WeeklySA_AdminCAMP: Vision is to expand initiative to improve lives through sports education
By WSAM Reporter
Most young soccer players dream of playing in the Spanish LaLiga for teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona, to follow in the footsteps of legends like Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Michael Bender, CEO at IberCup says this dream became a real possibility for 160 young South Africans when they kicked off their first week of the IberCup football camp in partnership with LaLiga.
IberCup is the world’s largest youth international football organisation, run in 15 countries around the world, he says.
Bender says the organisation partnered with LaLiga, the football organisation responsible for the Spanish football league, to host five-day camps conducted by experienced UEFA PRO Licenced coaches Tony Alvarez Zamora and Luis Martinez.
“IberCup is proud to be able to offer these children the opportunity to lay the foundations for potentially playing for the national team one day, and perhaps even to achieve their dreams of playing for an international squad,” says Bender.
He says IberCup vision is to expand this successful initiative to all corners of the country in the coming years and help the South African government deliver on its mandate to improve the lives of children through sport, education, and sustainable programmes for local and international investment.
To ensure players from underprivileged communities also received the chance to participate in the world-class coaching sessions, leading South African fibre provider, Vuma, sponsored ten future soccer stars for the Johannesburg programme.
Lianne Williams, Head of Marketing at Vuma they want to give young boys and girls, who would otherwise not have been able to access an opportunity like this, a chance to experience hope, courage, and dignity through the highest and most competitive international football standards,
“A 15-year old boy we sponsored rallied hundreds of people in his community to support him so that he could attend the LaLiga camp, which made us realise how life-changing, priceless connectivity in our communities opens up a world of possibilities and enables the extraordinary,” Williams says
She says the first South African IberCup camp was open to youth between the ages of eight to 18 and saw over 2,500 requests to register for training from players all over the country.
However, due to the COVID-19 protocols, participation had to be restricted to 160 male and female players, Williams says.
Marcos Pelegrin, LaLiga a Southern Africa Managing Director says this is something that they have been working on for a few years already.
“It’s so fulfilling to be able to work with these kids in South Africa. We feel that it is our responsibility to help our youngsters grow, which is good for our society,” says Pelegrini.
He says IberCup relied heavily on the country’s local football associations to help identify talented players at local football clubs for the Johannesburg camp, including areas like Westbury, Alexandra, and Mamelodi.
Players at the IberCup camps will also have the opportunity to be flown overseas to receive training at international soccer clubs in 2022, he says.
“Just over 60 international clubs are signed up to IberCup, creating limitless opportunities for South African youth, he says
Mbali Hlophe, Gauteng MEC for Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation says: “We’re excited about this as a province. We’re the home of champions and, for us, this is about opening up as many opportunities as possible for the young kids,” says.
We look at our townships and that’s where a lot of this talent is hidden and, through this initiative and bringing IberCup and LaLiga on board, we’re able to go out and scout for that talent, Hlophe says.
“We have a huge investment that we make towards schools and school sports in particular, and we think this will help us get all the talent out there and make sure that they fly the Gauteng flag and, more importantly, the South African flag high internationally.”
IberCup will run its next camp at Green Point stadium in Cape Town in October and at Hoy Park in Durban in December. The programme continues to search for hidden football talent around the country and calls on anyone looking to sponsor a young football star to visit www.ibercup.co.za
