Jomarie also visited another camp today where the young participants spent the last four days playing sports, making art and making friends at Summer Bond Camp which is hosted every year in the city. We spoke with the camp's developer who told us more. Jomarie Lanza reports.
He's played in countries like Turkey, Malta and the USA for most of his career and spent 10 years playing on Belize's National team now this football athlete along with his family and friends are giving back to the community by hosting a football camp for kids in Belize. They started off the event this morning by giving away jerseys to the kids. Nana-Yaw Mensah told us why he felt the need to organise this initiative for them.
Nana-Yaw Mensah, Football Player:
"So I felt its time to give back to the youth. We are going to host a little clinic to let the kids have fun and enjoy a little give back. You know let the kids feel us."
"We are going to run son drill see where they are with their technical abilities and their dribbling skills and see what skills they have and at the end we will choose who we think are the best players MVP best defender, best goalkeeper and we have some gifts for the kids."
"It has always been a dream of mine to give back to the youth anywhere and I think to start here in Belize City is the best thing to do."
Having invested more than a decade of his life playing football Mensah says he hopes the sport will have an impact on their life as much as it has for him.
Nana-Yaw Mensah, Football Player:
"The main goal is to inspire the youth and how we inspire is by doing things like this and football has done a lot for my life it has been my life since I was three years old it has been a dream of mine to play on the international stage play across Europe and ive done that but it takes a lot of hard work and we need to show the youth that if they want to make it they can but it takes a lot of hard work and dedication."
We also spoke to some of the football fanatics who wasted no time to start playing on the pitch. We asked them what they love the most about the sport.
Amarion Martinez, Grace Primary student:
"I like football because my dream is to be a football player."
"who is your favourite team"
"Al-Nassr"
"And your favourite player?"
"Cristiano Ronaldo."
Jerrod, Saint Martins Student:
"Football is good, it is fun and I just love football, when I was young I saw my uncle going to play football and I always wanted to play football so I started to play football."
"Who is your favourite player player and team"
"Cristian Ronaldo,"
"My favourite team is Al-Nassr."
Brighton Brown, St John Vianney Student:
"Football is my sport from when I was small I just love seeing people play getting opportunities getting goals and celebrate/."
"My favourite team Samson Academy for Belize but from states, Real Madrid and my favourite player is Mbappe."
It's their largest group of the summer, since they first started hosting the camp in Belize. Summer Bond's 5 day camp saw a turn out of 150 children this year, and their developer spoke with us this afternoon about the dynamics of the camp, what they teach, and what the children will learn.
Dr. Carolyn Gentle Genitty, Developer, Summer Bond Camp:
"We started it because we knew here was a gap in Belize there are a lot of programs around the world that cover sports and skill but not life skills executive function skills how to make decisions how to engage and how to start friendships all of that comes from bonding and bonding is then based on a 15 year research project that I did, and that 15 year research project is understanding how social bonding can be made or done or completed so there is 4 key areas, attachment, commitment and involvement and belief so everything that we have done has been in 4 addressing every one of those areas."
The kids engage in an array of activities from art to education and sports, all with a service and gratitude approach. And while it may seem like a lot of kids to handle, the developer says they have enough volunteers to cater to each child.
Dr. Carolyn Gentle Genitty, Developer, Summer Bond Camp:
"When they come the first time they are just nervous and worried about who is here and by the second day they are building friends by the third day you see them giving hugs, high five connecting with each other and checking in on each other making sure no one is taking advantage of the other just a whole bunch of great opportunities so for me the fact I get to change lives just by this camp one day at a time is amazing."
"Throughout the week they are doing individual activities and on Friday its team building so everything is team building so think of your old days of sports day and they would do tug of war, lime and spoon and all these different activities that is what they get to do. They also get back packs they go home with backpacks with supplies they get water bottles as well to take home they have gotten bags already to carry their goodies all week. We have. A scrimmage for table tennis, basketball and softball then they have rewards. HRCU has given us 5, 6 $50 certificates that they can save because the focus is on saving. As we mentioned Belize bank is supporting today and they have been emphasising that good decision making begins with savings."
The final camp day is tomorrow and so we asked the kids what they loved the most about their Summer Bond adventure at camp.
Anderson Flores, Queens Square Anglican School:
"So my favourite thing about the camp is the sports and the speakers. We had a lot of speakers this morning. We had a veterinarian, and a teacher came and spoke to us about their jobs and that is my favorite thing about the camp."
Zayden Cadle, Calvary Temple Student:
"I love the sports the classes to meet new friends having fun, the food and I love how they put this camp here for us to stay because if they didnt put this camp here we would be out there doing crazy stuff and something could happen and that's why I love this camp so much."
Karl Vasquez, Student:
"The thing I love about this camp is the people are nice they do lots of fun activities, we do sports art, education, and service and gratitude."
