About a month ago, the Student Council held Ultimate Frisbee intramurals. Almost 70 people signed up and played the sport for two weeks. One of the team leaders was Chasen Brokaw, a member of the NCAI/ICF community and ultimate enthusiast. Along with his wife, Katie, Chasen came to Nicaragua to reach children through the love of the game. They are officially affiliated with Breaking Borders, an organization co-founded by Chasen with a friend, Stephen Ierardi. Their mission focuses on how sports create community and develop leadership in students.
To start his outreach, he partnered with Mike Rumley-Wells and NCA alumnus Ruben Gomez to coach a youth team based at NCA. Now, the team (Dale Pues Ultimate) includes almost 20 students, ranging from 7th graders to Seniors. At each meeting, the team goes over drills and warm-ups before coming together for a talk about a leadership skill: humility, communication, and service, among others. Then they participate in a pickup game with adults who come later in the afternoon.
The next phase in Chasen’s vision for the youth team at NCA is to reach out to the surrounding communities to both teach ultimate and instill the same leadership qualities in Nicaraguan youth. He will soon begin work in Ciudad Sandino to create another youth team there, and in the future the Dale Pues Ultimate Team will be making trips near San Rafael del Sur, in Chorotega. It’s not only a great outreach project, but also a community-building opportunity for NCA students.
Another opportunity that this team has is to take a trip to Costa Rica in March to compete with other student ultimate teams. Though the dates still aren’t finalized, the trip will most likely be the first weekend of Semana Santa.
This team is always looking for new players. Whether you’ve been playing ultimate your whole life, or were just introduced to the sport at intramurals, you are invited to come play! We’d love to see you Sunday afternoons at 2:00 on the NCA soccer field.
For more information about Chasen’s ministry, send an email to chasen@breakingborders.org or visit breakingborders.org.
