Promoting women's football in South Africa

On 25th June 2010, Skillshare International development worker Lucy Mills co-ordinated a four-aside tournament for women and girls in Cape Town. 12 teams from the Western Cape took part in the event on Grand Central Parade, which formed part of the FIFA Fan Fest. Lucy is on a two-year placement in South Africa with Coaching for Hope, supporting our local partner organisation SCORE to deliver a football and life skills programme. Lucy, who worked with colleagues at Coaching for Hope and SCORE to organise the tournament, said: "I'm part of a research collective on gender and sport and last year we did extensive research into the extent to which women will benefit from the 2010 World Cup. Our findings were incredibly bleak and reinforced the challenges we face when promoting women's football. With so many football fans in Cape Town at the moment, it's a great time to raise awareness and take some big steps forward to address gender inequity."

Coaching for Hope 4, England fans 2

One of the travelling England fans teams challenged our South African coaches to a game of football on Friday 18th June 2010 before England's 0-0 draw against Algeria. Our coaches had not only developed a wide range of new coaching skills during Martin Allen's coaching masterclass, but had also improved their playing skills and managed to beat the England fans 4-2! Mike Richardson from Coaching for Hope is in Cape Town coaching alongside Martin Allen and said: "It was a fantastic afternoon of celebrating the World Cup and one the guys will always remember."

Young Capetonians parade national flags for Italy and Paraguay

On Monday 14th June, two of our course participants had a day that they'll remember for the rest of their lives. Hilton Kuhn from the Cape Peninsula University Youth Football Project and Tyler Briedenkamp from Marsh Memorial Children's Home were invited to carry the flags on to the pitch at the start of the Italy v Paraguay match.

Selected through the SONY Flagbearers Programme, Hilton and Tyler lined up in the tunnel with the two teams and match officials before parading the teams out for the national anthems. Following the opening formalities, Hilton and Tyler joined other special guests in the VIP area where they enjoyed a great view of the match.

Soaking up the atmosphere at FIFA Fan Fest

We celebrated the opening of the 2010 FIFA World Cup by taking a group of 80 young local people and their coaches to participate in the opening day's events in Cape Town. The day kicked off at the Cape Town FIFA Fan Fest, where some 17,000 fans from South Africa and visiting nations crowded into St George's Square to watch the opening ceremony and matches on giant screens. Our young representatives also took part in football activities and let off hundreds of balloons to mark the official opening. After watching South Africa play Mexico in the opening match on the big screen, the group walked along the Fan Route to the new Cape Town Stadium where they watched the France v Uruguay match live. The tickets were presented to the young players and their coaches through the SONY ticket programme which aims to enable young people from marginalised communities to attend World Cup matches. After a long day they headed home elated and proud to have been part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

UK clubs support Belhar training course

In July 2009, 34 coaches from Cape Town participated in a Coaching for Hope course at Belhar in the Western Cape. The one-week course was possible thanks to financial support from Hull City AFC and Brighton and Hove Albion in the Community. It was the first in Southern Africa to train level one (18 coaches) and level two coaches (16) simultaneously, and was a great success.

The level one coaches were trained to deliver structured football sessions and social messages about HIV and substance misuse to young people in their own communities. The level two coaches were trained to roll out our curriculum to other coaches, meaning our programme has a very sustainable approach and can reach a greater number of coaches and young people. The level two training focused mainly on how to teach football coaches to plan, prepare and deliver sessions that include social messages.

“Coaching for Hope, Hull City and Brighton and Hove Albion have once again worked together and delivered a super course, an experience that I will always remember, this is a once in a lifetime learning opportunity for me” (Matt Barr, Hull City AFC)

“I loved working with a completely new group of people to what I’m used to at Brighton, the passion and commitment amongst coaches is the same all over the world, and for me that proves football really does bring communities together, I hope now the coaches take the enthusiasm they have shown this week and use it to good effect in the sessions they run with the youth” (Stuart Christie, BHAFC)

“Coaching for Hope has given me a new found sense of confidence, I have never had a football coaching award before, and now I feel proud to have been on this course delivered by professional coaches from the UK clubs, I never knew you could use football to deliver messages to kids about substance abuse which is such a problem for the communities around here, I’ll defo be delivering the session after this course.” (Niclaus, CPUT)

The SEDYEL (South East District Youth Empowerment League) manual is the ‘course structure’ on which we base all delivery techniques, taking the coaches through the learning process of how to be a coach, from delivery styles to planning, preparing and delivering football coaching sessions. Our Goals Without Goalposts manual is a low resource football coaching tool that shows coaches how to deliver football sessions with access to very little equipment, using techniques such as Speed Agility Quickness work and warm up games.

