The Fish are Still Out of the Water

We are now complete with our second week of practice. But I am uncertain what sport we are practicing. I am trying to coach the athletes in swimming and water polo. Both of these sports require water but there has not been any in the pool. We are now reaching the limits of how I can train the athletes on dry land.

Colonel Safi has repeatedly reaffirmed that the pipe is being fixed. He said that the contracting office is working the issue. Progress was made one day and the pool was actually being filled with water. To my dismay, the pipe just wanted to tease me and only fill it a few feet high before it broke again.

Frustrated, I went to the contacting office to see what I could do to help fix the pool. I explained the situation and how important it was to fill the pool with water to a very well dressed man who indicated he could help. After listening to my plight, he told me that the pipe to the pool was fine and it was not a contracting problem, it was the problem of whoever built the pool. There was no contract for the pool and therefore it could not be worked on. Very frustrated but not yet defeated, I asked if there was anyone else I could speak with at a higher level. He hesitatingly said yes and brought me to his boss’ office. Come to find out, the nicely dressed man was just a laborer who was on his way to a wedding party.

I explained to manager about our situation with the pool and how I needed his expert assistance. He told me the same story and said that he has already done more than he was supposed to and that his hands were tied. The issue was with the connection from their pipe to the pipe (Which was really a rubber hose) for the pool. Not content with his answer, I asked him what the solution would be to get it fixed. The gentleman in a very nice tone told me that the pipe would be fixed in a few weeks at the earliest.

Very frustrated, I asked him why it would take a few weeks. The nice gentleman could not provide me an answer. With this in hand, I spent the next 10 minutes convincing him to fix the pipe as a personal favor to me (Even though he had only known me for about 20 minutes of his life). He agreed and said that he will be very happy once the pool is filled with water.

Happy with his answer but worried about the pool actually being filled with water, I walked back to work. I look forward to Saturday’s practice, which will hopefully be in the pool.

Second Day of Practice

I was disappointed again today as I arrived and there was still no water in the pool. With my mind looking to the positive, I felt I could fit in a day’s worth of dryland instruction about the basics of the game after the team completed their stretching and dryland exercises. As athletes started arriving, I felt a little relieved that we would finally be able to begin actual practices vice trying to make it happen. Two, three, and then a fourth athlete arrived but no more. I asked the athletes that arrived so far where the other athletes were. Their response was that the soldiers were still at work or off of work.

What does that mean exactly? Are they still at work or off of work? With difficulty understanding my own translation of what I think they were telling me, it meant that the other soldiers were still working or they were too tired to come to practice. Maybe they had headaches, did not feel well, or were taking naps.

One of the athletes then received a call on his radio telling him that he had to return to his unit. He apologized, told me that he would return as quickly as he could, and quickly left.

Disappointed by this news, I walked to Colonel Safi’s office to find out what was going on. Colonel Safi asked me to sit and have chai with him. I respectfully declined and told him that I was trying to run practice. Excited by my response, he asked how practice was proceeding. I responded by telling him that it was not as only three soldiers came to practice.

Enraged, Colonel Safi called in another colonel and a captain, yelled at them, and quickly dismissed them. Colonel Safi told me not to worry about it and the soldiers would be there shortly. Colonel Safi, ignoring my request to not drink chai with him, had a soldier bring me tea and told me to stay until the soldiers were ready. I reluctantly agreed, not because I did not want to have tea with him but because I was leaving work to come coach and not hang out and drink tea. However, this is the way things have been done in Afghanistan for hundreds, if not thousands of years, who am I to disregard history?

Knowing that I was concerned about soldiers not arriving in time, Colonel Safi assured me that this would not happen again and reminded me that organized sports is a new concept for them. It will take time for them to understand promptness and being prepared. He said that the soldiers have a hard enough time showing up for where they need to be for work. These concepts are the very thing I want to teach the athletes on the team. I am glad that he understands this and wants to support what we are trying to accomplish.

After Colonel Safi and I finished our chai, I left his office and returned to the pool where a captain was getting all of the soldiers into formation. Once they were ready, I explained to the captain that I wanted all of the soldiers on the deck next to the pool and the most responsible soldier to stand next to me in front of the athletes. He got the soldiers to where I instructed him to and then he came to stand next to me. I then told him to lead the team in stretching by watching what I do. He looked at me perplexed after my communication to him using Farsi and hand signals.

