Latest / find your cause / The Jersey That Changed a Life With Lesley de Jonge

Transcript

The Jersey That Changed a Life With Lesley de Jonge · find your cause

• Joseph Smalzer: And she said, you know, twinkling eyes, all smiley, and she said, Guru, which is the word for coach in Asia. This is the first time in my life that I feel like I'm part of a group. And you know, at that moment I realised that really everyone can make an impact w with volleyball. Alrighty. So ⁓ great. Thanks everyone for tuning in this episode of Find Your Cause. Today we have Leslie De Yongle, who's the executive director of Let's Keep the Ball Flying. Leslie, thank you so much for your time today. Yeah, thank you. And well done on the pronunciation of my last name. Yeah. People that are just listening now did not hear us before we hit record, but it took a few tries. ⁓ but yeah, thank you so much, Leslie. Really excited about this because of the connection to volleyball. ⁓ but before we do, what is the purpose and what is the mission of Let's Keep the Ball Flying? I mean that that's just such a big story and such a long way to tell. but the main purpose of Let's Keep the Ball Flying is to connect the global volleyball community in spreading more access to the sport. And there are so many stories to tell and if you're listening and if you're a volleyball player, let's jump in this together and even you, Joseph, you have a background to volleyball, right? Yes. Yes. Yep. Yep. Absolutely. I do have a big background in volleyball, which is yeah. So it it's gonna be hard for us not to go on volleyball tangents, I feel like, on this, but we'll yeah we'll do our best. We we can switch the word volleyball to sport. I mean there are so many sports in the world that have the same impact on people and it's it's great. And I mean the benefit of volleyball is that it's team sport, a very social sport. It's played all over the world. It's one of the biggest sports in the world while we're all still kind of a family. Everybody knows everybody. And that just brings a lot of benefits of using that to give more access to the benefits of sports in general. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like the barriers too to to play volleyball are so low that like literally anyone of any economic background to you can play, you just pick up a ball. ⁓ you don't even need a net, right? You could just like pass it around to each other. So it's yeah, very approachable. You don't need ⁓ expertise or to be an extreme athlete to be able to get it. It's just like bump the ball back and forth over the net and have fun. Don't let it hit the ground on your side. Yeah. and sports is is also just a vehicle, you know, like it it makes us I mean, the projects that we run and support, it's not just about playing volleyball. It also helps children go to school. And have access to community and make friends and all those separate impacts of sport are just a huge factor in a world where we're more and more divided and more and more unreal and we should utilize it. Yeah. Yeah. So w when you guys were determining the mission of your organization, how how did you guys define access? Kind of when you're trying to improve access to the sport? So when I was young and I'm pretty sure that lots of people can relate to this. Having a a jersey or seeing a jersey of a professional athlete or a club gives you that feeling of, whoa, I would love to have that jersey or getting a signature of a famous player on it. And that passion in in young children is always there. You know, no matter where you are in the world, you'll find that. But to actually be able to have a jersey yourself to play is super unevenly spread. So for me being raised in the Netherlands, I always had access to sport. To have a jersey, to play a team sport or individual sport was easy. But in so many countries I have visited over the last years, it's not like that. It's very difficult to play, to have shoes to play on. to have gear, to have a volleyball or any other sports materials. And we should really open our eyes ⁓ to our own privilege where especially for me where I grew up wasn't was incredible. And I wasn't really aware of that ⁓ you know throughout my life. That's a whole storyline and especially during my three years as national team coach in in Nepal ⁓ That truly opened my eyes more in in seeing how limited access was, but also how kind of easy it was for people with access to help other people get more access. So it's a silver lining in the mission of let's keep the ball flying, ⁓ providing access to the sport, providing access to play, and through that access get all the benefits. And if you think for yourself. How sport, or in your case, volleyball, had an impact on your life. Like could you name the two most important things? Yeah. Number one is meeting my now wife. We we played club volleyball at the same place, right? ⁓ and then number two is it it was my ⁓ way to ⁓ see the world playing professionally in in in Finland and France. First time I left the country was to go to Finland on my first first contract after college, which is kind of crazy. I don't consider Canada leaving the c sorry Canadians, but like if you're in the US, you go to Canada, like or even Mexico, it's like, yeah, you left the country. It doesn't really count. Just leave the continent. That's