The last long ride of the day was 25 km ride to
Køge. I had a burst of energy after about 5 km
from all the pastries I had eaten in Ringsted so
Rico and I hit sprint speed and flew the last 20
km at an average of around 40 km per hour (we had                 
pretty good wind most of the way).  We arrived in
Køge at Hastrup, a community with a large ethnic           
population, and stopped at Hastrup Skole where I
was greeted by my friend Mayor Marie Stærke and
my new friend Louisa, a teacher dressed in
festive ‘Spanish’ attire,  representing the
teachers who were  celebrating graduation with a
Spanish-themed party. I do not think I have ever
seen a more fun group of teachers. But before
joining with the teachers in celebration, I first
needed to meet a remarkable young lady named
Cecilie Hallev. Cecilie is an avid football
(soccer) player. Last year, at the age of 15,
Cecilia was troubled by the fact that young
Muslim girls in this neighborhood did not have an
opportunity to play organized football. So she
started a team of young girls, and called them FC
Hastrup. I was greeted by the cute young girls in
their pink football jerseys with “FC Hastrup”
on the front, along with the name of their sponsor
Spar Nord Bank. Two of the young girls were in
their traditional headscarves and Cecilie
explained to me and to the local media in
attendance that she was leading a campaign within
the Danish Football Union to allow girls to play
in headscarves. Cecilie is a remarkable young               
lady, and she has been nominated by the commune
to receive the Ministry of Integretion’s Annual
Integration Award (the one that Reverand Torben
Hangaard and Imam Abu Hassan received a couple of
years ago.) I can think of no better example in
Denmark of the combination of the spirit of
volunteerism and the spirit of cultural diversity
than Cecilie. She would be an excellent recipient
of the award.

The visit with Cecilie and FC Hastrup gave me a
chance to tell the media and the Mayor about our
Taking the Lead summer leadership camp for young
people from ethnic backgrounds. I am a firm
believer in the Power of Team Sports to bring
people together, and the Leadership camp this
summer at the Gerlev Sports Academy will showcase
that power. I am hopeful that some of the young
ladies from FC Haslev will join us for the camp.
After kicking the ball around with the girls for
a few minutes on the field I made the obligatory
stop by the teacher’s party to wish them well
for the summer.  Wow, do those teacher’s know
how to party! As Philip said as we were leaving
“If my teachers had been like that, I would
have stayed in school for a lot more years!”
I am really sorry that we could not stay longer
(and I think Team ReDiscovery was equally sorry
to have to leave), but we headed for the last
stop of the Day, the Køge Town Center, which was
about 4 km away. I was honored to have both Mayor
Marie Stærke and Cecilie Hallev join me for the
final ride and was really pleased when Cecilie
committed that she would join us on July 4 in
Copenhagen for the final ride of the ReDiscovery
Tour.  That is now only one day’s ride away.

(Foto: Cecilie repræsenterer FC Hastrup på scenen, interviewet af Ambassadør Cain den 4. juli 2008 i residensen Rydhave. A.Hallev)

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