Even though it happens too far and in between, it’s nice to see a player make a commitment to something more important than themselves. And to something really, really far away… like Guatemala far. That’s the case with Manchester City’s Shaun Wright-Phillips who, after working for and donating to a charity in England that was helping Guatemalan kids complete their educations, decided to actually go to the country and show that money doesn’t change all athletes… even if it is a recently earned $18 million from the newly monied Man City to move from Chelsea.

Carrying bags of cement and water purifiers up a Guatemalan hillside in the name of charity makes football training seem easy, says England international Shaun Wright-Phillips who has been helping out in the Central American country.

“I’ll be involved for the rest of my life,” he told Reuters at the start of a fundraising Harley Davidson motorcycle ride in Chelsea last month. “The smiles and the happiness on the kids’ faces keep me going back there. It’s a lovely country and I’d never stop going back.”

Guatemala is mad about soccer and one of the school’s teachers said the sport was a great unifier when Wright-Phillips visited this year. “The kids loved him as soon as he shared his football skills with them,” Osmar Santos said.

And they were really thrilled when they found out he’d gotten out of what one poor child muttered, “damn Chelski.”

Wright-Phillips builds links with Guatemala [Reuters]
Image [www.eftc.org.uk]