I arrived in California late Saturday night where it finally sunk in that this is all happening and that for the next four months I will call this place my home. The teams General Manager dropped me off at my new home where I was able to meet my new host family. Each out of town player is placed with a host family each season. The family takes them in as one of their own and helps provide small essentials (food, conversation, roof over our heads) to make our transition to California a little easier. I have been very blessed to have a beautiful host family that has been nothing short of amazing. My host father (Kent) is a religion professor in the graduate program at Azusa Pacific University. "Mother" (Kim) is a stay at home mom but volunteers at the church quite often. They have two college aged children but only one (Kayla) lives at home, she also attends APU. There are two small dogs, Abby and Millie both of which are complete opposites. Abby can play and fight 24/7, she also twitches constantly due to excitement. Millie is extremely calm and often sleeps in a tiny basket but snores louder than a grown man. I do have a teammate staying at the same house as me. His name is Alvaro "Alvi" and he's a defender from Chile but plays collegiate soccer in Kansas. He's a great guy and an awesome soccer player so it will be nice getting to know him. Maybe I'll even learn some Spanish over the next few months!
The team had its first practice Monday morning. Half of the guys were there as the others were still traveling or some even completing finals in college. The training sessions was nice, but it will take a while to get used to this hot ball in the sky. I think its called the sun... whatever it is it's hot and it makes fitness and workouts a lot harder than back home. That night we had the privilege to watch our sister team from Charlotte play against the LA Galaxy 2. Many of you may remember but this is the professional team that had previously offered me a spot 3 months ago. It was very good to see them however, they gave us VIP clearance at the Stub Hub Center where we attended the Pre game Chapel and met all the guys in the lockerrooms. We even snuck onto the field and got an up close and personal view of the MLS stadium.
So far we've had two practices as a team. We are looking pretty good so far, but still lacking 5-10 players who will be arriving this week. Please continue to pray for us as we train our bodies and mind preparing ourselves for a season filled with sports ministry. Please pray for me as I am currently the only goalkeeper at training camp and it has already taken a toll on my body. California's ground is like concrete due to no rain and its not fun diving and pounding the ground over and over so please pray my body can take all the reps until my teammates arrive. Also pray for the people we will come into contact with. Pray that they see something different in us and question why we do what we do.
Thank you for reading and for all your prayers. I would love to stay in contact with you so please share this blog with anyone you know, send me a text or email, and follow me on all social medias! I love you all and can't thank you enough. God Bless!
Hayden Coffman
(615) 268-9571
haydencoffman1@gmail.com
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1201 Casa Del Rey Dr.
La Habra California 90631
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