what that's what really counts. So yeah, I think those two biggest things that impacted my life is is the the person I'm gonna share the rest of my life with and the travel bug that kind of opened up my my eyes to a huge world ⁓ that we live in. Yeah, not just the bubble of the town that I grew up in. Yeah. Yeah. And and if you think about that So that happened only because you had access to play. Yeah. And I I wish we could give all the world access to sport, really, because everybody I speak to has the same stories. I found my husband or wife through the sport. I found new friendships. I got a job through the sport and so many more stories just because of being able to play sports. And no wonder why it's such an important thing in our education and upbringing to play. play sports but to play in general and to connect with people through play and in a world where AI is taking over and personal connections and conversations are being replaced with AI conversations and dating apps and you know that that play is going at one point going to be even more important than we realize now, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. I I very much agree with that. ⁓ so why why volleyball? Why was that sport that that you chose ⁓ for this? I'd love to hear your background. Yeah, I mean ⁓ volleyball has been my silver lining since I was five years old. my dad played camping volleyball and as a kid I I watched that and my parents asked me which sport I wanted to play and I said volleyball and are you sure? Don't you want to play football? Like ⁓ European football, soccer. No, no, I want to play volleyball. Pretty determined and went for it and never stopped, never looked back. And I was playing wanting to be that national next national team famous player in the Netherlands, you know, and that was my dream and went all in and go for it. But I figured out relatively early that I honestly wanted to be a coach. instead of a player, ⁓ which which is pretty odd, I think. ⁓ I was fourteen and very privileged being in one of the biggest clubs in the Netherlands, youth clubs. so having a very, very good youth educator in that club, ⁓ that I became assistant ⁓ for. And I still consider her as my second mom to the day of today. And You know, she inspired me in both you know, when you're a child and you think you know the world and you have those educators in front of you that at some point you can like I hate you but then figuring out later that So privileged to have had these people around me and from fourteen years old I started coaching. ⁓ being head coach of teams from kids older than me or same age was quite interesting period. But ⁓ I I really enjoyed the dynamics of coaching, not just playing for winning, but the whole dynamics of having a team and and connection and everything that comes along with that. Fell in love and wanted to become the best professional coach in the world instead of player. And I always thought if I start early, most coaches start, you know, at the end of their career or when they are 25, 30, if I start at 15, I have a 10 year head start, I'm gonna make it, you know, let's go. And yeah, it's kinda funny if I think back to that. Where that came from, I have no absolutely no idea. Yeah. But it it It did really speed up ⁓ my my volleyball career. I was head coach in the pro league in the Netherlands at twenty-seven, youngest coach in the league, and that same year I got the job as Nepal national team, which is also insane story to talk about. And yeah. You know, and the the sport really brought me all over the world. And I'm very curious if you have a similar experience to this. It didn't matter where I went or or go. Volleyball people were always ready for me to help out. Come have dinner. ⁓ you're here alone? ⁓ let's go. My parents are going to the mountains, we'll show you around, especially in the USA, by the way. So, so much help I got there. And It didn't matter if it was a court in Colombia, Nepal, USA, Netherlands, Indonesia, Africa, it was like that. It was like a universal language of volleyball people wanting to help each other. And w was magical. Wha how was that for you? Yeah, same same for me. ⁓ it the commu yeah, the community ev like for ever Even from here in Chicago, which is where I'm based, we have like beach leagues, beach volleyball leagues that are just non competitive but just fun leagues for people to do. I I really have not experienced many people in the volleyball community that are just like negative vibes people. ⁓ I I it was yeah, it so so the the community of volleyball is just so open and welcoming and and supportive. and and I've just had an awesome experience and and have like lifelong friends as well from from my volleyball. Like teams that I've played on at a younger age. ⁓ th they're still friends of mine today. ⁓ do you have your two most impactful things that just volleyball itself has brought to you in your life? What would you have to say or you go to I'm sure there's a ton. Yeah. To bring it back to two is extremely difficult. But I I can there's definitely one that has been You know, also the start of Let's Keep the Ball Flying, I would say. ⁓ I never forget that moment. It was was a story in Nepal where okay, we had a normal national team program, twice per day practice. ⁓ was honestly nothing you could imagine about a normal