Recently we organized a tournament for GOALS alumni. Since our inception in 2010, we have had hundreds of kids that have gone through our programs and have had 100 graduates. We organized this tournament as a way to connect with past participants and to get an idea of what some of our former players are up to since they graduated.
For weeks leading up to the tournament we had our community leaders/coaches get the word across their communities that we were organizing a tournament for alumni players. Many were eager to play soccer, while others were more interested in catching up with their friends and former teammates.
The first day of the tournament was focused on female alumni. 20 young women showed up from our communities. The second day of the tournament was for male alumni and 56 showed up. We explained to all of them that we wanted to hear from them and learn more about their lives now.
Before the games started, they were asked to fill out a general questionnaire. In that they were asked to pick 1 of 4 choices of professions in order to gauge their interest in them. The professions listed were trade school, coaching and leadership, health agent training, or other. With a high unemployment rate throughout the country, we are looking for possible ways we can help alumni pursue career paths. The alumni interested in our coaching and leadership program will have the opportunity to take part in our new program starting in September.
After collecting results from our survey, we held the matches. It was great to see our alumni back on the field playing and everyone had a great time. All our alumni were happy to know that GOALS Haiti is still very much interested in their lives. Click here to see results from the survey.