Associated Press
CLEVELAND - A group of Ohio youngsters didn't know much about water polo when they tried out for the International Children's Games.
Eight girls from Kabul, Afghanistan, learned how to play soccer just a month before the competition, which opens Friday and is being held in the United States for the first time since it started 36 years ago.
The novices are among the athletes representing 128 cities in 54 countries in the four-day event. The games, endorsed by the International Olympic Committee, are for children ages 11 to 15, with competition in sports including track and field, swimming, basketball and gymnastics.
Although most of the 2,200 participants have been training in their sports for years, children are not required to qualify for the event, so some beginners will participate.
"For the most part, you'll see extremely good athletes," said David Gilbert, president of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, which organized this year's games. But a goal of the games is to expose children to other cultures, so "the sports are an excuse to bring all these people together."
Most of the water polo team of 15 boys from Cleveland knew only the basics of the game when they tried out to represent the city. The boys spent the last four months learning "the real rules," coach Dave Kovach said.
The girls from Afghanistan got involved in the games through the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange, an organization founded by Awista Ayub, 24, of Waterbury, Conn.
Ayub, whose family traveled to the United States when she was 2, wanted a way to help the children in her native country become leaders.
With the help of colleagues in Afghanistan, she recruited a team of girls who wanted to learn soccer and travel to Cleveland to compete. They will be the first delegation to represent Afghanistan at the games.
Ayub said she has spent thousands of dollars of her own to get the girls to the United States. They spent July at the Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Conn., working with volunteer coaches to learn the game.
"The goal is to have them use sports as a tool to promote leadership," Ayub said.
Through a translator, 11-year-old Hasina Mohammad said she has enjoyed learning the game, but it's "hard to score a goal."
Her teammate Hanifa Mohammad, 11, agreed scoring was difficult but added, "I score goals, so I am very happy." She said she would like to teach more girls to play when she returns to Afghanistan.
The Cleveland boys have been training since March to learn the many rules of competitive water polo and how to tread in deep water for long periods.
A few of Kovach's players, including Ryan Markling, 15, had experience in a recreational league, which had far fewer rules and prevented much contact in the water.
"I've never played in a competition of real water polo before," Markling said. "I'm anxious to see what's going to happen."