It was a bright Saturday morning, and my phone rang. I picked it up, and it was my friend Godwin. "Dude, our call-up letter is out," Godwin said. I hung up the phone immediately. I rushed into the bathroom to take my bath.
I got to the university gate, and the crowd was large. Students who just graduated were rushing into school to get their call up letter. I was a bit tensed, as I did not have any idea where I would be posted for my compulsory one-year National Youth Services program. I saw Godwin with his letter, and he looked quite happy. "Godwin, where have you been posted to?" I asked, and with a smile, he replied "Rivers State". Rivers State was just a 4-hour drive from Calabar. Congratulations, man," I said, and Godwin nodded his head. I was happy because Rivers State is a cool and nice place. I was sure Godwin would enjoy his stay there.
I got my letter, and I was posted to Ekiti State. I didn't know if to be happy or sad; at that moment, I had a mixed feeling. I had to check how many hours of journey I would have to embark on. When I discovered it was 10 hours, I knew I had to put things in place for the journey. There was no time to waste.
I left for Ekiti State on a Wednesday, and I loved the journey. As we passed through many cities, I was amazed at how beautiful these cities were. I also loved the beautiful mountains and forests we had to pass through before we got to our destination. We arrived in Ekiti at about 7p.m. I got to the camp and did all the documentation. The three weeks in the camp were interesting. The energy was so high as the camp had over 3000 young people. I had fun and made new friends. After three weeks at the orientation camp, we were all assigned to our places of primary assignment.
I was posted to a small village called Eporo. The village head of Eporo came with two 18-seater buses to convey all the Corp members posted to his village. I was happy because of that, and I felt the villagers would be nice to us. We got to the village and, behold, all the villagers were gathered at the village square to welcome us. "You are all welcome to Eporo village. This is a small farming settlement, and I can assure you guys that you all will enjoy your stay here. If any of you have a problem, the person can always come to my palace. Welcome once again to Eporo," the village head said.
The village had a volleyball court, and I was happy because I love volleyball. I asked one of our senior colleagues if the villagers were good at volleyball. He laughed, saying "The villagers have never scored a single point in a volleyball match since I came to this village". I was shocked by this and asked him, "Have you guys tried coaching them?" He played "no.". I said to him "I will coach them". He looked at me and laughed "It will take them 10 years before they can understand the game".
The next evening, all the Corp members went to play volleyball, and on getting to the court, the villagers were already waiting. I asked my senior colleague Fred what was going on because the crowd was large, and he told me that is what happens every evening. The villagers come to watch them play. The game started, and it was interesting as the Corp members had 3 teams and the villagers had their different favorite teams and wore the color of the jersey that their favorite team was using. I joined the red team, and my team They were all shocked at how well I could play volleyball; some even taught me I was a professional volleyball player.
I spoke with one of the villagers and said I would love to coach them. His reply was funny to me. He said "We get to play this game even in the next 100 years." I replied "Let's give it a try". He informed the villagers, and about 50 people showed interest in joining the village team. Some laughed, saying it was a waste of their time. We fix the days of our training. We agreed on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Shola, a 15-year-old boy, asked me, Sir, which court are we going to use?" I replied that we don't need a court for now.
It was a Monday evening, and it was our first training session. I started by teaching them the rules of volleyball, and they were laughing at themselves because they discovered they were trying to be good at a game and didn't know any of the rules. That's all we did for the first day. In the next training session, we trained on how to hit the ball, and it was an interesting one, as most of them could not hit the ball. I showed them and allowed them to try it out. We spent over 2 hours hitting the ball, and by the end of the training session, only 10 people out of 50 could hit the ball. I was happy about that. On getting to the field on Friday, I met the villagers training, and I was impressed. Those who knew how to hit the ball were training others, and they used unconventional methods in teaching them, but their methods worked to my greatest surprise. I allowed them to do the training that day. And by the end of the day, 40 out of 50 could hit the ball, though it was not that perfect, but it was an improvement.
After a month, all 50 of my players could hit the ball well. We now proceeded to learn about positioning on the court, and it was quite easy because they had been watching the Corp members play, so positioning wasn't a problem. I allowed them to play a game with themselves, and it was interesting because I saw a lot of improvement and took note of their mistakes. After the training, I spoke to them about their mistakes first, and then I talked about their areas of strength. I told them "We are going to be training on your area of strength from now on". Shola said Sir, we need to correct our mistakes". I loved his zeal and passion. So I said Shola, you are now the captain of the team". Everyone clapped and said he was fit to be the captain. Shola then said, Sir, let's fix a match with the Corp members". I responded by saying "You are not ready". I saw the look of disappointment on their faces. I immediately said "I will play them on Friday and Saturday". They all rejoiced and went home happy.
It was Friday, and as I got to the court, I saw that the villagers had already gotten to the court and selected those to play and did their drills. The game started, and they did not win a single match, but they scored some points. After the game, some of the Corp members spoke with them and encouraged them. They were all happy and thanked me. I said to them "I did not do anything, but you guys did all the work out there on the court. Thank you all for making me proud".
For the next 3 months, the villagers played games but still couldn't win a single match. On one of our trainings, I asked the question, "How do you guys feel about not winning a single match for over five months of playing as a team?" Niyi stood up and said, Sir, we are learning from our failures; we are much better than before. Now the Corp members take us seriously and sweat before beating us". I was encouraged by what Niyi had just said. I just knew very soon they would start winning games. Shola lifted his hands, and I asked him to speak. Sir, we want to join the Corpers tournament that is coming up next month," he said. I replied "No problem,we will join the tournament".
The tournament involved four teams, and each team was expected to play three games. The red team was the strongest team, and they were our first opponents. I was happy because I knew playing them first would help us. The villagers came to me and said playing the red first was not fair. I told them that the strongest team is the best because we are going to learn from them and then apply it in our remaining games.
Our first game started, and we were no match for the red as we scored only 5 points in the whole game. The villagers were all a happy team, some dancing and some singing. The villagers were happy that their team could get points off the red team. In our second game, we won a single match in the game, and the whole village rejoiced because of this. This made me sit and think about learning from failure, and I knew that it's a very important life lesson. The last game was so exciting. We won two matches out of five. The villagers rejoiced, and one would think they won the tournament. But no, they were happy because, even though they were fourth on the table, they were not embarrassed in any way.
The camaraderie spirit in the team was high.