The winter months are usually very busy, full of emotions, and are blessed by God. Even though the war is still going on in the country, we, in Rivne, can get together, and our children can actively attend practices. When it’s very cold outside, we get to train in an indoor mini-soccer field, although the renovation there has not yet been completed, and it is already partially furnished and heated, but most importantly, it is ours, and this is a great blessing. Back in the fall, we set up our training field and put on the ground a new high-quality soccer turf made of artificial grass – this is also a real miracle!
Now our children practice in excellent conditions. The funds were raised thanks to caring people and our friends, God is good!
I’d like to share briefly about each of the age categories of our club. The adult team coached by Oleksiy Lupenko took a winter break after a long season.
The youth team, coached by Pasha Ozarchuk, also is on a break after the season. Some of the players come to help the coaches of the children’s age groups in training. This is a very cool tradition when the older guys serve the younger ones, this is how relationships between different age groups develop and we learn to care for each other together.
Children’s teams U11 and U12 under the leadership of Oleksandr Honchar and Tom Merchant actively train and participate in various tournaments. At every training session, children read God’s Word, learn to practice, and live according to Christian values.
U8, U9 (in the picture), and U10 players of coach Dmytro Sosnovsky are also training and learning.
The coach had the opportunity to go on a short-term trip to the city of Barvinkovo, Kharkiv region, where he met the football/soccer coach and the team, conducted training, briefly shared about the history of the “Nadia” team, and the Good News. Hopefully, we will continue our further cooperation. We pray for these children and adults.
Soccer players celebrated Christmas together with the Community of the Good Shepherd church. We had a lot of children and their parents. We spent a good time together, as we rejoiced, sang, listened to the Christmas story, and together reflected on the true meaning of Christmas.
Each of the groups always prays before and after practices and games. In particular, we constantly lift in our prayers our fighters. We believe that the Lord is above everything and He can give strength to our defenders and stop the war. Together with my parents, we collected gifts for the soldiers on the front lines.
We continue to practice, make friends, get better, study the Word, and “play for God” – this is the motto of our club.
Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support!
Dmytro Sosnovsky
