UPDATE: Please note that the 24-hour soccer match at Willoughby Community Park through SportAid on July 13 and 14 has been postponed indefinitely.
Imagine travelling in a foreign country and seeing dozens of smiling, cheering young faces racing alongside the bus you are riding in? This was one of Amy Gartke’s first experiences in Paraguay and the memory left a lasting impression.
Gartke was a first-year student and women’s soccer player for Trinity Western University and while she had been out of the country on previous occassions, it had always been for a vacation, never for a humanitarian mission.
This trip was a life-altering experience.
“You have a horde of kids running beside the bus, they are just so excited,” she described, her eyes wide with excitement and a smile stretching across her face as she recounted the memory.
That humanitarian trip — which she took alongside many of her Spartans teammates during her freshman year — was just the start. In total, she has been to Paraguay and Peru three times apiece, as well as to Benin and Swaziland once each.
But now the 21-year-old’s efforts are focused closer to home.
Gartke is interning this summer at SportAid, a non-profit organization whose aim is to assist local groups and churches in having long-term impacts in their communities through sport. The group partners with humanitarian organizations and local leaders in Paraguay and Peru to help give underprivileged children the opportunity to stay involved in sport.
Among her duties are serving on the organizing committee for the group’s ALL DAY-ALL PLAY, 24 continuous hours of soccer at Willoughby Community Park. The game — which will be played six-a-side with multiple matches running simultaneously —starts at 6 p.m. on July 13 and concludes at the same time the following day. A barbecue will begin on Saturday at 5 p.m. as well.
The event is open to players of all ages and skill levels, with teams of six registering for $150 or individual players signing up for $25 apiece. The teams are slotted into time slots according to their availability.
Participants are welcome to fundraise and donate the proceeds.The team that raises the greatest amount will earn themselves a dinner night out.
The deadline to register is July 10 and can be done here or by emailing allyw@sportaid.org.
The money raised —they have set a $5,000 target — will go towards helping kids in Paraguay and Peru who otherwise may not have an opportunity to play organized sport and be a part of a team.
“In North America, we are so blessed to be able to belong to a team and have sense of belonging, so we are playing so kids all around the world can play too,” Gartke explained, adding that some of the proceeds will also be used to assist an inner-city Burnaby elementary school which has a high refugee population.
“A lot of these kids don’t have the opportunities that we have to be involved in sports teams and that sense of belonging,” she said. “These kids, they are just so excited to see you and to play, that brings so much joy to my heart.”
Just how much of an impact the trips have had on Gartke is abundantly clear as she talks about her time overseas.
“I fell in love with the people there. I love spending my time doing something meaningful – I find a lot of value and joy in doing things for other people and seeing them be blessed by it.”
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