professional program, just because the culture of the country, where we were training, the temperatures. I remember the first day arriving. with my backpack ready to go with the with the boys and ⁓ you know forty five degrees outside ready to go training and the moment I stepped out of the hotel the guys were waiting for me grabbed my backpack from my shoulder and we we were not driving or something, we were walking fifteen minutes to the gym, carrying my backpack and I was like guys please I'll carry my own backpack. You crazy? You're you're about to train Two hours and a half in the gym without air conditioning. Yeah. You know, please give my give me back my b you know what? I'll carry your back. Please. Yes, yeah. Really, fifteen minutes later, in a fight. They they would not accept a foreign head coach coming all the way to Nepal to help them make it to the Asian games. him carrying his own backpack. Now imagine. You know, i that in two weeks from now, I am with two players of Nebraska in Africa in one of our projects. I will ask them this question, but I cannot imagine that they would go up to, you know, Danny and and ask ask her, Hey coach, we'll carry your back to practice today. You know, with all respect, I don't think anybody in USA or my country in the Netherlands will do that. And it was such a funny moment, you know, it was the first realization, I'm really in a different place here. Yeah. And and it's very interesting. And two weeks later we were doing a clinic. a clinic with 12-year-old girls. And we brought volleyballs and we brought jerseys from an amateur team in the Netherlands. Okay. We gave them, we handed them out, we did a two hour session, some of the boys of the national team joining in as well, and those girls were extremely happy with a set of those simple donated jerseys. Yeah. But it when I say extremely happy, like top that up ten times in your in your vision. And I really wanted to learn why, you know, and and so I walked up to one of those girls and and asked, and her answer absolutely changed my life. Like that that right there, that moment. And she said, you know, twinkling eyes, all smiley, and she said, Guru, which is the word for coach in Asia. This is the first time in my life that I feel like I'm part of a group. And you know, at that moment I realized that really everyone can make an impact with with volleyball. If it's just jerseys that can connect someone and Yeah. And I had no idea about Let's Keep the Ball Flying yet. I I just had a a real feeling at that moment of it it it is really easy to make an impact. We have such a big sport all around the world. Everybody is willing to help each other always. So why don't we create a global organization, you know, that that connects that community power of the sport with giving access to the sport and build that out through partnerships with clubs, friends, NGOs, players, athletes, and you know, use volleyball as one of our biggest assets in the world to create community and use the connector. Yeah, the connector. Exactly. that's it. I just started and it's very simple. The first idea was let's Get more jerseys of professional athletes, I'm sure you can relate that you had a bunch in your clo closet sitting there doing nothing. sign them, shipping them to projects in need, give them access to balls and nets and materials, and let's go. And now five years later it turned out into something magical that I'm still pinching my my skin every day. Wow, is this really happening? Yeah. What does twenty twenty six look like for y'all for for the organization? Like what are some of the the main programming and activities you have planned? So twenty twenty six was ⁓ special because we spent the first three months in the United States. ⁓ and that started at the AVCA convention in in the end of December. ⁓ the AVCA partnered with us last year and they asked me to do the closing ⁓ session. of the ABCA convention. So 250 people in the room and held our let's keep the ball flying story, showed them videos and pictures and the next day my inbox was overloaded with people reaching out. How can we help? How can we join? And you know at that point we we decided not being really aware of US geography. You know what? Why don't we go visit everybody in person? It's pretty big country. Pretty big country. I can't just drive, you know. We did sixteen states in two months. ⁓ myzona state to Nebraska to Florida University, Triple Crown in the middle, and we went everywhere and everybody's helping out, joining our one percent movement, adopting schools with us. making activations, it it it was incredible. So twenty twenty six the first quarter was absolutely insane and honestly now we're trying to kind of operationalize all of that. We are a team of forty five volunteers with a leadership and a board and certif certified and all of that stuff, but that's not easy to to to operate and manage without jobs in it, right? Yeah. ⁓ so we're transitioning now. Twenty twenty six is a big transition year for us, ⁓ from being a founder led organization to a fully volunteer operational team to now becoming a more a leadership organization and you know, stepping up that that next phase ⁓ towards twenty thirty. ⁓ and for me that's so exciting. I really it's So cool to see everybody involved and seeing that growth. It's not easy, you