‘It will change the way you think’ – Kayla-Marie Pottinger reflects on her Zambian adventure
COACHING football in Zambia has been a life-altering experience for Kayla-Marie Pottinger, she says after a two-month spell in Africa.
The 21-year old had just returned from the country when she sat down with Shetland News last week, and she beamed as she spoke about fulfilling a lifelong dream out in Zambia.
“I can’t believe how fast it went,” she said.
“It was such a good experience. It will change the way you think about everything.
“Anyone that’s thinking about it, definitely do it – 100 per cent.”
Kayla-Marie earned the opportunity to go to Zambia as a women’s development officer through Stirling University, where she studies maths and finance, and its partnership with Volunteer Zambia.
She began the long journey out to the south of Africa in late May, returning after an arduous journey back in late July, having spent two months coaching football to kids of varying ages.
The group – including 10 girls and one boy, as well as staff – also got to visit Victoria Falls and to go on safari in Botswana before returning to the UK.
Sandy pitches laced with broken glass, a scarcity of footballs and often no goalposts do nothing to spoil the enthusiasm of footballers in Zambia, Kayla-Marie said.
She moved between three hub sites, and said that the playing conditions were often not ideal.
“There was glass all over the pitch, and it was sandy pitches. It was a lot more young kids at the first site and lots of them were playing without shoes, so it was really dangerous to be honest.”
At the first site the coaches were encouraged to take the players to wash their kits, which Kayla-Marie said “was so much fun”.
“They were all singing songs and dancing while they were washing their kits,” she said.
At their second site Kayla-Marie – a key player for the Shetland Women’s football team – was asked to help coach an all-girls team.
“They wanted us to offer some ideas, and the girls’ had games on Saturday so we got to speak to them about what they could do better.”
Kayla-Marie said the standard of football in Zambia was really impressive.
“It was pretty good, really aggressive in a good way,” she said.
“They all have so much passion, and they really wanted to play. They’re all just so excited to play football, and they would be bringing their friends and younger siblings along to play.”
The sandy pitches were not the only hindrance to the football development of Zambia though. She said a lack of equipment was also massively difficult for coaches in the country.
“At one site they had 90 kids but just three footballs,” Kayla-Marie explained.
“Equipment was something that they really struggled with, and they just had to make do with what they had.
“Having to split a ball between 30 people isn’t very beneficial.”
She said that players in Shetland “don’t realise how privileged we are” with our easy access to footballs, pitches and goals.
“Most of the hub sites didn’t have goals,” she added.
“We had to go around someone to rent goals at the site in Mataro.”
The attitude towards football in Zambia is all-encompassing, Kayla-Marie said, and for many of the players the sport means everything to them.
“Some of them are using their last pennies to play, and some of the coaches are using their own money to get kids to come,” she said.
“For some of them it was all they have, and they were so happy and full of joy.
“Here we have so, so much, way more than we need, and sometimes we’re still not happy with that.”
She cited two eye-opening examples from her experiences in Zambia. She said one of the assistant coaches at one site had their phone stolen during a training session, but still came to training the next day “looking as happy as he always was”.
And in another, Kayla-Marie said she and a friend took two of the Zambian coaches out for lunch.
“They only ate around half of what we had bought them so we asked them if they didn’t like it,” she said.
“But they had saved the rest of the food to take it to give to two of the other coaches that afternoon, instead of asking us if we could buy them food as well.”
Zambian players are “all desperate to make it in football”, she said, and she added that they “couldn’t believe I didn’t play for the Scottish national team”.
An eye-opener for the coaches in Zambia came when Kayla-Marie explained to them about where she was from.
“I had to show them where Shetland was, they were amazed at how far away it was,” she said.
But a little piece of Shetland has remained in the country. Kayla-Marie donated Shetland Women’s football kits to players in Zambia, who have already worn them proudly.
“That was so bizarre seeing them all line up for a game in these Shetland tops,” she laughed.
“Most people just take tops, but I was able to take shorts and socks so that they had full kits. They appreciated that so much.”
Despite spending two whole months in Zambia, Kayla-Marie found herself wanting to stay even longer.
“When we were getting ready to leave I did start thinking that I was excited to get home and see my family.
“But then when we came to leave everyone was so upset, we were all in tears, the Zambian coaches and all the bairns were in tears.
“Another group has just gone out and I was looking at the photos thinking, ‘I’m so jealous of them!’”
And she said that she would “definitely want to go back”, if given the chance again.
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