there's about 15 guys rocking UCI gear in Africa. Our fanbase is worldwide. They also gave us rugby balls to take home in order to spread rugby popularity in the States. We'll see how well that goes.
We left the next morning for the Lowveld after cleaning up our flat. The Lowveld is southeast about 5 hours from Peterhouse, and the route took us through Mutare. Mutare is right on the border of Mozambique and is the center of the illegal diamond trade in Zimbabwe. Real blood diamond type stuff. So naturally we wanted to stop and grab lunch. It wasn't very nice, but it was interesting.
We also saw all the small villages with mud huts on the drive. Harare is incredibly developed compared to all these tiny villages. There are hardly any stores or shops open, so the people do their best to live off the land. They have some livestock, but the cows and goats roam freely for the most part. Even on the highway. However, in Berchenough, there was an enormous suspension bridge over a dry river bed. It looked out of place, but it was really cool anyway.
The place we were staying in the Lowveld was actually the home of the duPlessis family. The son, Riaan, was the goalie for Peterhouse last year before he graduated. His father, Leon, is a bush manager/guide and he was in charge of about 80,000 of the over 1,000,000 acres of this conservancy. He helps maintain healthy game levels, deals with poachers, takes people on tours, etc. He's the type of guy you want with you in the African wild. He's is also recovering from taking a 30-06 rifle straight through the ankle. One tough guy. He rescues injured animals he finds, and he was telling us about his old chimpanzee, Biddy, who used to hang out around the bar and copy everyone who would hang out. We were, unfortunately, a few years too late for that spectacle.
They took us on a quick tour where we saw more amazing African animals, but these ones were wild. It's one thing to see animals that are used to human interaction, but seeing animals that are uncomfortable with you even being around is a whole other experience entirely. Especially the elephants. I'm not sure what the exact difference was between these elephants and the elephants in Imire, but these ones were waaaaaay bigger. When you spot them, your heart drops and it actually takes your breath away.
This first tour ended on what they called "The Rock". It was a huge rock formation that you could drive the Land Rovers up and see over most of the million acres of wilderness. We met up with other guides and their families and enjoyed a few drinks and watched the sunset. It was exactly like The Lion King complete with lions roaring somewhere out in the jungle. Unfortunately, we never got to see the lions in person. That's probably a good thing.
We also saw African Painted Dogs which are some of the rarest animals in Africa. Leon, or Dupe as he's called, said we were incredibly lucky to see these things. Apparently, there's only around 2000 left which sounds like a ton, but when you think about how big Africa is, it really isn't.
We spent the rest of the week at the conservancy taking full advantage of everything there was to see and do. We met plenty more people who were all completely badass in every way possible. We also partook in a favorite pastime of catching Impala with our bare hands at night. It sounds really difficult, and it is. No one caught one, but we were told it is possible. This part of Africa is the native home of Anteaters, so we kept a sharp eye out. We didn't see any, but it must be because African Anteaters are scared of American Anteaters. After all, American Anteaters have been known to go toe-to-toe with bears, bruins, tigers, lions, and even trees from time to time. No one in the jungle wants to mess with an American Anteater, let alone two.
Our next stop was to the Stubbs family farm. It was about half way between the Lowveld and Harare. They grow tobacco and maize, and raise cattle, but specialize in tobacco. It's a huge operation of around 1,000 acres and they showed us the whole process. Growing tobacco is a very precise and time sensitive crop to grow. They have fields at every stage in the process from the seed to the package 18 months later. At this point, Jared and I could probably start our own tobacco farm back home.
The rest of the time we spent riding dirt bikes and throwing the rugby ball around. We rode some trails that went through proper African villages. You ride for about 20 minutes and randomly pop up in some village with 7 mud huts and children that have seen maybe 10 white people their whole lives. Quite interesting to see this lifestyle with my own eyes. Our one big ride ended at the highest point in about an 80-mile radius. The view was awesome, particularly since there were no real buildings or highways to be seen. Not many places you can do that in California.
We're back in Harare now and are getting ready for our trip to Victoria Falls. I'm not entirely sure what's planned for us, but if the last couple weeks are any indication, we should be in store for a great time. After that, we're on our way home to Mexican food, driving on the right side of the road, and, of course, Malarkys. Our friends and families as well, I suppose. If I find a few minutes to write one last journal before we head home, I will. Otherwise, you can all just ask me about it when we're stateside.
