Speedaway Nigeria Style - Ben Light

The Nigerian UYC Camp is held on a narrow spit of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Badagary Creek -- a large network of water that connects the spit with mainland Lagos. Contrary to many of the United States United Youth Camp programs -- there is no onsite storage for supplies. So everything that we needed for 50 or so people and seven days was boated in. All of our food, housing, and supplies. So, as you might imagine, the first day of camp was a flurry of activity as the boats were unpacked and everything was setup for the week of camp. The United Youth Corps volunteers decided they wanted oceanfront property for their tents. Once the flurry of activity had died down, and we’d tore into a dinner of Jollof Rice and Beef and everyone got a good (much needed) nights sleep -- the first day of activities began.

One of my primary responsibilities from an activity standpoint here in Nigeria was Speedaway -- a game that our American campers are quite familiar with. As far as I know every United Youth Camp summer camp in the United States has Speedaway as one of the available activities. For those who are not familiar, Speedaway is a game which is a combination of soccer and American Football -- it is fast-paced and fun, and relatively simple to get the hang of. It doesn’t take much in the way of supplies, which when coming from the United States to Africa with luggage restrictions, is a definite added bonus. At its core, Speedaway is basically soccer. It’s played with a soccer ball and consists of goals and the basic objective is the same -- put the ball into the other teams goal. Where it differs from soccer is that you can pop the ball up to yourself or a teammate using your feet, which enables you to carry it and run, pass, or throw it into the goal to score. If you are tagged (two hand touch) the possession changes. Points are scored by a kick (1 point), a throw (2 points) or to make it more interesting, a header (5 points). At Northwest Camp, we set the field up in such a way that one sideline is the Pacific Ocean -- and if the ball exits the field into the water along that sideline, the ball can be picked up directly from the water and played from there. Because of the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean we opted to play with Northwest Camp rules.

I would argue that the African UYC Camp has the second best Speedaway Field in the United Youth Camp program, behind Northwest Camp. The beach in Oregon is just a much more long and gradual slope -- allowing play right down to the water. The beach in Nigeria was quite steep which required us to play up higher on the sand than I would have liked, which made it deeper and harder to run in -- but what it didn’t have in sand type it sure made up for in scenery.

That said, it did not prevent us from needing to stop the game to allow a herd of cows to go by. The locals grazed their cows on both ends of the spit, and the easiest way to get around is on the part of the beach that we were playing on. That was a first.

Speedaway has a bit of a different dynamic in Africa than it does in the United States for a couple of reasons.

1. The way the camp is organized in Nigeria -- the dorms are set into teams -- which are coed AND mixed age levels. So one team might have both boys and girls, ages 7-21. Which Mr. Ralph Nduka’s Emerald Team consisted of.

They had to play a more concientious game so no one got hurt -- but it was neat to see the older kids cheering on and teaching the younger kids.

2. The African campers have a healthy respect for water, so they were hesitant to chase the ball into the water. Those that were a bit more adventurous found an advantage and used it well.

3. The game was a bit different in Africa -- because so many kids play soccer from such a young age, the game was primarily played on the ground... and WOW are they good! In the United States I find that the game is played in the air quite a bit more with carrying, running and scoring by hand seeming to be more dominant. I personally think because we’re not as comfortable with soccer, we rely more on American Football skills. One young man named Jeshurun from Owerri was just a joy to watch -- he was quite the footballer!

As I watched them I thought to myself, "I really want to see a game between the Nigerian kids and our American kids!" Two different styles of play, both with different strengths and weaknesses -- but I would love to see those two styles of play compete against one another.

All in all we had a great time, and the youth in Nigeria were introduced to a new sport and a chance to grow together as a team.

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