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Our Football Boys Receive Motivational Talk from Ghanaian Pro

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Tuesday’s training session featured a very special visitor. Good friend of United Through Sport Ghana and Swedish Premier League star, Thomas Boakye, came down to Presby Park to speak and offer inspiration to our boys. Thomas’ team, Östersunds FK gained promotion to the Swedish Premier League (known as the ‘Allsvenskan’) as Champions this season thanks to a dramatic winner from the 19 year old Ghanaian wing back.

Kumasi born Boakye is back in Ghana due to the the Swedish end of season hiatus. With temperatures in the north of Sweden around 45°C colder than the December weather in Ghana, Boakye admits he is happy to be back after a very successful first season as a professional:

“It’s great to be back, but I am not going to pretend I don’t miss playing already!”

The message Boakye conveyed to our teams centred on the importance of hard work, both at training and in school. Thomas left his family in the Ashanti region aged just 10 to move to the prestigious Right To Dream football academy based in Akosombo, at the bottom of Lake Volta in the East of Ghana. Boakye’s dedication on the training field and in the classroom earned him a scholarship at the prestigious Hartbury Sports College in Gloucester, Western England.

During his time in England, Boakye represented England at Under 18 and 19 levels whilst playing for Non-League Forest Green Rovers and attaining a first class education that would prepare him for success in case his career in football did not materialise.

The importance of education and attitude was something Boakye was keen to emphasise to our boys. The Ghana Under 20 star urged our teams to capitalise on the extra lessons offered by United Through Sport volunteers at the School of Excellence every day before giving their all at their evening training sessions to improve their skills and fitness.

Boakye answered questions from our players on subjects ranging from his football heroes, life as a professional footballer and his remaining career aspirations.

Whilst the 2013 African Cup of Nations due to be held in South Africa next month may have come a little too soon for a senior call up to the full Ghana squad, Boakye has set his sights on impressing in his second International Under 20 tournament when Algeria hosts the African U20 Championship in March.

Thomas and other young Ghanaian footballers only have to look at the example set by fellow Right To Dream graduate, Abdul Waris. The young striker top scored in the Swedish Premier League last season and earned himself a lucrative move to Spartak Moscow. Spartak featured in this years’ UEFA Champions League playing against 3 past winners of the tournament in Celtic, Barcelona and Benfica. Domestically, Waris has not escaped attention as he looks set to be named in the Black Stars AFCON squad after starting the most recent friendly win over the Cape Verde Islands.

Here at United Through Sport Ghana we would like to thank Thomas Boakye for taking the time to offer our players advice and inspiration. He insisted the players should always show maximum respect for the coaches who spend vast periods of their free time to train our teams without asking for anything in return. We hope that both Boakye and United Through Sport can build on successful first seasons.

The UTS Rugby Tournament in Ghana

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On 12th December, volunteer rugby coach, Jack Beard, organised (and refereed) a tournament for the school teams he has been working with for the previous five weeks. The tournament featured four boys and four girls teams from around Nima, a poor suburb in the Greater Accra region known for its’ bustling street market.

Ghanaian athleticism lends itself to the 7’s game of Rugby, with the boys playing full contact and the girls playing a ‘three touch’ variation. Despite the hard and dusty ground the big hits were flying in!

Rugby is a growing sport in Ghana and it is commonplace that United Through Sport volunteer coaches are asked to represent for the Ghanaian National team in organised matches both domestically and internationally.

Present at the tournament was Salim ‘Amuzu’ Amuzuloh, the extremely charismatic Director of Rugby Development for Accra. Amuzu was unable to contain his delight at some of the flowing moves and technical tackling on show under the unforgiving African morning sun.

Wearing yellow strips were Unity School, an extremely well organised team that like to run straight at their opposition. They faced the physical and strong Abawana team in the first semi-final defeating the ‘All Whites’ in a pulsating encounter fit for a final. Unity eventually triumphing 15 points to 5.

