Rising volleyball star gives new hope to troubled South Sudanese community in Calgary

From Volleyball Canada’s national training centre in Vancouver, next gen athlete Nyadholi Thokbuom is taking time between her two a day training session to connect via zoom to the South Sudanese community back in Calgary where she grew up.

Thokbuom plans to share an important message with the children there about how they too can achieve big goals, whether it’s in volleyball or something else in life. 

"It's something I think about every day because I have those hard days as well.  I think, what am I doing here? I should be just working like everybody else.  Then I remember that I'm doing this ultimately (not just me but for) the other people that don't think this is possible,” Thokbuom says.

She adds, "anyone that looks like me or comes from the background that I do, like my parents immigrated to Canada almost 30 years ago, I never thought that I could achieve something of this stature."

Thokbuom was hoping to be in Calgary in person talking to the children as one of the program leaders this summer at Calgary’s Youth Employment and Skills Centre (YES), helping introduce volleyball to the children as part the program.  But she altered her plans when the Canadian team asked her to come to Vancouver to train with them for the fourth year in a row.

Calgary’s Youth Employment and Skills Centre (YES) is one of 30 community organizations around the country which recently obtained a grant from Volleyball Canada to purchase volleyball equipment including balls and nets and to offer coaching throughout the summer. Volleyball Canada received $425,000 in total from Sport Canada. This is all part of Sport Canada’s Community Sport for All Initiative aimed at offering sporting opportunities to equity deserving groups. 

YES was founded by Gar Gar, who came to Canada as a refugee from South Sudan when he was a teenager. YES focuses on racially vulnerable and immigrant youth, in particular South Sudanese youth, who they recognize might be at a higher risk for joining gangs or being vulnerable to crime.

Gar says over the years the community has had to deal with many complex social issues.  He has seen many people struggle trying to fit in and find places where they belong, which has led to tragic consequences.

"I have attended far too many funerals rather than happy moments. We call them children of the snow because these funerals often take place in the winter months.  In my generation, I know a lot of people who are either in jail, six feet under, or dealing with mental health issues or homelessness.  That’s one of the big reasons why we said something needed to be done,” Gar says.

He says the COVID pandemic has made things even worse as the community faced even further isolation and mental health challenges.  He says the older generation which fled war and violence doesn’t understand and often doesn’t talk about mental health challenges – even if some of the youth face bullying and racism.

"One of our biggest worries is post COVID. It is like a bubbling pot on the stove.  As soon as we open the cover, you can see it almost boiling over. That's the reality, we are dealing right now in Calgary alone.  We are seeing the numbers of South Sudanese homeless increase.”

YES is offering these free volleyball classes on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the summer adding it to basketball and soccer programs that it has run previously. Gar says sport is a universal language, but financial barriers sometimes mean it is not accessible to the community. 

They plan to teach the children volleyball skills plus lessons around discipline, hard work and teamwork. This is in addition to other important activities YES provides, including helping the youth find employment and improving their computer literacy.

Pamella Kinyua is the head coach of the volleyball program and played the sport competitively as a teenager. Kinyua’s family is from South Sudan and she says she’s witnessed first-hand how easy it is for the youth to go down the wrong path.

"A lot of the younger kids who don’t participate in after school programs or sport activities, they don’t have a gateway, they don’t have an out, a place where they can go and where they feel they belong. Sometimes unfortunately, these gangs or these bad influences are the groups that are accepting them.”

On this warm night in June, the youth in the community take turns practicing their serves, bumping and setting at the Valleyview Park beach volleyball courts in Southeast Calgary.

In between sessions, the children take a breather in the sand and when the activities wrap up, the participants and volunteers enjoy pizza.

Kinyua says having the youth engaged in this program and feeling part of a community will make a big difference.

"I think this program is vital to bring hope to our community and to show them that there's a different way. By engaging the kids and having a community centre that is open to them, whether they need a meal, whether they need guidance, counselling, sports that keep them busy, or just friendship, they'll have that all here.  Through this program we can take them away from negative environments and introduce a place where they feel safe, can be themselves and give them a place to belong.”

Kinyua says they plan to try to include as many parents as possible in the activities to build a bigger community around the youth and a place where they can celebrate the South Sudanese culture.

For instance, when they gather on the field outside the community centre to play volleyball, they’ll blast the pulsating sounds of special music from South Sudan where participants traditionally jump high like in volleyball. This is part of what’s known as a Dinka Bor, Lake State and Didinka dance from back home.  They hope to get the parents dancing while the kids are playing volleyball, and everyone is having fun moving.

In addition to the sport activities, Gar says it is important to bring in influencers like Thokbuom as guest speakers to inspire the children. Thokbuom’s ultimate goal is to represent Canada at the Olympics, whether it is in Paris in 2024 or Los Angeles in 2028. Gar says it’s important for these youth to see they can have their own dreams.

"She’s the best example of an amazing South Sudanese player who is now playing professional. When kids see her, they see a role model. They think I can do it too.”

He adds, when they (the youth) jump, they sometimes fall down. That's the fear. It's not about how high you hit the ball, but what happens when you fall down. To have somebody who they look up to showcase that and say there's a couple of times that I fell.  I don't look at them as failures. I look at them as trials.”

Back in Vancouver, Thokbuom says she wants to let the kids in her community know how she stumbled into volleyball.  She started later than most, couldn’t hit the ball or jump all that well at first.  But she never gave up.

"I truly do this for the representation because I know sport is not something that a lot of younger South Sudanese girls have ever aspired towards, at a really high level.   I have found comfort in knowing that they are kind of observing me, hopefully getting them to have the gears turning in their heads to be like, oh, I can do that too. It (volleyball) changed my life. So, I hope to help change it for some of them as well.”

Coach Kinyua is hoping the program will open up the community’s minds in new ways.

"We don't see a lot of people from our community represented in the Olympics. So, I feel like to see us succeeding there, it would mean a lot to them.  I think it can also show that we can succeed in this society.  There's hope for our children.”

She adds, "a lot of our parents came here running from the war and coming as refugees. Their mindset is I must start over and provide for my kids.  Extracurricular activities, or joining the Olympics, that's the last thing on their minds."

Sport may be the last thing on the community’s minds, but Gar is already thinking about next year and finding enough donations so they have the resources to continue the program.

"One of our biggest fears is when you suddenly build hope and something that is better, sometimes there won’t be enough resources to keep it going.”

• Article by Teddy Katz
• Photo: Brett Holmes Photography, Calgary