know, to go through all of that. But I'm very much looking forward to back in Africa in two weeks from now. Where we have several former Olympic athletes, athletes from ⁓ US universities, coaches coming, and we're actually visiting ⁓ our school adoption program. So anybody can adopt their own volleyball school with Let's Keep the Ball Flying. And give them access to gear, materials, equipment, coaches, sports, ⁓ you name it. And all the schools in the programs are also connected in our online community platform. ⁓ so lots of stuff going on there. And I always love it when people actually come and see the impact with their own eyes. Because once you're there, once you see it, you can't get out. It's like ⁓ my god, you you know, your your your vision on the world just opens up and you come back to your own team with a completely different mindset, character, and appreciation of your own life. And you know, that's magical. So really looking forward to that. And in August, we're actually in Colombia, which is one of my favorite projects ⁓ that we have over there. Super cool. And World Para Volley is with us. ⁓ the head coach of Canada national team from sitting volleyball, also the MVP of the Olympics from the USA is coming with us. John Castle, very famous grassroots volleyball coach, she is the head of our grassroots program. ⁓ and we're all together in Colombia doing a a production session with the projects that we have there, making sure our community platform really has everything that it needs. And that's also ⁓ my favorite time of the year is being with my feet in the sand, you know. And other than that, twenty twenty-six is crazy because we're hiring first positions in the organization because we we we we really have to ⁓ to make this sustainable. And honestly, if you would look in my brain right now Sometimes. but at the same time really, really exciting. Exciting times. Yeah. What what sort of impact are you planning on or even currently measuring for for this? ⁓ I I I think everyone is a hundred percent agreement that just getting kids more access to sports is is a huge benefit in so many different areas of their life. Are there certain things that you're trying to zero in on or or focus on? Yeah, absolutely. So if you look to our strategy towards twenty thirty, there is a key target audience there, which is coaches. So, you know, there are a lot of lessons that we learned in our first five year of growing and just doing new stuff and kind of figuring it out along the way what what works, what doesn't work, and building our structure and organization around that. And especially on the impact side, two things that we learned is that questions that come from rural areas, you know, where we're actually helping is one, how can I get more equipment? You know, I have 30, 40, 50 kids, I have one volleyball court that most people would not call a volleyball court, and you know, I have Really, a lot of kids that all want to play, they don't have shoes. We're playing on dirt. And I have one, if I'm lucky, I have two balls. I can find millions of videos on YouTube on how to play, what to do, what drills to do, etc. But they are all focused on us having a gym and a coach and playing with balls. Yes, yes. So how do we fix that? So That's what our community platform is about. So we teach through grassroots certification video courses, not filmed in a proper gym, but filmed in Philippines, Africa, now in Colombia, in exactly those type of regions with materials on how to create a volleyball from plastic bags. Wow. And it wor it and it works. We filmed it in Africa. We played with it in Africa. They do it there like that. How to create nets with bamboo and and rope that kind of grows in the trees and how to create certain type of knots that can just put a string from this end to the other end of two very far away trees and create tons of chords to play two against two and three against three. And we teach coaches how to do that. And then on top of that connect all those coaches as a community with each other and not only with the coaches but with mentors like John Castle and our ambassadors inside, without anybody having to pay a penny of money because it's all sponsored by our ambassadors. And the real exciting thing is that the coaches that kind of accelerate and you know g go on top of it and are those key people that are super engaged, we onboard them in our adoption programme. So they get access to actual funding. in helping their community grow and then being an inspiration again for the rest of the community. And step by step that just builds out into a community ecosystem of of coaches and play where people have a connection and a story, not just from rural but from universities like Stanford and N Nebraska that are adopting schools with us, you know, and that whole ecosystem just is exploding. So that's the key, really the key of our impact. And through that we circle back to the beginning of our conversation. By being able to play volleyball, all those extra or sport in general, all those extra benefits come from the downstream positive impacts that come from that. Yes. Yeah. Exactly. So it sounds like like the twenty thirty mission is anyone in the world that wants to play volleyball has minimal or no barriers to playing volleyball. Yeah, you you're making that very large. Anyone