Project Overview

What is the Sports Resource Project all about?

It's a goal! Notice the water bottle going past the keeper

Why have a project at all?

I have now spent almost a year in Mongolia, and 9 of those months have been spent in Olgii at School Number 5. The majority of volunteers here are categorized as 'Secondary Education and Community Development.' Basically what that boils down to - you teach English and are encouraged to find a project that helps develop your community in some fashion. I will admit, the pursuit of any project rests heavily on the motivation of not only the volunteer, but more importantly, the motivation of the community members involved in the project. That has been my focus in this project, to simply be a resource for my teachers, while the majority of research, idea development, and direction has been led and carried out by the school community itself. This is essential for both success and long-term sustainability. That is how this project was born; by my director, athletic department, and teachers presenting the school's greatest need to me in a proposal, and asking for any help that I could give in the pursuit to reach their goal.

What is the need for resources?
Echoing some of the highlights in the post on My Relationships, in Olgii, there are 10 schools and School #5 remains not only the biggest school - but also - the most economically and resource challenged. Athletics, as in American culture, are a dominant interest among students. While there are no organized leagues such as back in the states, there are several competitions throughout the year, and a school without the proper resources can neither prepare for nor host within the community competitions. Resources would not only help the students, but also the teachers, to become both educated and competitive in all avenues of athletics. Currently, even the simplest resource, balls, are unavailable to the students unless their families can provide them. Literally, the basketball court is used daily to play soccer, however, with no soccer balls available, the students find empty water bottles or cans to use in place of a ball. Even with extensive curriculum and lesson plans, the sports teachers are handcuffed and unable to provide any substantial education due directly to the complete lack of resources within the school. Basically, they can talk and teach about a wide variety of athletic activities, but students can never participate in nor experience what those activities actually are. Providing sports resources will allow for the immediate growth of the most deficient program in the school. Computers, projectors, copiers, software and books have all been donated in the past to fuel the academic community at School #5, however, there has never been a single investment in the fitness education of students until this project started and World Vision and JRC Sports for Peace made the first donations. Furthermore, a success in this project would fuel growth in the students  self-confidence and general health as individuals, preparing them for the future.  

'Playing' soccer 

What will the money go to?

After long hours of research, and combing through the state issued sports curriculum, the athletic department has determined the most essential pieces of sports resources in regards to the school and the students education. We have then ranked all of the items in terms of importance and availability, and placed them on a scale to determine our target donation price range. If we reach our goal, of $4,000, we will be able to successfully purchase (and pay for shipping - remember - Olgii is the most remote area of Mongolia in relation to the capital - where all the resources must be purchased from) the top tier resources that were ranked as imperative to a successful athletic education. The sports teachers have extensively researched and conducted cost analysis with local resources, UB resources, and American resources and have calculated not only the most cost productive methods, but also, the highest quality avenues that will allow the resources to be sustainable and maintainable for the foreseeable future.

Priority #1..... soccer balls

Why use a blog and paypal format? 

Originally, the plan for this project laid within the constraints of Peace Corps itself. When the project started, the goal was to write an approved US government grant that would provide the necessary funds to make this project a reality. However, as the details of such a grant became more clear, the hurdles and hardships specific to the region I lived in became overwhelmingly clear. To have a grant approved, not only would it need to be written in English, but also in the national language, Mongolian. This presented an immediate problem. While technically serving in Peace Corps Mongolia, I have become one of the few volunteers to have the privilege to serve in Bayan-Olgii (the one place in Mongolia with a Kazakh majority - a Kazakh culture - and a Kazakh language). Thus, while residents of Olgii are proficient in Mongolian, their language skills lack the technical ability - and swiftness - to undertake writing a grant in a language that is not native to them. If this wasn't problem enough, new volunteers arrive in a few weeks. Therefore, Peace Corps headquarters will be swamped with logistics and training that will prevent them from reviewing potential grants until the next school year arrives - which would prohibit this project from meeting its deadline for the beginning of next year's "Sports Festival Kickoff" with World Vision. All of these factors have led the sports resource project committee to make the decision to pursue this avenue, rather than waiting and failing to meet the deadlines via the Peace Corps pipeline itself. Furthermore, (and perhaps MOST importantly) if a grant would be approved through the Peace Corps channels, a 100% of the funds must be donated in order for the school to gain access to the money. For example, if we wanted $4,000 and could only raise $3,000 - the school would get nothing. In this fashion, even if we only raise $500 - at least we can buy soccer and basketballs. This allows us to prioritize resources and purchase accordingly based on the success of the donations. This puts the resources first, rather than focusing on monetary goals.  

What will the money actually go towards?
As mentioned earlier, after examining national curriculum, this is an abbreviated list of the resources deemed most essential to the school community and the sports resource project:

Balls (in the following sports): volleyball, basketball, baseball, American football, and football (soccer)
Sports Education Resources: athletic books, specialized visual aids, curriculum related DVDs
Fitness Resources: jump ropes, scales, weights, resistance bands, climbing ropes, specialized sports equipment (in regards to individualized sports), protective mats, and blood pressure equipment
(to name a few) Also, nets and goals for respective sports.
Track and Field Resources: relay batons, high bars, shot put, discus, etc.
American Sport Cultural Resources: baseball and American football resources
Classroom Necessities: workbooks, textbooks, and classroom resources for the students
Kazakh Cultural Resources: Judo and Karate equipment, Kazakh and Mongolian national games
Facilities Upkeep: to upgrade and sustain the facilities that were built in the early Soviet occupation

The school yard

Lasting Impact of the Project

The last thing this project intends to achieve is a short term money fix to an overwhelming problem. Health and fitness remain a looming problem to a culture that has dramatically shifted from a nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary one. Therefore, sports and fitness education is essential in the re-education of the public in healthy and maintainable lifestyles (which are dramatically different from even their parents and grandparents). That's the focus of this project. To provide the teachers at School #5 the necessary tools to not only educate the students on proper fitness, but also to jump-start and provide a program that is currently dead in the water. Mongolia is a country that is quickly evolving - and will soon make the transition from a 'developing county' to one that is considered 'developed.' This project will help one of the largest schools in Mongolia to smoothly make that transition on a health and educational level, preparing a large percentage of future workers for success.

The Sports Teachers Themselves
Perhaps the greatest success of this project, before the site even goes public, is the participation and motivation of the Athletic Department itself. As any volunteer will confirm (especially in this country), without the support and direction of locals themselves in a project, it will never happen and will go nowhere. Even without monetary success, that has to be the greatest achievement - the evolution of the teachers themselves to work hard towards a collective goal TOGETHER. It is something that is too often overlooked, and in this culture, it has been a huge accomplishment that has brought the entire school community together. To fail at this stage would be a dis-service to everyone that has worked so tirelessly to make a simple break room dream into a tangible reality that will propel everyone involved to a higher level of standards and expectations for themselves. That in itself is what this project is about. Furthermore, the development of resources will propel the teachers themselves, finally allowing them to reach the full potential that they are capable of as sports teachers.

Sabit and the Sports Teachers