As I walked behind all of the other soldiers, so the captain could lead the stretching, all of the soldiers turned around to look at me. After a few times of telling the soldiers to turn around, they finally were looking at the captain and not at me. I started the first stretch, which was just slowly spinning one of my arms in a forward circular motion. The captain then told all of the soldiers to look at me to see the stretch. I then quickly told the athletes to turn around in Farsi and they did so in confusion. The athletes starting spinning their arms in the same motion. I then switched direction, upon seeing this the captain directed everyone to turn around and watch me. Seeing this, I quickly stopped my arm motion and told the soldiers to look at the captain. I then reiterated to the captain that I would show him the stretch, he would copy me, and all of the soldiers would follow his direction.

The captain followed my direction but I still think he was confused. When I switched arms and direction, he then followed my lead but did not tell the soldiers anything. The other athletes confused, they turned and looked at what I was doing. Once I turned the soldiers around again, I think the captain finally understood what I was trying to communicate to him. He quickly stopped following my lead, explained to the soldiers that they will only watch him, and then resumed the stretching. With the exception of a few minor hiccups, the stretching went well.

The stretching did take a long time, about thirty minutes, but I was satisfied with their performance. By the time we were done with our stretches, it was already 5:00 pm. It was time for me to go back to work. Reading this, some might say that this was not a successful practice. However, I feel that we were successful as we went through our first portion of practice and the athletes know what to expect. Hopefully, everyone will show up on time tomorrow ready to practice. Maybe there will even be water in the pool!

A Coach Leaves, Big Demands, and Delays

Steve Scott left today. He was so involved in helping develop the first ever water polo team in Afghanistan, the 201st Corps Swim and Water Polo Team. I wish that he was able to stay until the completion of the season but I am so happy that he is going home to be with his family. I am sure that Steve realizes that he made an impact to the people of Afghanistan both as a mentor to the Pol-e-Charki Base Commander and the staff but also to the athletes. What I do not think Steve realizes is how much he will be missed and the extent of his contact has made. He was not like any other mentor from America or the western world. Normally, many of the mentors do a good job for the Afghan soldiers and then move on when their rotation is over. I will probably be one of those mentors as well. I will make positive changes and then leave where a new mentor will then do the same. However, Steve helped the Afghan people dream and showed them opportunities they would have never thought of. Through the swim and water polo team, he helped create heroes on the Pol-e-Charki Base and hopefully they will someday become heroes for their country. Just look at the photo with Steve Scott and Mohammad Amin. Pictures say a thousand words. It is a sad day…

Rohullah called and told us that we cannot have national team tryouts next week as we cannot secure a pool. All of the pools in the Kabul area are private pools and the owners do not want to close off the pool to its paying patrons. So, to compensate the owners for the pool time, the owners would like us to pay $500 per day, even though the pool would only be used for two hours each day. That is $250 per hour!!! Why so much? It is because it was mentioned to the pool owners that an American was involved. I guess they think that all Americans have money growing on trees back home (We only wish) or they think the US Government is going to pay for it. Either way, I have never paid more than $100 for pool time, even at the nicest facilities in the United States and I do not even have that kind of money.

So now our national team tryout is delayed. If we do not have the national team tryouts by the end of the month, we will have to wait until next year as Ramadan starts at the beginning of September this year and it will be too cold to swim after that. Rohullah and I are back at square one and need to find a pool. The Base Commander will not go for us using the base pool, especially since civilians would have to come aboard the base, Steve Scott is gone so he cannot help me convince the Commander, and Rohullah says that people would not travel out here for a national team tryout anyway. What are we to do?

Pictures, Strategic Plans, and Afghanistan National Olympic Committee VII

Rohullah called Reshad a few days ago and told him that they wanted to move forward with the water polo program. Rohullah liked everything I had to say and thinks that my heart is true. Rohullah, Reshad, and I met again. I brought the strategic plan that I created, with the help of my peer group back in the United States, and gave it to Rohullah for his review. The strategic plan took a few days and is something that I never written before. It took a lot of thought of what I thought a national program should entail, being realistic, and a lot of rewriting. It outlined the plans for a national water polo program in Afghanistan. Of course, it is in English, which he does not know how to read, nor is any of the official languages of Afghanistan. The plan that Rohullah set is that we will have national team tryouts in ten days from now. He is going to try to coordinate the pool location and time, spread the word about the tryouts, and start getting everything together to start the program based on my strategic plan. We will see how it all comes together. National team tryouts are only in ten days!