in the world is I'm not able to make that happen. ⁓ so we have our own numbers. We we're aiming for a direct reach of four thousand ⁓ people this year, growing out to thirty thousand in twenty thirty, which has a secondary benefit of community leaders, parents, family, etc. ⁓ towards 75,000 and then towards 202 ⁓ 35 we want to be on one million each year accumulative and that's a that's that's big yeah that's that's big yeah and we need help we can't do that alone what what help what help do you usually look for and engagement do you do you look for so I always love to speak about a few examples and because Our community is really based on community. So we don't have any massive private donor that made us start. We started with zero budget and just people doing this from scratch. And the f our first fundraiser was my birthday, where I asked people to make like a small donation so I could ship stuff to Nepal. Yeah. Was as simple as that. But every year we basically double. In our impact, we double in our funding, and that just comes from people. So no major large-scale donors, but 34 of the best athletes in the world are donating one percent of their income to our charity. Now in the USA, we got 15 top coaches like Stanford, Nebraska, Texas, ⁓ etc., donating one percent of their volleyball income to our charity. We got partners like Slunks, I'm wearing it right now. ⁓ the founder of Slunks. So for everybody that doesn't know, Slunks is a volleyball brand in the USA. They do customized jerseys for 800 boys' clubs in the US, and it's almost like a a religion. So when there are volleyball tournaments, I had I was experiencing live at 6 30 a.m. in this massive convention center. There was an endless line like for the the little pop-up shop of slunks for everybody trying to get one. Insane. Anyway, the the founder, Chris, he is absolutely amazing, very community community-oriented guy. He joined us to Africa last summer and he adopted his own school there. Wow. And that experience to be there really changed his life. And ⁓ it's not Me like he is saying that all the time. And since that moment he wants to do whatever he can to help and be involved. So they made a special slunk shorts, Africa style, gave them to all the kids in the schools, did a fundraiser, hundred pairs, limited edition for one hundred dollars each, crazy. And they sold out in under a minute. You know, and they d they donate all the the revenue to the foundation and Modena Volley is one of the most historic volleyball clubs in in A1 of Italy, one of the top leagues in the world. They do a campaign with us called Ace with Impact, that each ace that is scored in the match results in a 100 euro donation, you know, and accumulated over the season that brings in a lot of donations that where we can adopt the Modena volleyball school in Africa for them. Yep. And so just like that. We have so many examples and stories how just the volleyball community is getting engaged and getting involved. And if you imagine that to become big, you know, we can do so much. And it's not about how much money can we raise or on the other side, how many schools we can adopt, you know, the the KPIs and the numbers of the business side of things. It's for me all about how many connections can we make. Because if we really all do this together, same as our one percent movement, one percent by itself doesn't do nothing. But if it's combined with the whole volleyball community together, by our sport, for our sport, it can make a huge change. And it'll transform the whole sport. Like it'll Yeah. Yeah. Completely. Globally, it'll change the entire sport. Yeah. And not not only on the, you know, in the typical things that we have in our mind of hey, we're trying to go to a community where they have not much and help out, but the biggest lesson here is that it's actually also us being helped. Because finding those reflections, giving back, being aware of what that actually means and look like makes us just a complete different coach and athlete. being more present, being more reflective, being more open and grateful together with the people around you and your teammates. And that's where the real change happens. You know, we we can talk about the war in Iran and y w every ⁓ terrible stuff that is going on. But if what can we change in our own life to become a better person ourselves if we can all make ourselves one percent better? in our own lives, the world is going to be a better place. Yeah. Wow. Wow. That's exciting. So l twenty thirty is here and you're looking at your organization. What do you hope to see? Let me give you a story of one of our local project leaders in Tanzania. So his name is ⁓ Six, his nickname Six, his real name is ⁓ Renovatus, and he is one of the first people that we started working with in Africa. And at that time he was just a coach of a team. looking for you know fame as me looking for ways to make a difference and make a change in my team and the members of my team's life and win matches and do good. And we work now four years together in which he grew from a coach with just a team to bringing his team to a professional league. To making players coaches, to adopting a school as a first test case with us, to now having budget with three schools with four teams each, doubling next year. So becoming like a community leader in