Honduras Travel

The nail has yet to be driven, but the spot has been picked out on the living room wall of the Richt house.

It’s there, in the room where it will be seen the most, the Richts will hang a wood carving of a Honduran village as a symbol of a mission trip they will never forget and a place they know they will return to one day.

Closer to home, Mark Richt coaches campers with cancer at Camp Sunshine in Rutledge.

“We are going to go back,” Georgia football coach Mark Richt said.

That statement comes just four days after Richt, his wife, Katharyn, and four children, Jon, David, Anya and Zach, got back from a weeklong mission trip in Guaimaca, Honduras.

Not only are the Richts planning to go back, but one day the coach would like to take his Georgia players with him.

“I think I may try to get some guys to go,” Richt said. “I would have to find out the [NCAA] compliance issue on that. I would be sad to think it would not be allowed.

“There are 28 bunks for the guys, and if no girls came you could have 28 guys on the other side,” Richt continued. “I’d love to fill those bunks with those guys and let them see it.”

What they would see is a country gripped by poverty but rich in beauty, spirit and community. What they would experience is a feeling of giving to a cause greater than Georgia football, if only for a week.

Guaimaca and its surrounding villages became a place where Richt could step outside of himself and get back to the core of who he really is. He was no longer a coach or celebrity, just another man trying to lead people down the path he has found to be true.

“I wonder how much impact I really had,” Richt said. “I was really awkward giving my testimony, because I knew they didn’t know who I was. They couldn’t relate to the stories that I knew that people in America could relate to. So I felt pretty inadequate.”‘

Still, he talked and told those stories, and ultimately the entire Richt family made an impact.

“They really seemed to click with them right away,” said Todd Unzicker, one of the mission workers and a close friend of the Richt family. “David, Zack and Anya made real friendships with the Honduran children and were swapping gifts with them by the end of the week. Mark really seemed to hit it off with Jorge, a carpenter.

“To Jorge, [Mark] was just a good worker, and he had no idea who he was,” Unzicker continued. “Jorge even said, ‘He is very serious like he is in the military or is some kind of coach.’ Mark said, ‘I am.’ Jorge replied, ‘I think I can see that.’ I got a chuckle out of that.”

Most important, what Richt did with the men of these communities was become one of them for a week – a friend and someone they could rely on. He did that by stepping onto their playing fields.

“The best thing that came out of our trip was that they started that soccer ministry,” Richt said.

The passion for soccer in Honduras rivals that for football in the South. Unzicker, who has been in both worlds, understood this and found a way to take advantage of it.

“The Richts really had a huge presence on the soccer field and in the day-care center,” Unzicker said. “Mark and the boys really made a big impact, not because of who they are in the States, but because of the type of people they really are. Katharyn and Anya were really special in the day-care center, and I’ve already had many of the children ask me when are they coming back.”

Each afternoon, the Richt men would travel to villages for a 4 p.m. soccer game. This was a chance to experience fun with fellowship. A dash of humility may also have been added.

“The first time I am playing goalie, and I have got my goalie shirt on and there are a bunch of guys around kicking the ball and they are doing the heading and the kneeing and the footing, the ball never hit the ground,” Richt said. “And then they would kick it at the goal and I would stop it. I am feeling pretty good, feeling pretty confident, you know. Then I realize the real players were on the other side of the field warming up. These were just the kids. The non-studs. When the game started I was like, ‘These guys are like the national team of Honduras. They are kicking my butt.’”

After one goal, Jon, Richt’s oldest, wanted to take his dad’s place. A couple of minutes and another goal later, Richt accepted his fate, took off his goalie jersey and handed it to Jon.

“I fired myself,” he said.

But he may have found another job.

“[After the games] we would sit there and talk to 30, 40, 50 men and they would be riveted on what was being said,” Richt said. “[Unzicker] said that has never happened in the last two years.

“One guy was saying if you guys keep coming back and doing this we promise to be in church with our families, and we will be quiet and pay attention if you just come back and play these games again.

“And when we left, [Unzicker] had guys coming to him saying, ‘When are you guys coming back? Are you going to do this again?’”

Yes, Mark Richt’s family is going to do it again.

By CARTER STRICKLAND