UK coaches help raise awareness about substance abuse and HIV

In December 2008, coaches from Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, Hull City and QPR joined us in Cape Town to train potential coaches to recognised FA standards and teach them to use the power of football to educate children about the dangers of substance abuse and the facts around HIV awareness.  More than 25 potential coaches from townships participated.

Tottenham Hotspur Foundation coach Terry Fogarty said, "The coaches we worked with were from a variety of backgrounds, including those who worked in orphanages or living rough on the streets.  It was a real eye opener to see the lengths some people will go to, to make a difference."

The HIV awareness sessions consist of workshops delivered by health experts, followed by football activities.  These sessions began with questions and answers, followed by the coaches acting out example situations in a ‘role play’ format such as ‘What happens if you keep taking risks’ and ‘How HIV is transmitted’.

Terry said “The crossover sessions, as the HIV and substance sessions are called, are absolutely key to the problems these coaches face in their every day lives. In my 15 years as a coach I have never seen sessions quite like it!  We had a lot of fun on the course and the messages these sessions send can really save lives.”

The FA and Coaching for Hope using football as a force for good in Cape Town

In October 2008, three adult coaches and four young leaders from The FA flew in to Cape Town to share their skills with local coaches and young people from townships around the city. Working with Skillshare International's Coaching for Hope programme and the Amandla Ku Lutsha League (a league specifically for children outside family care), they ran a three-day course for local coaches and afternoon football workshops for disadvantaged young people. Local participants came from the Amandla Ku Lutsha League and the Western Cape Street Soccer League, which is responsible for selecting South Africa's Homeless World Cup squad. The afternoon workshops took place at orphanages and children's homes around the city - including Bapumalele Orphanage, The Homestead Street Children's Centre, Holy Cross Children’s Home, and Marsh Memorial Children's Home.

Training materials

We developed the substance misuse manual in partnership with the local Drugs Council in 2008. It details eight football-substance misuse crossover sessions that provide a practical learning environment for young people in which they can learn about the dangers of taking drugs without feeling stigmatised by their teachers or coaches.

Our HIV awareness manual includes eight crossover sessions that engage young people in games in which they learn about the dangers of risky sexual behaviour. The manual is made up of facts, figures and useful information about HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.

Sharing skills across Southern Africa

In addition to our work in Cape Town, we're also working with organisations in Botswana and Lesotho to provide skills training. In August 2008, we worked with a local organisation called SEYDEL to provide a coach to facilitate a second one-week course in Botswana. The course provided top-up training for 30 local coaches in how to use football as an educational tool, covering topics such as planning, delivery, communication and self evaluation and how to integrate HIV awareness into football coaching sessions.  In Lesotho, we're collaborating with local organisations working in sport and development to run a course focusing on disability in Maseru.

SA programme hosts visit by University of Central Lancashire

In August 2009, Clint Godfrey from the University of Central Lancashire visited our programmes in Cape Town to investigate opportunities for UCLAN and Coaching for Hope to work more closely together on student placements and monitoring and evaluation. Read more about his trip here...

League for orphans and vulnerable children

In Cape Town, we support the Amandla Ku Lutsha league which runs football leagues and leadership programmes for young people from about 30 children’s homes, street kids shelters, and drug rehabiliation programmes in and around Cape Town. On 1st May 2009, with funding from Coaching for Hope, the Amandla Ku Lutsha ran a 24-hour football tournament. Footballers from all over Cape Town joined together in Khayelitsha for the event which focused on crime awareness and positive messages. Read more...