Empowering Futures Through Education: Supporting Vulnerable Youth in South Africa

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Cara Receives Scholarship to Play Football Overseas

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Cara is one of our Youth Rising Programme participants who has recently received a scholarship to play football at Tennessee Wesleyan University in the United States. She has always had a dream to play overseas and has worked hard to achieve her goals!

From a young age, Cara has been passionate about playing football and has pursued her passion. Growing up, there weren’t many girls teams for her to join but she didn’t let that dissuade her and so she joined the boy’s teams. As she got older, more options opened up for her and she now plays for the semi-professional South African Women’s League.

Receiving a scholarship to play overseas means that she is one step closer to achieving her goal of becoming a professional football player. While this is great news, unfortunately, the scholarship does not cover all of the costs and we need help from United Through Sport supporters to cover the additional costs. Please donate to help Cara on her way to playing for a university team in the United States!

While Cara prepares to study and play overseas she is still actively involved in the United Through Sport Youth Rising Programme, receiving one-on-one mentorship and coaching younger football players from her area. She is focused on preparing herself to study and play overseas. We are excited to continue to support her on her pathway to success and your support will get her one step closer to reaching her goal!

 

 

Volunteer Testimonial: Giving Back to United Through Sport Communities

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Hear from Nade Ward, one of our previous volunteers in Saint Lucia, and how he continues to give back to United Through Sport through his company Socker Share.

“In 2019, I took part in a football coaching volunteer project for United Through Sport. I visited the incredible country of Saint Lucia, in the hope of making a difference, without even realizing just how much impact I would go on to have.

I coached after-school clubs at Marchand and Vide Bouteille primary schools, delivered sessions at a local pre-school, as well as coached senior teams at two of the islands popular football clubs, Valley Soccer and Big Players FC, helping them to prepare for league matches. I also raised £1,077.85 for the charity prior to my trip!

Whilst I was out there, an issue was brought to my attention: charities receive boot donations, but never any socks, meaning that children are having to play football bare feet!

Problems need solving and that is exactly what my cousin Connor and I have set out to do. Socker Share was born in October 2020, a brand that promises to match each purchase with a donation of socks to an underprivileged child, so that they can wear football boots without damaging their feet.

We have proudly partnered with United Through Sport, currently supporting their Saint Lucia, Mauritius, and South Africa programs, which means the world to me because it is those children who inspired our initiative in the first place.

We have seen so many amazing United Through Sport volunteers join our community, which is something that we are incredibly grateful for, with our following growing more and more each day.”

You can get involved by visiting our website www.sockershare.co.uk, as well as following us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – @SockerShare. Together, we are making a huge difference.

Oxford Brookes Student Runs Ironman For United Through Sport

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Oxford Brookes Business Management and Geography student Chris Zahn has completed the Weymouth Ironman in order to raise money for United Through Sport projects.

A promising rower in his late school years, having represented Great Britain at the Junior rowing championship in Rio and winning the Henley Royal Regatta with his University, Chris, unfortunately had to stop competing prematurely due to a back injury in sustained in 2017. He used this time of disappointment as a chance to refocus and decided to test himself in this year’s Weymouth Ironman, and decided to compete as a fundraiser for United Through Sport!

“I decided to pick United Through Sports because I really wanted to give back to the sporting community that had given me so much and had allowed me to do some amazing things and go to some amazing places.” 

Chris set an initial target of £250 but was delighted to surpass that, finishing with a total of £335 to support our global grassroot projects. United Through Sport is eternally grateful for Chris’ efforts and those who supported his fundraising.

Cameron Bellamy Swims From Barbados to St Lucia to Raise Funds for United Through Sport.

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On Friday the 13th of September endurance athlete Cameron Bellamy will be attempting to swim from Barbados to St Lucia to raise funds his departing island Barbados, his arrival island St Lucia, as well as his home country, South Africa. Cameron has a large focus on making a difference in youths lives with education and development. The funds raised for United Through Sport will be going towards our learn to swim programme which has been running for two years. With this we hope to be able to expand and reach even more children in the island of St Lucia. 

This swim has never been attempted before, the swim is a massive 160km long and is expected to take 60 hours to complete.

Cameron will start his endeavour from St Peters Bay, north west coast of Barbados, and end in Vieux Fort in the south of St Lucia. Previously Cameron has swam around the entire island of Barbados he was the first person ever to complete this and it was the 4th longest open water swim ever. Cameron has also completed the The Oceans Seven which is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of seven open water channel swims. 

