[UK] Nottinghamshire Students Say 'Balls to Poverty'

From PR News wire

LONDON, December 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Football students from South Nottingham College are going to South Africa to compete in a prestigious Under 19 Youth Cup tournament in Cape Town in April 2006 and provide football coaching for school-aged children in the townships.

The 'Balls to Poverty' project being sponsored by Amicus, the UK's largest private sector union, will see twenty South Nottingham College students, aged 16-18, deliver coaching clinics to over 1,000 schoolchildren in the Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town townships. The students will also be donating replica football kits and 3,000 Amicus footballs, pens, paper and rulers to the schoolchildren.

Amicus is involved as part of its campaign to expose young people in the UK to the activities of trade unions and deliver positive help to developmental projects in Africa. So far the College are the only representatives from the UK taking part in the South African Youth Cup tournament. Their involvement may pave the way for other colleges to take part in future years.

This is the second year that South Nottingham College has been involved in the event and the team are hoping to repeat their success of 2005 when they reached the last sixteen in an event that was won by Ajax Cape Town, a feeder club for Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam.

'Balls to Poverty' is the brainchild of South Nottingham College Director of Football and Nottingham Forest Academy Youth Coach, Joe Sargison, who first coached in Johannesburg two years ago. Speaking about the project, Joe said: "I was really touched by my visit to South Africa and wanted to give something back to the country. I had some footballs left over from Euro 2004 and I wanted to distribute them in a way that would involve our students.

"When the offer came for the College to take part in the tournament I thought the whole trip would have an incredible and long-lasting effect on our students. Last year proved just that and I, along with the students selected to go next year, cannot wait to go back."

Derek Simpson, General Secretary of Amicus, sponsors of 'Balls to Poverty', said: "Amicus is proud to be involved in such a fantastic and innovative project. 'Balls to Poverty' fits perfectly with Amicus' aims to help expand the horizons of young people from the UK's inner cities and help some of the poorest people in the developing world in a really positive way.

"As well as using sport to help break down cultural and socio-economic barriers 'Balls to Poverty' will allow school aged children to be introduced to the activities of trade unions."

The South Nottingham College squad also aim to play an exhibition game against last year's finalists Tuks at the National Institute for Sports Medicine, as well as games against Moroka Swallows and BK Callies during their stay in Johannesburg.

Joe Sargison added: "The importance of this trip has been highlighted by the involvement of our new partner Amicus and as a result of their support we are now in a position to increase the number of students, staff and cities visited for this year. In addition, with the relationship the College now has with Hucknall Town FC many of the students will have been exposed to a higher quality of football. I am very optimistic that these experiences coupled with our higher level of team skills will enable us to perform well in next year's tournament."