FA Young Leaders visit South Africa

In May 2010, 13 Young Leaders from Birmingham, London, East and North Riding County Football Associations embarked on a 10-day tour to deliver coaching sessions in schools across South Africa. The trip, which was funded by the British Council and supported by The FA, gave Young Leaders from the UK and South Africa a chance to share their experiences. The UK participants quickly learned to adapt their sessions to new and challenging situations - having only one football, no cones or bibs and sometimes only a patch of dirt to play on. Taking turns to coach, they exchanged ideas for warm-ups and drills and found out more about each other’s cultures, learning songs and dances from the school children.

A visit to the HIV Treatment Action Centre in Khayelitsha and the opportunity to meet local families in their homes highlighted some of the issues that have an impact on the lives of children in South Africa’s townships.

Drawing comparisons between the UK and South Africa, the group saw similarities in the invisibility of women’s football and prejudice towards female players. In both countries women and girls struggle to gain the respect they deserve, but in South Africa the negative attitudes they face can be more dangerous and women often risk their lives to play the sport they love.

The group now looks forward to a visit from the South Africa Young Leaders in 2011 and will no doubt be following South Africa’s progress in the World Cup ever more closely now.

Read more about the Young Leaders visit on www.thefa.com

 

£33,000 boost from The FA

The FA has donated £33,000 to Coaching for Hope as a show of continued support. The generous donation was a direct result of proceeds from The FA Cup back in May 2009 - £1 was donated to Coaching for Hope for every match programme sold. The money will go towards the work we are doing in the build up to the World Cup and will build the skills and capacity of local coaches to lead football sessions that convey important social messages about sexual health and substance misuse. We are extremely grateful to The FA for their ongoing commitment to our work.

Continued support from The FA

The FA has recently shown its support for our programme by building our capacity to deliver top quality football coaching to the women we work with in West Africa. In November 2009, we ran a course in Mali for some of our most dedicated female coaches. The FA supported this by providing two of their most experienced female coaches - Tracey Kevins and Laura Harvey. Both coaches did a tremendous job of delivering the course and supporting our women coaches to deliver HIV crossover sessions and football coach education.