Football Comes to Gambia

I invited Modou to the beach to teach him a litte about American Football, you have to specify "American Football" as what we call Soccer is actually Football everywhere in the world but the USA.  Gambians have no sports at all that involves throwing anything. Mo has never even see football played on tv. We spent about an hour on the beach with the waves crashing at our knees learning the basics of how to hold and throw the ball. The progression went something like this: Gripping the ball and heaving into the air like its a 16lb shotput, then tossing it like you are throwing a roundhouse haymaker punch. He eventually began to figure out the mechanics of it and resembled a teenage girl learning to throw a ball for the first time. All the while he had this expression on his face like he is trying to do long division in his head with his tongue hanging out to one side as he concentrates on which foot to step with. He has surprisingly good hands and is able to catch the ball as if it were velcro. After the first hour, every third toss actually had some spin and distance on it and his face would erupt into a huge grin. Not long after that we were throwing each other simple pass routes untill the fat Toubab was soaked and out of breath. He was very excited to learn the game and cant wait to try again next week.