the area, adopting and working with multiple schools, educating coaches in all of those schools. Wow. To now having a FIVB International Volleyball Federation. ⁓ funding request approved to give scholarships to the players in his schools. You know that whole workflow of of seeing the growth of him and the people around him and his community that is what counts. Then seeing like Slunks is one of the partners adopting a team in his community, so bringing that connection of also international awareness to that. If I can see that in mass scale happening in many different countries over the world within the sport of volleyball. Really amazing. Wow. Well that is so exciting. ⁓ so people that are listening and want to get involved, what are some of the slots that you want to fill or roles you want to fill? So I mean, if you're still listening at this point, that means probably you're one of those people that we want to hear from. So I would suggest to just write me directly at Leslie at Lktbf.org. you know, I'm here having conversations. This is key. I've had so many of conversations with people that just reach out, we'll have a 30 minute chat, how can we work together? And that builds magic over time. ⁓ so that first of all, there are very simple ways to get involved, like our one percent movement, you know, like if you're a volleyball coach and you want to join, that's maybe a coffee per month. ⁓ you know, and and come and visit one of our outreach tours because that's a life changing experience by itself. ⁓ but if you're more of the club side, university side, a brand that want to ⁓ be involved, I would say adopt a team with us. No, it it adopting a school is five K per year and that helps two girls' teams, two boys' teams. a whole year with three times a week practice gear in your own brand, ⁓ balls, materials, ⁓ voluntary coaching support, and you can actually go and visit. You know, you can build that relationship, which is super cool. And if you think that this mission is really fitting to your community and and how you look at the world, we would love to find That person that can also help scale our organization to the next phase. Yeah. Because this is going to become like the train is already going. Yeah. And I've been nervous for five years of ⁓ my god, how am I going to pay my bills? How I'm going to do this? Is this going to happen? This was such a terrible week. I want to quit. Why am I doing this? So you know, but it it's it's impossible. The train is going full steam ahead and the question is if you want to be part of it now or in two, three years from now, it's all good. But just reach out and become part of it. And our Instagram or LinkedIn, you know, they are full with stories and videos of what we were talking about, what it actually means and how it looks like. So go ahead and check that out and join our mission together. Yeah. I n I know we s we kind of started with this, but volleyball has had a profound impact on my life. ⁓ and and a lot of people listening ⁓ likely are in the volleyball community as well. So ⁓ the the fact that you're bringing this life changing activity and and sport ⁓ to more people, it I'm I'm a testament that it it changed my life. So ⁓ it's amazing that you guys are are investing in this and bringing this to other people. So Celeste, thank you for for the work that you're doing, the the countless hours that I'm sure you've spent in in the the very cramped planes that I'm sure you've been on. Usually volleyball folks are a little bit taller than average. So it's it's harder for us to be on planes. So yes. So thank you for everything. I I started this and would have been impossible to be where we are now without all those volunteers spending, you know, those two, three, four hours per week in our mission without wanting anything in return, that just, you know, that six thousand volunteer hours on a yearly base, ⁓ just being put in this ⁓ in this mission without any funding needed. And so your thanks and for everybody that is watching. If you want to do a shout out to Let's Keep People Flying, please do it to all the volunteers because that that really is something that I'm still not able to grasp to grasp. ⁓ how that is happening and how super awesome that is. Yeah, and and some people I feel like are are in positions and and like I've gone through this evolution in my life where you You know, you had a you're at a point in life where you could give your time, but it's harder to give money, or you could give your money and it's harder to give time, right? So yeah, ⁓ everyone's in in different positions. ⁓ but yeah, those sixteen thousand hours of volunteer hours are are just as important as is yeah, the the monetary donations to keep it going. Absolutely And I think it's also a amazing how you're able to break down that sponsoring a team. ⁓ and I think it's worth restating. So you said ⁓ to to to sponsor a team, ⁓ it's five thousand and that includes the coverage for an entire year of two boys and two girls teams in the volunteer couple. Like what what what all does that five thousand entail? Again to the state. Yeah. To be completely honest, the split is four K, one K, on which four K goes directly to that school, to that community, and one K is an impact donation to the general foundation of Let's Keep A Ball Flying, where we can decide where