Cape Town - A football academy in Masiphumelele has stepped up to help the township’s youth to become more than just soccer players by partnering with a UK-based football outfit.
The Ubuntu Football academy was started in 2011 as a response to the lack of male role models in many of Cape Town’s impoverished communities.
Ubuntu Football incorporates a holistic approach towards improving the lives of boys aged between 12 and 18. It offers a number of programmes, with football and education the primary focus.
It offers the boys elite football training sessions run by top coaches, who aim to instil the discipline in the boys needed, and give them the skills required, to become professional footballers.
It has partnered with Football DNA in the UK and FK Bod/Glimt in Norway. Through these partnerships, Ubuntu Football has grown in leaps and bounds.
Dave Waters, the technical director of the junior phase at Ubuntu Football, said: “Having previously spent time with Ross Brooks during a visit to West Ham, I was extremely excited to get our hands on the new material he and Football DNA had been working on.
“The podcast series and website has really helped create fresh thought and innovation, whilst the practical help of the manuals gives us some great new material that is so relevant to the kids we coach.”
In recent years, Ubuntu Football has produced good young footballers, who have played for the national side, national youth teams and received professional contracts overseas.
One of the boys at the academy, Jaleel Thomas, 13, said on the Ubuntu website: “The reason I’m at Ubuntu is because I want to become a football player and I want to be the next leader.”
In 2020, the Dual Dream programme was launched to assist in making the boys more rounded. It gives them an opportunity to pursue a career outside of football.
matthew.petersen@inl.co.za
Cape Argus
The Cape Argus Starfish project aims to help encourage young people to steer away from crime. The project offers a platform for individuals and organisations to tell our readers what they do to empower the youth, and to share their knowledge. Email us at arglet@inl.co.za