Young leaders set for African experience

This Saturday, four Young Leaders will get the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to Botswana in Africa as part of The FA’s Changing Lives Programme.

The Leaders, who were selected from 100 Young Leaders who attended the 2009 National Leadership Camp in July 2009, will get the chance to develop life skills such as communication, organisation, creativity, decision making, problem solving, and team work.

Their work will mainly be working in partnership with the South East District Youth League (SEDYEL) which is a youth-led sports and community development programme in Botswana. An initiative of the South East District Council, Botswana in partnership with The City of Toronto, Canada and in cooperation with Commonwealth Games Association of Canada, United Kingdom Sports and The Mathare Youth Sports Association of Kenya, SEDYEL was developed to channel the energy and enthusiasm of young Batswana away from risky behaviours through Sports.

The programme runs a district-wide football league that currently has a total of 112 teams registered (25 of them being female teams). Apart from the Sports programme, SEDYEL also has a very successful Peer Education program which intervolves HIV/AIDS, life skills and leadership development into the sports activities and works across the district via trained peer leaders into the communities and schools.

The Young Leaders who have been selected are:-

Joseph Brownless, 18, Isle of Man.

In 2008, I decided to do a basic refereeing course, and since then I have been refereeing in local league games, this was the start of my volunteering in football. I have always been interested in coaching and in 2008, I did my coaching Level 1, and my FA Youth Award, module one, as well as a disabled football coaching course. I now coach local primary schools, a County FA primary school club and manage an U17s team for my club.  Getting selected to go Africa with The FA is amazing and I hope to see how the power of football can change lives. I am looking to get a greater insight into different cultures and also looking forward to working in challenging situations, as I hope it will develop me as a coach and a person.

Doug Howie, 18, Worcestershire

I've always played football, and going into coaching was a natural progression for me. I started off helping out with the U8s with the club I played for, before taking my Level One and helping to run a number of different sports and football camps. This gave me the confidence and experience to take on my own U9s side this year as well as helping out in school and where I can with my County FA! Through this volunteer work, I was selected to attend a County Young Leader's training camp and then picked for a regional training day. From these workshops, I was lucky enough to be selected for national camp, a fantastic experience where I met over 100 people with the same interests as me and learnt a wide range of new skills from highly experienced professionals! I couldn’t believe it when a few weeks later I was asked down for interviews at Wembley and eventually invited to go on the Africa experience! I've been told that the Africa experience is a life changing one. It is therefore with a sense of great excitement and anticipation that I look forward to Africa. I wish to develop not only as a coach and a young leader but as a person as well, and I believe Africa truly has the power to do that. I know that it helps give me a fantastic view into what I hope will be a lifelong ambition-to help children worldwide enjoy the beautiful game.

Elizabeth Adewole, 18, London.

I got involved with The FA through The FA Young Leadership Camp in 2007. I applied through my school Hackney Free after gaining my Level One qualification in football coaching with primary school children and also being involved in volunteering and extra-curricular activities. After the leadership camp, I was then selected to be on the management team for the following year and I was then invited back to be a mentor to the management team for 2009. I was selected to go to Africa in 2008 after being on the management team. During the week of camp, I grew in confidence with my communication skills and approach towards the young leaders and also within my management team. I'm very excited about the trip to Africa because it is going to be a life changing experience, not only that but it will be my first time flying. It is going to be a challenge and test to my abilities but I am really looking forward to the trip as I am going with a great group of people; mentors and young leaders.

Sarah Cummings, 17, Manchester.
 
I started volunteering when I was still in secondary school. I went into local primary schools leading coaching sessions and also helped run tournaments. From then on, I continued to get involved in many different volunteering opportunities to further develop my skills. I was selected to be a young sporting ambassador for the borough and was then nominated to attend the County FA leadership and volunteering day. I was then chosen to represent the county at the national camp held at Warwick University and this led to a place on the trip to Botswana. I am hoping to develop my communication skills which will in turn increase my confidence and improve my delivery during sessions. I will learn to assess my strengths and weaknesses and I am also looking forward to experiencing the different culture and way of life.