Coaches Across Continents

Winner of the “Best New Project” Award at Beyond Sport 2009

 

Coaches Across Continents founder and executive director, Nick Gates, and his fellow board member Christian Aviza recently completed a 4,400-mile journey to visit some of their partner communities in South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, and Botswana . . . and the One World Futbol was with them every step of the way.

Christian notes, “We introduced the ball to our partners and the children in our programs, and the response was excellent. And for a bit of fun we took the ball with us when we were with the Great White sharks in Gansbaii, we used it on our sponsored juggle on the dunes in Namibia and at the top of Table Mountain. The ball really is indestructible.”

Coaches Across Continents has chosen the One World Futbol as the official ball for all its programs in 13 countries in 2011.

Since its founding in 2008, Coaches Across Continents has worked with more than 90,000 children and teachers in developing communities in six African countries. They’re teaching HIV/AIDS prevention, female empowerment, and conflict resolution—all through using soccer and soccer-related games on the field. Their award-winning work is based on first-hand research in 65 countries over 7 years, during which they developed a unique face-to-face and online educational curriculum that uses soccer games to educate teachers/volunteers and children on health, leadership, life and social skills.

Coaches Across Continents projects are called “Hat-Trick Initiatives” and take place over three years. In year 1, local teachers and volunteers are trained by international coaches within their own communities to use the Coaches Across Continents curriculum. This training is further developed each year for three consecutive years. In year 2, one coach from a local community is funded to travel and work in the UK or USA to gain cultural, social, and soccer education to take back with them and inform their subsequent work within their own community. In year 3, fields and equipment plus school supplies are provided, so that local programs become self-sustaining.

During 2010 alone, Coaches Across Continents grew from three programs in three countries to 17 programs in six countries and leveraged 35,000+ hours of volunteer time (worth over $875,000).

The One World Futbol Project is proud to partner with this extraordinarily dedicated and effective organization. We’re working together to get One World Futbols to all Coaches Across Continents program sites around the world and for Nick Gates and his team to provide guidance to us regarding innovative best practices in the field of sport and development.