After graduating in 2005 with a degree in sports and exercise science, Lindal was eager to do something other than crack the books. However, he returned to his native Norway and began working toward a master’s degree. He also applied to become a coach with La Mision Alianza Noruega, a Norwegian organization that assists children in underdeveloped countries through a project called Futbol Cruza Fronteras, or Soccer Across Borders.

Through Mision Alianza, Lindal has served as a youth coach at the El Alto Soccer Academy in La Paz, Bolivia, since February. El Alto is one of 13 soccer academies in La Paz that were established by local municipalities but receive financial assistance, coaches and other support through Mision Alianza.

Lindal assists El Alto’s head coach, Gualberto Maldonaldo Caballero, who is in charge of about 50 kids at each of three sites in the city’s suburbs. Most of the 150 children at El Alto come from extremely low incomes, some less than $2 a day. Ages range from 6 to 18.

The academy gives participants a positive outlet that keeps them away from the dangerous street life. Participation is free — the only requirement is a birth certificate — and practice times are arranged around the school day. Due to a lack of classrooms and teachers, the younger children go to school in the mornings and report to the academy in the afternoons, while the older kids practice in the mornings and hit the pitch in the afternoons.

Games are organized on a weekly basis. Teams are assigned based on age group — under 11, under 15 and under 17. Lindal said there are about six teams.

Lindal’s responsibilities are extensive — at times even requiring him to coach alone — and different from his expectations of simply having a good time learning the language and helping out a bit at the academy.

"I never knew how big a role I was going to play," said Lindal. "I wanted to give them something to look forward to and I wanted to be a role model and give them some new ideas and values. Soccer is universal, and through this I can gain enough trust for them to listen to other things I have to say outside of soccer. And they listen."

On occasion, Lindal uses the practice time to kick around important issues with his young charges, such as alcohol and drug abuse, nutrition and HIV/AIDS prevention. "A lot of what’s normal for Western kids to know is totally unknown here," he said. "For example, some parents tell their kids not to exercise too much because they think its stops their growth."

Beyond his role as coach and counselor, Lindal has been able to score some much needed equipment for the academy — there’s usually just one ball for every 20 players. But North Carolina-Pembroke head women’s soccer coach Lars Andersson and other faculty and staff members at the school helped procure more than 20 soccer balls, 25-30 practice vests, a speed ladder and lots of cones.

"His first e-mail was a pleasant surprise. I was touched by his account of the conditions under which many of these children live and I wrote him back asking if we could help," said Andersson. "We are all very proud of what Tommy is doing. He was a standout student-athlete both on the field and in the classroom and obviously has been able to transfer that kind of success to the game of life."

Even as he works to educate children through soccer, Lindal is doing some growing of his own and admits that the kids and their positive attitudes have made a lasting impression.

"I would have thought, since they are so poor, they might have been more sad, have bad attitudes or looked more depressed. But that is not the case," Lindal said. "They are as happy and laughing as all the other kids I have coached, with a life attitude that is just amazing. Other than that, they fight, interrupt when I talk and do every other thing that any kid in any country would do."

Lindal’s contract with Mision Alianza and Soccer Across Borders expires in November, at which time he will return to Norway to resume his graduate studies. Ultimately, he hopes to teach at a high school and coach soccer. Someday he plans to return to Bolivia.

All of that is months away, though. For now, he’s savoring the opportunity to serve as a mentor, friend and coach to a group of kids who are in need of all three.