Steve Scott also took photos of our team at practice today. The photos came out great and shows so many aspects of the team. He took photos of the team in and out of the water. The shirts that you see Scott and I wearing and the caps the team are wearing are from Bahram Hojreh, of Los Alamitos Water Polo. He was nice enough to donate. I am sure that Bahram will like to see photos of a team wearing his gear on the other side of the planet. Steve will be leaving soon to go back to the US to be with his family and a new duty station. He will be sorely missed and was a great supporter and was instrumental in starting the 201st Corps Swim and Water Polo Team. Without Steve, I do not think that the Pol-e-Charki Base Commander would have ever allowed me to use his facility, and only for swimming and water polo at that. I know that I am charming and all but I could not have done it without him.

Afghanistan National Olympic Committee VI

After almost three weeks of not hearing anything, the Swim Chair called us and asked if Reshad and I could come down to his office to meet again. Today's meeting went well. I had some documents for him to look at, just basics about the game and a general plan of what I would like to see for the program. We were just talking generalizations at this point.

It was still a very one sided conversation. Rohullah was very quiet most of the time. He was very attentive and smiled alot. I do not know if he was smiling because my ideas are so farfetched or of genuine interest. He would ask an occasional question then listen for a while before asking another. We spent alot of time together, even though it was quite hot in his office.

As we were about to leave, Rohullah started speaking at lengths to Reshad. They were both speaking very quickly to each other. It seemed that Rohullah would ask Reshad a series of questions then Reshad would ask an occasional question. Both Rohullah and Reshad both saw that I was hoping to get a glimpse of what was being said. While Rohullah was speaking with him, Reshad quickly told me that we would talk about what they were discussing in the car after we left. I felt left out of my own discussion but I trusted Reshad to take care of things in my best interest.

Once Reshad and Rohullah completed their discussion, Rohullah thanked us for coming and we were on our way back to Pol-e-Charki. Once we exited the gate, Reshad started telling me what transpired. Reshad spent about ten minutes rehashing the discussion. Their discussion boiled down to my heart. Was I true in what I was proposing and would I follow through? I was proposing what they perceived as the almost impossible and Rohullah wanted to make sure that the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee and the Afghanistan National Swimming Federation were not set up for failure by falling for dreams that a Westerner threw at them and then never follows on.

Reshad also told me that they were supposed to speak on the phone tonight. I await to hear the results.

The Silence is Deafening

After a week of sending emails and receiving no replies from the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee, I finally received a response. Rohullah, the Swim Chair at the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee replied to the email I sent yesterday. All of my emotion was building, especially when I saw the email pop into my inbox. I was so excited when it came in. I was hoping for something positive like “yes, let’s move forward with this” or “yes, we are excited about the possibilities.” The response I received was a one liner that said he will contact me soon. How anticlimactic. I guess I will just have to be patient and wait for a response. After all, Rohullah does not speak or write any English. He probably needs some time for someone to translate what he would like to say?

Afghanistan National Olympic Committee V

Reshad and I headed back down to Kabul, this time to meet with the Swim Chair at the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee.

I received a phone call from him yesterday, asking if we could meet. From my phone conversation with him, I believe that he does not speak any English. Luckily, Reshad was working late with me when the swim chair, Rohullah, called and Reshad found out when we would meet.

Rohullah’s office is down the road from the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee’s building. It is across the football (soccer) field, which was comprised primarily of dirt and no grass, in a small building behind a brick fence and aluminum/metal gate. The building he works in is used for community development.

When we arrived, it was very hot outside. There was no air conditioning in the dark office that someone sat us in. All of the curtains and windows were closed and there was one fan running. It was a little bit cooler in the office than it was outside, so it was a plus. While we were waiting for the swim chair, we were asked if we wanted anything to drink. We both still had some water, so we respectfully declined.

