Soccer player off to Africa
From canadaeast.com
Riverview native joins up with Survivor winner Ethan Zohn’s AIDS awareness program
by Times & Transcript Staff
Craig Watson is about to embark on a trip of a lifetime.
The Riverview native is teaming up with Survivor winner Ethan Zohn to promote Grassroot Soccer, an organization promoting AIDS awareness through soccer.
“I’m going for two and a half months and the groups will be situated in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia among others,” he says. “It’s my first year doing this.”
Grassroot Soccer is an international AIDS awareness organization composed of former and current professional soccer players who have played around the world including Zimbabwe.
The aim of Grassroot Soccer is to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS by training well known soccer players to educate at-risk youth about the dangers of HIV infection and about the most effective ways to protect them selves. The pilot study has begun in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and will run for seven months. Professional soccer players from Zimbabwe are being trained as HIV educators and will meet with children twice weekly for two-week sessions at a number of schools in Bulawayo. Using an exciting and culturally sensitive curriculum, the player educators will impart the knowledge and tools necessary for children to reduce their risk of acquiring HIV and AIDS. It is planning to expand the project throughout sub- Saharan Africa in 2004 and 2005.
Ethan Zohn, professional soccer player and winner of Survivor Africa, used his $1 million dollar winnings to create the organization. “He started this using soccer as a vehicle for delivering a message to the kids,” says Craig.
Ethan’s generosity and love of soccer piqued Craig’s interest. “I heard about the organization through the news and wanted to learn more about it and help out,” he says. “I heard what they were doing and I had the summer off, so I gave them a call.”
Craig is an experienced soccer player himself, having played for a New Brunswick Provincial Team as well as for Bishops University. “Soccer’s always been something I’ve been interested in so I thought it was a great way to help.”
Grassroot Soccer trains professional soccer players to go into schools and other establishments to speak to children about the dangers of AIDS and the steps that can be taken to prevent the spread of the disease.
“I’ll be one of the people training the soccer players to go speak and do training on AIDS awareness,” says Craig. “We’ll be going over some basics and brushing up on their skills. Grassroots Soccer gives them everything they need to know to be able to educate the children effectively.”
Craig admits that the draw of the sport had a lot to do with his motivation to attend the project. “Soccer had a lot to do with it,” he laughs. “But being an advocate is using support as a vehicle for awareness and I just wanted to get involved.”
Craig is excited about his time being spent working with the children and promoting such a great cause. “We’re going to be living in the second biggest city and working through there into the smaller villages,” he says.
“Ethan kind of bumps around,” he laughs. “There’s quite a bit to do. It’s amazing how fast he did it,” he says, referring to the time it took Ethan to develop the organization. “He co-founded it with a friend of his, a doctor and he’s poured so much of his effort into it and continues to spend so much time on it.”
Craig feels as though Ethan has used his newfound status appropriately to spread the message on AIDS awareness and prevention in Africa.
“He’s using his celebrity and he knows there’s an expiration date on it.”
While Craig is excited about the work he is doing, he is also highly anticipating another aspect of his trip. “I’m excited for the unknown,” he admits. “I’m most looking forward to what I don’t know and don’t expect.”
“I would encourage people to log onto (the orgnization’s) website and donate - it gives them a sense of what we’re doing,” says Craig. “Promoting and supporting AIDS education is important - it’s a little isolated in our area and our AIDS education is lacking. We need to support organizations such as Grassroot Soccer and try to live in a civic-minded way. It’s been remarkable - we’ve been able to reach thousands of kids and the response has been great.”
Copyright © 2004 Brunswick News Inc.