The victorious girls team came from K-13 school, stealing Queens’ crown with an emphatic and incident packed 30-15 win that you would struggle to guess wasn’t full contact rules!

Despite individual brilliance, many thought the other finalists of the boys’ competition, Wilberforce, would be steamrolled by Unity after a slightly fortuitous progression in the semis. The Wilberforce team that stood between Unity and glory took an early lead, capitalising on a loose ball with a pacy counter attack to go in front. They could have extended this lead before half time only to be disallowed a second Try, the referee citing a knock on in the build-up as the reason for the decision. The Unity team used the half time break to regroup and came out strongly in the second half, eventually seizing the glory with a 15-10 victory in a great display of skilled, breathless and committed Rugby in difficult conditions.

The teams openly conversed with each other, enjoying the occasion the competition brought before starting their Christmas vacations, many pleading with Jack to organise holiday training workshops so they can continue practising outside of term time.

The passion in young people to be involved in Ghanaian Rugby continues to grow and United Through Sport plays a vital role in this emerging sport.

Ghana School of Excellence Almost Complete

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We are delighted to report our School of Excellence now have the materials on site to complete the final three classrooms. The building project has come a long way in a short space of time thanks to the efforts of all of our volunteers and friends of United Through Sport.

The rapid development at the School owes a massive debt of gratitude to two of our summer volunteers, Hannah Nisbet and Tom Edwards. Through their fundraising efforts back in Australia we were able to purchase $700AUS worth of building supplies necessary to complete the structure.

Educating the boys after school and before their football training commences, form an integral part of our goals here at United Through Sport Ghana. We seek to promote and develop the values associated with sporting excellence through better educational attainment and participation. We aim to teach our three registered teams every afternoon and when possible, in the mornings too.

Our School of Excellence is located next to our pitch at Presby Park. Given the regular attendance of our players’ siblings, it is fantastic that we will have better, cleaner and larger learning environments. Importantly, the teachers and students will have some shelter when the rainy season dares to attempt to disrupt our lads’ learning experience.

2012 has been a remarkable year for our team. With the School of Excellence bringing a new dimension to our work and the boys finally being registered to play league games and catching the attention of local academies, we look forward to welcoming new and returning volunteers with United Through Sport to build on the great achievements of this calendar year.

Next up is the arduous task of painting and decorating our shiny new classrooms… maybe our boys can help with this!

Our Boys Play Marcel Desailly Boys

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On Saturday 1st December the football boys from United Through Sport Ghana, locally know as FC Football Beyond Frontiers (FC FBF) were invited to play friendlies against the Under 17 and Under 13 teams of the Lizzy Sports Complex (LSC). The LSC academy was founded by Ghanaian born French World Cup winner Marcel Desailly.

The LSC pluck talented youth players from around Accra to play, train and improve at their excellent facilities including several 3G pitches and a full sized grass pitch with gym and swimming pool on site. To be asked to play at the LSC is a sign of the rapid development that our team has made since being registered in the league in February 2012.

Despite both games kicking off at 8am, it was already a scorching hot day in the Ghanaian capital. This did not have any impact on the pace or quality of the football on display. The Under 17’s started excellently sporting a new look 4-3-3 formation. The plan was to control the middle battleground and support the lone big front man, Figo, with support from the attacking wingers and breaking midfielders.

The intensity, discipline and hard work resulted in a dominant first period as our boys went into the half time break 1-0 up and having shocked and stifled the LSC academy side. We could even consider ourselves unlucky not being further up the score board, having missed a number of good opportunities and being denied a strong claim for a penalty.

The second half saw the home side come out strongly and were soon level after an unfortunate goalkeeping mistake, presenting the LSC forward with an easy opportunity to equalise. Our boys bounced back and were unlucky not to retake the lead with standout midfielder, Carlos crashing a long range effort against the crossbar after a fingertip save from the goalkeeper. The home side refreshed with a change of front line and soon found the back of the net twice in quick succession through incisive counter attacks and ruthless finishing.