You can track his progress here: https://ubunye.web.app

We wish him all the best for the journey and any funds raised are greatly appreciated and will go along way with developing swimming skills for the children of St Lucia. 

  

Hartland and Clovelly AFC support United Through Sport

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The local run football club Hartland and Clovelly AFC have provided a donation of £1220 for United Through Sport in memory of their former member, Martin Heard, who tragically died in 2014.

Hartland and Clovelly AFC runs 3 teams and have been an intrinsic part of local village life for many generations. Every other year the football club organise a fundraising day in memory of their dear friend, Marty. This year they have decided to donate a share of the proceeds to United Through Sport to reflect the importance they believe sport and community were to him. The objective of the event was not just about raising money, but to bring the local community together and make a positive impact from such a terrible tragedy. 

The event took place on a farm in Hartland and was a great success. It started of with an afternoon of family fun with a sport emphasis. This included a large amount of activities, such as football and boxing coaching, badminton and rope swings. Moreover, they organised a ticketed event in the evening “Party for Marty” which consisted of a live band, bar and hog roast.

We would like to thank Hartland and Clovelly AFC and their team of helpers and supporters for their contribution, it will be vital across our global projects.

United Through Sport Builds Second Sport Court in South Africa

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Leaving a legacy by building a place where children can continue to play sport for years to come, was celebrated recently by United Through Sport South Africa.

The United Through Sport Multi-Sport Court is an initiative of UTS South Africa supported by The Swartkops Terminal PTY (Ltd). Having eagerly watched the building process over the last few months; Children from Isaac Booi Primary School and the surrounding community will now have their first opportunity to play netball, basketball and tennis on the facility. 

Isaac Booi is an anchor school of United Through Sport’s Junior School of Excellence (JSE) Programme, which is based in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. The programme nurtures participants with ability and determination to give them access to extra academic education, sports coaching and personal development at after-school classes.

“Making a sustainable difference in the communities where United Through Sport works, is a core priority and we believe this Multi-Sport Court will continue to offer children a safe place to play sport – for years to come as a legacy project. The court not only benefits our programmes we run at the school, but it is also there for the enjoyment and benefit of all the learners at the school as well as the local community,” said United Through Sport Director Nick Mould.

To continue to develop the Junior School of Excellence children to the highest level and give them an opportunity to rise above their challenges, they need to have access to quality facilities such as the Isaac Booi Court to enable them to compete with their counterparts.

“I would like to thank United Through Sport for their initiative in child development. Their team does an amazing job. I am very proud of The Swartkops Terminal for its involvement in this project, that benefits children on a personal level which is carried through to adulthood. The fact that this project will develop children for years to come make it so much more rewarding,” said The Swartkops Terminal PTY (Ltd) Terminal Manager Colin Wilken.

Isaac Booi Principal Mr Ludwe Memese said the entire school looked forward to the opening of the court. “We are the first, if not the only school with such a facility in the township. This would help to market the school to the neighbouring schools. It will enable the learners not only to be keen in partaking in the sports they are familiar with, but also learn to play tennis which is a rare sporting code in our communities,” Memese said.

A parallel JSE Programme is run at Astra Primary School, where a Multi-Purpose AstroTurf, used for hockey and soccer training, was also built by United Through Sport– with the help of various funders. The Multi-Purpose Astro Turf court was launched in 2016.

United Through Sport is currently fundraising for a third Multi-Purpose Court for training activities. Read more about our latest project here: https://www.givengain.com/cause/3881/campaigns/18276/

UTS Caribbean Volunteer Running Saint Lucia Marathon For Beneficiary

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Following a tragic car accident, Garvin, a young beneficiary from our Vide Boutielle after school football programme, was left fighting for his life, surviving on only two pints of blood. After weeks on life support and multiple operations he is now in a much more stable state.

Garvin will now require a long course of physiotherapy, and the lifesaving medical treatment has come at great cost to the family. Our Saint Lucia staff and volunteer team have been fundraising in a variety of ways to alleviate the financial pressure on the family. But one of our current volunteers is going that extra mile:

Rugby coach Bryn Owen-Conway will be running a Marathon on Sunday 26th in order to raise much needed funds for the cause and will be accompanied along the way by our friends and team. He has set an overall target of £2000, which will go a long way towards covering the current medical debt, providing Garvin with a wheelchair and the physiotherapy course that we hope will eventually get him back playing for our partner: Shamrock Football Club!

Donations can still be made via Bryn’s Total giving page: https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/runforgarvin