is extra help needed and where can we put that? The fore K is directly for just that school which will be connected to you. And you know, you're free to choose if that is in Colombia, Philippines, Africa, Greece, where we do a lot with refugees and or you know, in Africa can be a lot of different countries. And that's a personal connection that we build together, ⁓ where we give you stories, your brand, like the jerseys of that school will be focused on the branding of you as a person, you as a brand, or if you don't want any branding involved, that's also okay, of course. and yeah, like I said before, we give them ⁓ part of that budget goes to court maintenance, balls, materials, equipment very important. Especially balls go bad very fast. ⁓ in the dirt surfaces, etc. luckily we're talking with a few ball suppliers right now to create like a rural area ball. A little bit more rugged, rugged ball that could withstand more and have a longer life. Exactly, exactly. ⁓ so that's the material part. The second part is the community part. So that can be coaches and every region is different. So we make individual plans with each school and region that we adopt. ⁓ but that's community, so it can be a coordinator between multiple schools, ⁓ voluntary fees for coaches. And obviously in these places we don't need to spend money like we have to spend in coaches on in the Netherlands or USA. I'd heard some crazy salaries as well. so ⁓ finances go a lot further in the places where we adopt schools, let's say five thousand for a year. To prov yeah, provide volleyball for four teams for a year. That's wild. Yeah. Yeah. It's insane. And I mean, that was so crazy for us in the US to see how many people were in to do that without even thinking. Like, ⁓ it's five K per year. Let's go. Yeah. It's five thousand for like I feel like nowadays for one kid to go through like club. I I haven't I haven't looked at the recent prices, but To send your kid through the club for half of a year, I feel like it's near that. ⁓ just for one person, right? Let alone four teams and coaches and and supply. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And A five, one of the biggest clubs in the in the US, ⁓ was together with our partner bringing promotions. They basically every year do tours for American universities and clubs ⁓ all over the world. And they joined us last year ⁓ to Africa. And you know, was the number one team in the US coming in and immediately after that tour they're like, yeah, we're adopting. You know, like it it's it's awesome. But also all the big universities, also smaller club directors, like now we have Miami Volleyball Academy and Orange County Volleyball Club, two opposites of the United States. And both of them are coming together to adopt our project in Colombia. Wow. It's awesome. You know, that that's so they're combining their 5k sponsorship into one to support that project in in Cali, in Colombia. ⁓ so it it's also a connecting factor of clubs and people coming together and yeah, apparently it's not that difficult to do. ⁓ you know, to sp I didn't even say you this, but one of the the main ⁓ sponsors of Texas University ⁓ came in and ⁓ it they just adopted eight schools. Wow. Like one company, you know, and we're now implementing those schools in Kenya. ⁓ eight schools in the same region with the same sponsor, so that gives us a lot of operational capacity also. ⁓ and So yeah, we can be more grateful for things like that. And maybe the most important thing to mention for everyone that we as Let's Keep the Ball Flying are facilitating this, but not running it. It's the local people on the ground that run it. And that's that's that helps you scale. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. That's crucial. You know, we don't trust with the community. Yeah, yeah. Who are we to come in there and say what they have to do? We have our guidelines. We know in our experience of all the different places what is needed, what works and what doesn't work, but they can make their own budgets based on those guidelines. And, you know, they are the ones that are doing the work on the field. Yep. Wow. Well, Leslie, this is amazing. Thank you so much again for the work that you and your team of volunteers ⁓ have been able to achieve ⁓ in in the in the few years already. So is there anything that we missed or anything you want to leave us with before we wrap up? no. I just a big massive thank you for sharing this message and for the work that you do. And again, wherever people want to engage and be involved, just reach out. We're here to help and make magic happen together. Yeah. Well well, as I mentioned, volleyball's had a massive impact on my life, and I'm sure a lot of people listening can share the same thing. So if people are inspired, Get engaged, reach out to Leslie and and and just have a conversation and and see where you could plug in and accelerate the impact that they're having. ⁓ Leslie, thank you so much again for your time and and really honored to share your story here. Thank you so much, Joseph. Really appreciate it. And let's do it again in one year from now and see what happens. I need to come on one of your trips. Well ⁓ once I hit stop recording here, folks, we're gonna we're gonna talk about it. So it's so exciting. Cool. Awesome. All right. Thank you. Thank you. chao