The boys kept their heads up and rejuvenated with a number of substitutions. They pulled a goal back with a fiercely placed free kick from the visiting number 10, a left footed strike that Lionel Messi would have been proud of!

Despite late pressure the game ended 3-2 to LSC, a result that was hard to accept for our boys, whom controlled the game for all but a 20 minute spell when the home side ruthlessly scored all three of their goals.

The home side and their coaches were full of praise for the boys from Teshie, where United Through Sport Ghana are located, perhaps knowing they were fortunate to have defeated a team that showed excellent organisation and teamwork coupled with periods of abundant, inventive and attractive football.

The LSC adacemy have already shown an interest in several of our boys in this age group and with respect to the events of this game, it is easy to see why.

Although only a friendly this was an excellent way for our boys to reflect on a successful first season as a registered team.

With the foundation of our School of Excellence and some vital equipment and financial donations from volunteers and friends of United Through Sport Ghana it can be a stepping stone to greater things for a talented and dedicated group of boys.

Google Support United Through Sport

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A big thanks goes out to John Shirley who works for Google. Through his fundraising efforts he has managed to get United Through Sport recognised as part of Google’s Match Gift Programme helping secure another $4000 for our project work with disadvantage children overseas.

More on Google’s support for United Through Sport
Giving back is part of Google’s corporate DNA. In 2011, they provided $115 million in grants and more than $1 billion of in-kind support to nonprofits and academic institutions. Google employees also contributed 40,000 paid volunteer hours helping organizations around the world.

Employees at Google like to give back and Google encourage it. Of the many volunteer programs and gift matching initiatives they support, most were started by Googlers themselves.

The Employee Gift Matching
When employees give cash contributions to nonprofits, we match them, providing tens of millions of dollars for charitable work around the globe.

If you are a Google employee and are thinking or fundraising for United Through Sport then please be part of Google’s Matching Gift Programme by reading more at the following link: http://www.google.org

UTS Wins Global Recognition at the 2012 Peace and Sport Awards

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Last week United Through Sports’ work was recognised on an international stage and in front of a global audience at the 2012 Peace and Sport International Forum, held in Sochi, Russia.

Given the opportunity to take part in workshops, plenary sessions, networking and special events, Richard Bennett flew over to Russia, to represent the work he is doing for United Through Sport. United Through Sport had been shortlisted to three finalists for the ‘NGO of the Year’ Award, a sought-after category with hopefuls showcasing projects from all over the world and judged by a panel of seven experts, which included Rugby World Cup legend, Jonah Lomu and Head of Education at LOCOG, Nick Fuller.

With representatives from governments, international organisations, the International Olympic Committee, international sports federations, national Olympic committees, athletes, academic institutions, business and media…

…From The Hon. Kabando Wa Kabando [Kenyan Youth and Sports Ministry] to Mr Wilfried Lemke [Under-Secretary-General, United Nations]; from HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco to Mr Joel Bouzou [President, Peace and Sport]…

…United Through Sport was in good company!

The final award for NGO of the Year went to I-ACT with their initiative ‘Dafur United’, a deserving winner with an initiative promoting peace through sport.

Thanks to Peace and Sport for hosting the event and for recognising the good work we are doing at United Through Sport.

Our School of Excellence Buddies Up With Wellington College

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Once again, it was that time of the year when we had our annual visit from our good friends at Wellington College. For three consecutive years now, this UK school has been paying us visits as part of their ‘Social Apprentice’ Programme , where they spend a full week getting involved in our programmes and community projects associated with us.

The week of the 20th-28th October was filled with emotions, especially for the 30 children from Wellington on their first visit to South Africa. Upon arrival, our staff welcomed them in a truly South African manner; a braai (South African barbeque) and traditional dancing in the evening. The Wellington staff found it very entertaining to watch some of the kids try their hand in some Zulu and Xhosa dancing, which was a sight for sore eyes for the rest of the group! With the excitement buzzing about the packed week ahead, the group, unlike us, was not very bothered about the gloomy weather they brought from England.

