The prophecy of a 14 year old boy

Hi Everyone,

Today, I am taking you back to the 14 year old me. You couldn’t tell me anything about soccer at this time and girls were a new thing on the hit list.

I was brought up in the church as a youngster, every Sunday I was at church. My grandmother was my Sunday school teacher at Eastwood Baptist Church, I had no choice but to be there. As you grow older, your reasons for going to church start to change, I don’t care who you are, where you come from. At the age of 14, you are going to church for one reason and one reason only. We all remember those Friday nights, making sure you looking good.

At 14 years old, I would attend church as much as I could besides the fact that my parents didn’t give me much of a choice, there was girl that I had my eye on that would attend church and that was the best time for me to see her. One of the days during the week, our church at the time had a guest speaker from Australia. He was calling people forward and giving them prophecies, I sat in the back and tried my very best to not be seen or heard. I didn’t want this speaker to give me a prophecy, what if he says something that I don’t want to hear or what if he says I should stop coming to church to see this girl. (I later had to stop but that’s not the story). While one of the guest speakers were busy praying over another member, this specific speaker began to stare at me. It was my lucky day, I was singled out and this is how everything unfolded:

You boy at the back wearing a black vest, please come forward. As I walked towards him my heart started beating fast, I am sure he could see the fear in my eyes but what is the worst that could happen? He asked a question that I kind of gave me the impression that he had the answer already, “you play soccer right?” I look at him with a shocked expression and nod. He continues and tells me what position I play, “You play on the right wing?” Eyes have now opened wide in shock so I nod as that was my current position at the time. Okay let’s pause for a second. I DON’T KNOW THIS MAN AT ALL!!!! I have never met him, this was the first time I have ever seen him or even heard of him. My body went instantly cold, but what came next was something that I myself couldn’t understand. He continued by saying, “I see you standing on the right hand side of God, just like how you play on the right wing but I see you using your talent and passion for the game to inspire and bring young people to God, young people are going to be attracted to you through your soccer.” Tears began to roll down my eyes. I didn’t know what was going on, I couldn’t understand what just happened and it stuck with me for years after but I never truly understood what it met.

As the years went on, I believed that I would be a Ricardo “Kaka” (Brazilian Soccer Player) of football in South Africa, I would declare my love for God on the soccer field and that is how I would bring these young people in. At one point I attempted to start a league in the youth structure but that didn’t materialise so I left it. The prophecy died out and I never thought about it again because it didn’t make sense to me as I wanted to be one of the great soccer players South Africa has ever witnessed.

Until I started been in the technical area and I saw how these youngsters were drawn towards me, how much they enjoyed been around me and playing under me.

I have coached numerous players but in almost every team there is always a youngster that would grow attached to me and we would share a bond where we would go to the extent of actually playing together. Today we send each remise on the memories we shared and it was not until recently that I realised that this is what I want to do. I miss playing the game but to be able to guide young players to achieve their dreams and impact their lives in anyway is PRICELESS.

I wouldn’t trade been a coach for anything and I know that I might not be where God wants me spiritually but what I do know is that this is what I was meant to do. People live their whole lives and never find their purpose, i am quite sure i found mine. I AM HERE TO IMPACT, INSPIRE & EMPOWER YOUNG MINDS TO BE BETTER THAN WHAT THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD BE! The trophies are an added bonus; the real achievement is seeing young people grow into something better than what they were when they first started with me.

So my message to all coaches is, if you are out there and you feel this is taking you nowhere, remember there are young players that have a dream, that are looking up to you, if you give up what message are you giving them? You might be getting nowhere but the players are gaining from you.

Thanks

Coach B