When I first came to this small town where I live now, I was surprised to find out that the children here didn’t know how to play SOCCER at all. I came from Thailand and almost every kid there played soccer. When the  World Cup Soccer tournament started, Thai people dropped what they were doing. They watched all the matches. All over the world, people watched the most  popular sport SOCCER, but not here in this small town, where football is the dominant sport and baseball is second. So I decided to do something about this matter. I got together with the local YMCA and a nice gentleman ( ex-professional Baltimore Colt player ) to organize a soccer league. We set up two days for a basic soccer clinic. I coached both 100 volunteer adults and 500 children how to play soccer, coaching and refereeing. It was a big challenge for me at that time because they didn’t know anything about soccer and it was such a very large crowd. I had to use a bull horn to instruct them. The clinic went smoothly and so did the first season of soccer. The children had a lot of fun and their parents were cheering for their kids. They were so proud of their boys and girls.

A few years later, we made a big change from a fun league to a competitive league. We tried to give our children  a chance to advance their skills and to know where they stand in comparison to children in other cities. One of the teams was an 8 yr. old division that my son played on. They had a first scrimmage of the season. They lost 13 to 1. The coach was yelling at them and told them that they were no good. The kids felt so sad and did not enjoy playing the game. They lost their self esteem. I went to talk to their coach and let them know that it was not a proper way to educate the children. They need some guidance and positive encouragement. They asked me if I knew anything about soccer. I told them yes. They wanted me to take over the team.  From that moment on, I coached that team and completely turned the team around. Two years later at the age of 10, the team entered a competitive tournament in the town bigger than ours by about 3 times. We won first place and a big championship cup. We  not only won the championship, but we won every single game by a shut out. Two years later at the age of 12, we repeated it again. We won the tournament in the city that  was ten times bigger than ours. We won every game by a shut out, and no one scored a single goal on us. The children did very well and their parents were so proud of them. I was very happy that the kids’ parents put a great trust in me and gave me an opportunity to educate them.

The reason for our success was hard work, respect, discipline and focus. I taught them to respect their parents and teammates. For their parents, I wanted them to say yes m’am or no sir and  to always show respect to the elderly. I taught them to show their love by action such as by doing some house chores without being asked. If you saw your dad doing yard work, don’t just  ask him, “May I help you dad?” You need to go in there and help him or take over the yard work. That’s what I call showing your love and respect. They need to show their love while they are still alive.  I taught them to work hard by jogging a few miles a day and to keep increasing the mileage. They did very well by disciplining themselves and practiced hard all the time. I taught them to stay focused on whatever they were doing, no matter if it was on the field or off the field. That’s how they were so successful on the soccer field. Some of them got good scholarships, and some of them played professional soccer and football. They are all enjoying good lives and have good families now. They told me that they will teach their children the way I taught them. They are paying it forward.

When I was growing up, my Mama’ taught me not to waste anything including food.  My parents always encouraged us to eat a lot, but do not waste the food.  Rice was one of them, if we were still hungry, do get a  second serving but just get only what you can finish.  Mama’ explained to me that rice farmers worked very hard to grow rice and they were low income people.  They used  their blood, sweat and tears to grow rice.  All the Chinese family will tell their children the same, because rice is playing a big part of Chinese culture.  Mama’ did not waste anything at all, she saved all the Chinese newspapers so that we could use them to start the charcoal to cook.  I was growing up with the left over food.  When we finished the meal and had left over, Mama’ always saved them in refrigerator.  She would add one or two more new dishes to go with the left over.  When we had a lot of left over rice, she would make a fried rice dish.  In case you did not know that this is the history of fried rice- the left over meal.

Mama’ showed me to love and care about the other people.  She got a busy schedule at home, but she always made the time to visit our relatives on both side of the family.  She would buy oranges or tangerines to give to our relatives.  Mama’ told me that we should  not wait until they got sick to see them.  You should make the effort to see them while they are healthy and cherish the time of happiness with them.  My Mama’ is a loving and caring person.  She was always giving, not taking.  She was a kind of person that anyone will feel love  and care whenever they meet her.  One day, she took me to the thai temple to worship.  She gave money to a few beggars in front of the temple.  I said to her ” Mama’ don’ t give the money to the young beggar, he is young and strong enough to find job and make money.  I think that he is a fake to make an easy money.”  Mama’ said to me that ” we are here to do a good deed, we are not here to judge people.  You don’t really know about him.  He might fall in a hardship right now.  Look at his clothes how dirty it is.  Do you think people will hire him the way he look?  Of course not, they probably scold him and beat him up with a stick.  You always help the other people if they need the help.”  I will never forget what she taught me.

At home, I saw how much my Mama’ really love my Papa’.  She didn’t have to tell anyone about that, it showed.  When Papa’ came home from work, she would  greet him with a smiling face and asked how the day go.  She would bring him something to drink and took his socks and shoes off.  At the dinning table, she put food on his rice bowl from different dishes with her chopsticks.  She said to him that I want you to taste this dish to see if you like it.  When Papa’ ate it, she would give him more without his asking.  She served the meal to him with love.  When Papa’ worked around the house.  She always wiped his face with a cold towel.  She always took care of him.  Today some Oriental ladies are still doing it.  You can see this kind of love only in ancient Chinese movie.  In today society we should give more unconditional love and understanding of each other.

Goodbye for now,

Mana