In order for the group to appreciate the opportunity presented to them in this tour, they had to have a true sense of what a typical life looks like for the average South African. Their first working day started off with a visit to our Junior School of Excellence (JSE) where they had a warm welcome from the teachers as well as a tour of the school. This was rather eye-opening as this school was nothing compared to the school life they are used to. Some of the most evident differences were the underdeveloped sports grounds and lack of facilities such as school library, gym, cafeteria, art, science, music departments etc. After the tour of the school, it was time to see some of the living conditions of the children; a township tour that included the history of the townships of Port Elizabeth. Driving and walking around the townships, the kids got to witness the poverty in South Africa they often hear about in the media. With the heavy rains in the weeks leading to this visit, the group saw the damage the floods had done and the distraught families in the informal settlements with flooded shacks.

The afternoon was full of excitement as the Wellington kids met their buddies for the week from the JSE and relationships were built. The children demonstrated to us the power of youth by immediately bonding with their buddies and casting all social and cultural differences aside. In their pairs, the kids got involved in different activities for the remainder of the afternoon. Included in these activities was the painting of the soon to be Computer / Library Room at the JSE as well as painting some pillars at the school with Wellington’s 8 aptitudes approach to education and wellbeing of children. The following two days were spent camping in the wild, where the Wellington group learnt some survival skills. For the rest of the week, the Wellington group got involved in community projects we are linked with, such as Zama after school club and Khayalethu Haven for street children; spending a lot of time assisting disadvantaged children. The working week ended off with a day outing for all the buddies. All 60 kids were taken bowling and enjoyed a rugby match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium; which was built specifically for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. The bowling was a first time experience for the JSE children, as was the stadium experience for most of them.

The final touch for the Wellington group was the unexpected send-off as their buddies surprised them at the airport to bid them farewell. As emotional as it was, everyone was happy to have met and made new friends that would forever remain in their memories.

We’d like to thank Neil Lunnon and his team for all the fundraising done for UTS, and for bringing us yet another delightful group of Wellington scholars! We look forward to hosting next year’s group and maintaining the great relationship built with Wellington over the past few years.

“The relationship with Wellington is so multifaceted, we get such a combination of fantastic results, not only do the children build great relationships and broaden their horizons to whole new worlds, not only does our JSE benefit from the skills and knowledge transfer from Wellington, but the children benefit from new facilities and scholarship options due to the funds raised by the Wellington children”, Nosipho Xapile, Programme Manager, United Through Sport.

Dutch Hockey Team Visit South Africa

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On the 07th August 2012, United Through Sport was pleased to host Were Di Tilburg, a Dutch Hockey team on a South African tour. A total of 39 people were with the group; which consisted of two girls’ teams and the coaching staff.

The girls had been on tour for a few days before visiting our organisation and had been playing against some of the best schools in the country. Our visit would be slightly different for the girls though; we would give them some insight to the less fortunate areas of our country; get them to mingle with children in disadvantaged schools, do some coaching with them and exchange cultural values and beliefs.

Before getting to the Junior School of Excellence (JSE) for a coaching clinic, we took the group on a township tour, which included a visit to a local museum and a visit to a “Sangoma” (an African traditional healer). A couple of the girls and staff got dressed up in the Sangoma dress code, which was quite a beautiful sight and an awesome experience for them!

At the JSE the Dutch players got involved in mentoring session where the girls taught the kids some Dutch songs and games and had a good time; learning a bit more about their backgrounds. The girls were a bit emotional and really had a heart-warming session with the kids, they came out of the session with a different perspective on life; they all seemed to be on a mission to complain less and appreciate more in life as their eyes were opened up to the hardships people face daily within our communities. At the end of the session, lunch was served for everyone and the girls moved on to the second part of the coaching before their matches with the Gelvandale semi-professional hockey teams.