About 20 minutes after arriving, Rohullah arrived in the office with two other men. I do not know what the other men’s function in our meeting was but they were very attentive during the discussion. Once we introduced ourselves, Rohullah’s assistant brought us some tea. She was very quick and silent when she brought the tea but when she was putting the tea in front of me, she was asking me if I wanted something. I politely said no thank you, in Dari, but I do not know what I said no to.

Rohullah, and the other two gentlemen, were very interested in what I had to say. I gave them each copies of the presentations and went through each page with them. Rohullah did not share much with us during this meeting. I do not think it was because he did not speak any English. He just listened and asked an occasional question. I think he was very leery about me, an American who just shows up out of the blue. Another Westerner, full of promises to help their program. Case and point, he asked me “Are you going to be like every other Westerner who comes to us promising the world and then not doing anything?” I just responded by telling him that I had an idea and that I just wanted to help.

After Rohullah and his partners listened for a long time, he told me “The Olympic Committee gives us (The swimming federation) no money. What can you give us?” I can see what I am trying to get myself into. I also think that they think that I have alot of money.

At that point I told Reshad to politely tell Rohullah and his comrades that we had to go. We were there for a long time and needed to head back. We said goodbye to one another and we all walked out to Reshad’s vehicle together. As we got in the vehicle, I had a feeling that Rohullah would not be working with us on our idea.

It was very quiet during the drive back to Pol-e-Charki. I was processing all of the information from the meeting. I was dissecting the discussion word by word, occasionally asking Reshad what his thoughts were on the whole discussion. Reshad thought that it went well and that I was just overanalyzing it.

I don’t think that I will get another call from Rohullah…Only time will tell.

Afghanistan National Olympic Committee IV

This morning I received a call from the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee asking if I could come today to meet with them. Even though our prior attempt to meet with them did not work out, they were certain that we would meet.

Reshad and I drove in his car to Kabul again to meet with the President of the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee. There was a lot of traffic and it took about 90 minutes to get there. The building that holds the Olympic Committee is quite old and rundown. Once we arrived, it took us a while to find the person we were supposed to meet. Along the way, Reshad ran into one of his lifelong friends that actually worked at the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee. He finally took us to where we needed to go.

While in the waiting area, which really was an office with two desks, with two very old computers, and some extra chairs. The employees in that office asked us why we were waiting for the president. We told them that we wanted to start a national water polo program in Afghanistan. The employees started giggling and laughing for a few moments. They then asked us if we were serious. Our reply was “yes.” Once they realized we were serious, they proceeded to tell me, through Reshad translating, that it would never work.

A few minutes later, someone in the president’s office popped their head through the door and motioned for us to come in. When we entered, the office was full. There were two gentlemen standing. There were a few couches and chairs that were full. The president was speaking with two gentlemen on one of the couches. It was a pretty heated debate, ending with the two gentlemen standing up and leaving, looking defeated on their way out. We were then pushed to sit on the couch.

We were then offered some chai (tea) from the president’s assistant. Reshad and I of course accepted, as it would be considered rude not to. The assistant poured out the cups that were on the table from the previous gusts, poured a tiny bit of tea into them, swirled the cups, poured the dirty tea from there, and then poured our chai into them.

Once the president finished with the next group, he turned to us to listen to what we had to say. I handed him a short presentation on paper and started speaking. As I paused to let Reshad translate, the President started yelling at the people who just walked in and sat down. I then realized that I needed to cut to the chase. I then told Reshad to just tell the president that we wanted to help them develop a national swim and water polo program. He sat for a few seconds, flipped through the presentation, then proceeded to tell me that they have had many Americans and Westerners who have promised the world and have not done anything for the Olympic Committee. He then told us that they already had a national swimming program, which just started at the end of last summer. He finished by saying that he did not have any more time to speak with us.

As we were walking out, the president said that he would have the swim chair contact us and that we should speak with him directly with what we wanted to do and that the swim chair would update him with any progress.

As Reshad and I walked out, I was thinking about the hour that just transpired. The 55 minutes of waiting and listening, followed by the three minutes of our “discussion”, and the final two minutes of walking out of the building. Even though we were not of interest to the President of the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee and definitely not taken seriously, I was determined to follow through with this.