Another league down, a national team call up and a magical training session

The third season of La Ligue D'Égalité wrapped on January 20 in Yaoundé, Cameroon. 600+ girls and women were impacted directly through this project and to see it grow with added value and provide a safe place for girls to play football was a special moment (again). Each time I am there I see the kids grow up, become leaders, team captains and become more confident. These are all KPI's of this initiative and though growth can seem slow, we're on the way up.

We added a U17 age group this year and the competition has been developing into some great games to watch! Now girls in Yaoundé can join our Mini-Stars program at 8-12 years old in their communities and then join their U13 team and grow their way up through the league. We are able to provide consistency, leadership skills, healthy lifestyle training and professionlism for up to 9 years for these players. These formative years for the girls are the best time to be connected to supportive teams, coaches and sport for social change projects and this responsibility is one we don't take lightly.

This 4 month league with local clubs around Yaoundé will kick off again next October. In the meantime our Petrichor Division 2 girls team starts their season and our community projects pick back up.

The full impact report on this project is coming out soon along with some other BIG news, stay tuned....

One of many powerful stories from his project is that of Mabou. Our Petrichor Elite U17 keeper was noticed by FIFA and Cameroon national team scouts during the league. She was selected and joined the national team camp ahead of their qualifying match against Uganda in Kampala in January.

She was missed during the Petrichor match but everyone was happy to see her succeed and have a special experience like this. This is one step towards reaching goals for these players and inspiring younger girls to keep working hard.

We're all excited to follow and encourage Mabou on her journey and looking forward to many more stories like this each year.

During the week following the final match day we hosted a women's coaching education course with Pablo Malavé Muñoz. He took the group through Values to Win methodology with classroom and field sessions.

Another exciting story from this aspect of the project is vocational pathways. The trainings the coaches receive helps them in their professional lives and the job market. Petrichor just hired a coach from last years session, Bebeto. She had a great career herself with the national team and now is investing into the next generation of young players with Petrichor.

As a bonus for the project this year we had special guest and friend Aintzane Encinas Gómez with us. She is the founder of the Tximist Cup and ex player / current coach with Real Sociedad de Fútbol . We were amazed at her natural talent to connect with the girls and she instantly became a part of the La Ligue D'Égalité family.

Aintzane conducted a training session for our girls and were all shocked. She was able to run the session in a mix of Spanish, English and limited French but had the girls attention 100% and taught them so much! Some of the players told us the next day they wondered why they were so tired because the training had a lot of fun segments. But they realized it was because Aintzane has introduced more mentality exercises as a part of training. She taught us all some great lessons but most importantly:

The power of sport can connect anyone.

Thanks Aintzane Encinas Gómez - you're welcome back anytime.

There were hundreds of highlights over the last month running projects, players, families and communities. One of mine is more of a concept.

This work is making a difference.

We had no idea what this would become when Jordan Cone and I started Petrichor Football Association 7 years ago. We also do not know exactly where this will end up. What do we know?

We can only control what we can control.

We can't worry about all the decisions outside of our control. It is important to build strategy and have a roadmap but the essential thing is doing our best each day. If we commit to a program a team or athlete we follow through to the best of our ability. Seeing this mindset and value set in reality in Cameroon this month was so encouraging. Girls are playing football in an organized league that did not exist before, they're doing better in school, getting national team call ups, media exposure and building community. Doing our best right now by providing a top notch and professional experience is making a difference. I'm excited for where this goes and how we will exceed expectations with professionalism and doing things the right ways.

On behalf of myself and the Petrichor team -thanks for being a part of it.