The last part of the day before the matches was coaching at the Gelvandale hockey turf, which the girls enjoyed very much and got them ready for their matches later that evening. The atmosphere was amazing at the clubhouse, with the Dutch players feeling right at home hearing Afrikaans, which is very similar to Dutch! Were Di Tilburg junior girls won their game while the senior took a beating from the local team. The presentation after the matches was an amazing time for both teams to bond. Gifts were exchanged and the two clubs wished each other well and good relations were built, in the hope of crossing paths again in the near future. The relationship has now inspired the Gelvandale Hockey Club (a team made up of players from previously disadvantaged backgrounds) to aim to tour Holland in 2014.

A few weeks after the visit, we were happy to receive 9 pallets of boxes of hockey equipment and kit that Were Di Tilburg donated to us, including 900 hockey sticks and 120 tracksuits. The teams had started with collecting the donations and raising funds before their departure, so that the shipment could arrive soon after their visit. United Through Sport is thrilled at the start of the relationship and hopes it will continue long into the future.

“The children we met today had so little and yet they were so happy and friendly and welcoming to us. It’s definitely taught me about appreciating what I have and being kinder to others”, Dutch Player, Were Di Tilburg.

Our Kids Visit the Lion Park

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As the term came to the end for a three week school holiday, it was time to reward the Junior School of Excellence (JSE) children for their dedication throughout the term. A big bang at the end of each term is a good way to keep the children motivated. This was also a great way of getting our older Senior School of Excellence (SSE) kids to ‘give back’ by chaperoning the JSE kids and providing some mentorship during the day.

On the 26th June 2012, eleven UTS staff and six SSE kids chaperoned fifty children from the JSE on a trip to Seaview Lion Park. The selection is based on the reward system we use at the JSE for the most consistent attendees. As well as 30 lions the park also boasts other big cats such as tigers, leopards, cheetahs and a beautiful panther cub; a rare sight to behold. The children got to see some of their favourite wild animals, and were excited to be in such close proximity to them! Giraffes, zebras, impalas and many more animals freely roam around the park. To make the experience more fun, snacks were prepared for them to enjoy while spotting the wildlife and after leaving the park, everyone was treated to a yummy lunch at KFC!

The day was an amazing start to their holiday and a great way for the children to bond with each other, outside the school environment. It was the ideal opportunity for the older SSE children to share information about their experiences of the change from a township school to a multi-racial one, and a great way to keep the younger children inspired to do their best so they could also be selected for the SSE next year.

As the organisation, it is vital for us to engage kids from our programs in fun, social activities, especially activities that are educational and that broaden their perspectives in more ways than one. The day trip to Seaview was much appreciated by the kids, something they will never forget; they couldn’t wait to get home and share their incredible experience with their families!

John & Richard Run Comrades (89km)

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A huge thanks goes out to John Shirley and Richard Leech for raising £1500 towards our work. We need even more incredible people like them to get involved with exciting fundraising challenges; not only do you achieve yourself but you also help provide a platform for thousands of kids to reach their potential and achieve in greater areas of their own life!

John and Richard’s Story:
You are probably asking, “Why are we running 89km on Sunday 3rd of June from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in Comrades the biggest and best ultramarathon of our times?”

– Are we crazy? May be!
– Are we celebrating the queens jubilee? We’ll leave that for you to decide.
– Drinking? Yes, of course!
Back in 2010 Richard and I were enjoying a poolside beer at Jafa’s in Hanoi. As usual, I was harping on about this great running book “The Lore of Running” and mentioned one of the featured legends “Bruce Fordyce”, he won Comrades 9 times, unbelievable! Turns out Richard has met Bruce and has lived in Durban so Richard suddenly said “I’d love to run Comrades”. The beer tasted good and the thought of running comrades 89km in the distant future seemed a romantic possibility so I replied. “Why not? I’ll join you!”…….. Now, today, we are about to take on a challenge that seemed totally unthinkable to us even 6 months ago.

Thanks guys for your hard work and achievement.