Last month, I spent five days walking on the Great Wall of China. It was part of a larger event that was organized by Olivia Newton John to raise money and awareness for her new cancer and wellness center in Australia. She was walking 228 kilometers in 23 days. I’m not so great at math, but that’s pretty far - on a wall. I was going to Dribble a soccer ball but got worried that if the ball fell off, it would be too big of a jump to go get it. Olivia and I had a lot of time to chat while walking, and I told her all about Grassroot Soccer and the Dribble. She was very impressed and mentioned how this walk was perfect preparation for my 100 day trek starting in August. Walking on the Great Wall was a life changing journey and I met amazing people from all over the world, all coming together to support cancer research.

This is exactly what I’m trying to do with the Dribble - Connect youth from all over the world through the game of soccer to help end HIV/AIDS. The first step to solving a problem is awareness, teaching others about the problem at hand and motivating them to want to do something about it. With the Dribble, I simply want to give kids, and soccer communities in general around the USA and the world, a chance to learn about the frightening impact HIV/AIDS is having on Southern Africa, and what Grassroot Soccer is doing to give the next generation of African children a chance to live an HIV and stigma free life.

Does everyone know what I mean by stigma? In many African countries, one of the biggest barriers to HIV testing and proper HIV prevention is the negative stigma surrounding the disease. People are afraid to talk about HIV, or go in for a test that might save their life, because they don’t want to be looked down upon by their family, or made fun of by their peers. What we want to do at Grassroot Soccer is make kids, and all others in the community, feel comfortable to talk about HIV/AIDS, tell their stories, and create a positive environment in which they can make healthy choices.

So that’s why awareness is so important in Africa - the more people talk about HIV/AIDS, the more others feel comfortable to talk about it, learn about it, and make good choices using what they know. The same goes for us here in the US - the more we can learn about what’s going on in Africa, and get inspired to help, the better. Learn something, and talk about what you learn, and get involved.

So, whether it’s walking on a big wall in China or Dribbling through the streets of New York City, the point is to get others to learn about an issue important to me, and inspire them to do something about it.

Hey guys - I woke up this morning and felt like it was time for another blog post. To start things off, I’d like to take another minute to thank the New England Revolution for their enthusiastic support of GRS and my Dribble. Check out this video on the Revolution web site - clearly I had a great time at their practice last week.

Viva la Revolution!

In other news…

Training is going well…blah blah, we don’t need to talk about that. However, I was feeling a bit heavy, and rather than cut back on power bars, I cut off some of my afro. It’s still curly and flopps around like usual but I’m a bout 0.08 seconds faster in my three mile wog. Oh yeah, I’ve created a new word for my training technique…”Wog”. If you combine a walk and a jog, you get wog. For example, “Today I took a short wog in central park” , or “I’m going wogging with my buddy Scott tomorrow”. Yes, I have a lots of plane rides to think about this stuff.

You know what else I have to think about? How epic this dribble is going to be. I’m getting really pumped for this thing. I start in two months and we already got a plug in People Magazine, NY Times, Boston Herald and Boston Globe - take a look at the GRSU media page to read more. I got to see the special edition Puma Grassroot Soccer United Ball. It’s so sweet that we are having mini ones made as well. We played with the size five for a week just to make sure it was up to GRS standards. This basically means, Lucas had to keep running into the woods to fetch all my botched shots.

Now, I’d like the opportunity to introduce you all to Lucas Richardson. Lucas is originally from Denver, Colorado. He played for Rush Soccer club before playing for four years at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, just a few miles from the Grassroot Soccer office. That is where he met Tommy Clark, who I worked with to start Grassroot Soccer way back in the day. I would be willing to bet a lot of money that they met on a soccer field.

Lucas is a rock star, he returned home a bit early from his GRS internship in Lusaka Zambia to help me with the dribble. He is running the show right now, calling on corporations, singing up soccer clubs, chatting with MLS teams AND dealing with me. Lucky guy right? I hope he likes to wog - we’ve got a lot of that coming up.

Hey everybody

So I took a much needed break from training yesterday and made my way north to Boston to go watch the New England Revolution practice as they prepare for a big game against Chivas this weekend in LA. The team looked great - everybody was working hard on a rainy Thursday morning.

After their practice I got a chance to talk about Grassroot Soccer, Africa, and the Dribble with Revs goalie Doug Warren and veteran defender Jay Heaps - they couldn’t believe I am actually planning to dribble a soccer ball the whole way. But I convinced them that it’s going to happen, and that there’s nothing that can stop me as I make my way south - through back roads, main roads, across rivers and under highways, I’m going to dribble a ball every step of the way, all 511 miles. Or maybe I’ll juggle it the whole way?

After Jay and Doug headed in to the locker room I got to spend a few minutes talking to Revs players Kheli Dube, Sainey Nyassi, and Kenny Monsally. Kheli is from Zimbabwe, and Sainey and Kenny are from Gambia. This was exciting for me, talking to Kheli about Zimbabwe and the famous Highlanders. It was great to hear about how important soccer has been for these guys, and how hard they have worked to achieve their dreams. Wells Thompson hung around as well, and was really pumped to talk about Africa and my Dribble.

I just want to say thanks to the Revolution organization for their support. It’s going to be awesome to start the Dribble from Gillette Stadium on August 20th, when the Revs play DC United. Mark it down!

And maybe the best part about having to go to Boston is that I get to spend mother’s day at home -

Hi mom!

EZ

ps here is a picture of me and Zimbabwean star Kheli Dube after practice on Thursday. And check out this article about us in the Boston Herald:

http://www.bostonherald.com/track/celebrity/view.bg?articleid=1092814

Dribble 2008 had been only an idea for months, however, today it sank in that the odyssey would be taking place and that I would be dribbling a soccer ball over 500 miles. Boston, MA to Washington, D.C., crazy crazy. Looks like I will have to average about seven miles day to keep pace of our goals. My true concerns began last week when I joined Olivia Newton-John, Joan Rivers, Sir Cliff Richard and others walking along the Great Wall of China for a cancer fundraiser. Honestly, I was a bit sore. Yes, I think I could run seven miles (especially if someone happened to be chasing me), but I cannot remember the last time I ran seven miles back to back… not to mention for weeks on end. And clearly I am not quite as fit as I used to be. It is official, today is the day I seriously consider when I will have to begin my training regiment. This weekend I head to central park, I am not sure if I’m going to dribble a soccer ball, but yes, I will be wearing my running shoes. Yep, standing upon my couch I declare to the world, ‘I am committed and ready to take on the challenge of, Dribble 2008!’

Viva Grassroot Soccer!