Four Young Leaders returned this week from a once in a lifetime trip to Cape Town as part of The FA's 'Changing Lives' programme in partnership with 'Coaching For Hope'.
Rosie Eggleston, Ashley Harris, Samantha Mudd and Nick Storey were the four Young Leaders who were selected to represent The FA to deliver a coaching programme for 7-14-year-olds from the local children’s homes including the infamous Khayelitsha township.
Under the guidance of FA Staff, Donna McIvor, Nick Levett and Abigail Jacobs, the Leaders had the challenging task of coaching over 160 boys and girls during the week.
Running parallel to the coaching programme, National Faculty members and FA Education Tutors John Heathcote and Jo Meloni were responsible for delivering a three day workshop to develop Coaching for Hope coaches who have been recruited from the local community to run football programmes and integrated sessions around HIV/Aids and substance abuse.
Day one included the delivery of The FA Junior Football Organisers course to support those coaches to become JFO tutors to train and empower local young people to become leaders as part of the new youth programme.
Nick Levett, The FA Skills Coach Project Manager, also provided the Coaching For Hope coaches with an insight into age-appropriate coaching to support their community programmes and assist them to work with players aged between 5-11.
The FA party visited two children’s homes where they had the privilege of meeting and interacting with the children who are permanent residents at the home. The Young Leaders, staff and The FA brought gift donations including t-shirts, old football shirts, toys, sweets and pencils.
The programme began on Tuesday for the Young Leaders with a baptism of fire - coaching a challenging group of young people ranging from 7-14 years-old from various children’s homes and homesteads across the city.
With many of the children recently living on the streets discipline was a major issue the four Young Leaders had to overcome to put on an engaging and structured coaching sessions.
Language was another major barrier to overcome as the majority of the children did not speak any English. The leaders were supported by four young people from Cape Town who are in the new peer development programme and proved to be of great assistance in helping translate and provide additional ideas.
Reflecting on the overall experience Jo who was also Rosie’s mentor commented: "What was particularly exciting about this visit was the work of our own young leaders and how they grew in stature throughout the week, coaching in circumstances that would challenge even the most experienced of coaches, where space, numbers and language barriers were ever changing.
"I look forward to seeing how the programme with Coaching for Hope develops, as the adult coaches go back to their communities and train more Young Leaders to continue with this extremely valuable work."
The relationship between FA Young Leaders and African Leaders deepened allowing The FA leaders to give more responsibility and ownership to their peers, which was one of the outcomes set at the start of the programme.
The Coaching For Hope coach workshop delivered by John and Jo proved to be a great success supporting the coaches to improve their, communication, organisational, differentiation and planning skills. They also learnt how to plan a festival or event which will help with the delivery of programmes in their local communities.
On returning to England, 19-year-old Ashley Harris (pictured left) from Cornwall spoke to TheFA.com about his African adventure:
"What a week! It was an incredible experience that has changed me as a person and will stick with me forever. All the challenges we encountered in the week were all made worthwhile when I saw how much fun the South African children had in the coaching sessions.
"I felt the trip challenged all the Leaders in so many areas from our communication to coaching ability. I have made friends for life from the trip, and without The FA this wouldn't have been possible. The trip was the most amazing experience I have ever had. From The FA Young Leadership Camp in 2007 and 2008, I thought those weeks were the best in my life and now I have this week to add to that list.
"To see children playing with nothing on their feet, on areas of no grass and see the enjoyment on their faces makes me feel very humble and I hope I can have another chance in the future, maybe after University to visit South Africa again and work with Coaching for Hope."
18-year-old Sammy Mudd (left) from Northumberland who is a first year at Leeds Metropolitan University had this to say about her experience:
"I'm finding it really hard to adjust back to life over here; everything just seems so trivial now compared to life out there. My week in Cape Town was the most amazing, challenging, humbling, life changing experience of my life, and I loved every second of it.
"We could not have prepared ourselves for the challenges that we faced, but without a doubt we all gave it our best and gained so much from this incredible experience, it really was the best week of my life."
The final day provided an opportunity to show the Young Leaders the other side of Cape Town with a visit to the famous Table Mountain and a view of the new stadium being built for the World Cup in 2010.
"The Changing Lives programme is about providing a once in a lifetime inspirational and challenging experience for young football leaders as well as leaving a Leadership and Volunteering legacy with our African partners," said Donna McIvor, The FA's National Football Development Manager (Education).
"Sammy, Rosie, Ash and Nick have done both themselves and The FA proud. Their enthusiasm, determination to succeed, friendship and guidance they offered to their African leaders counterparts to deliver of a high quality football programme could not be questioned.
"Jo and John have developed the first Young Leadership tutors in South Africa. The tutors under the guidance of Tom Pitchon from Coaching for Hope will develop and support a team of Leaders to provide ongoing festivals, leagues and coaching programmes to 5-11-year-olds, leading up to the 2010 World Cup. I am extremely proud of the whole team."
