Ahead of the World Cup 2010, Lindsey Tugby, one of the County FA’s Young Leaders who went on to be selected as one of the FA Young Leaders Management Committee last year, travelled with other young leaders to South Africa promoting women's and girls' football.
The visit, organised by The FA’s Charity partner, Coaching for Hope and funded by the British Council, was a trip of a lifetime for Lindsey, (who is also known as Lindz).
The group flew out for a 10 day tour to South Africa on the 4th May, accompanied by Football Development Officers from various County FAs and delegates from the University of Central Lancashire and Birmingham University, Leona Trimble and Rachel Shepherd. The mission was to deliver football coaching sessions in schools across the country.
The trip gave young leaders from the UK and South Africa a chance to share ideas, practices and experiences of coaching football through the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms Programme. Thrown into new and challenging situations, Lindz and the group quickly learned to adapt their sessions to allow for only having one football, no cones or bibs and in some instances only a patch of dirt to play on. Taking turns to coach, both the UK and South African leaders exchanged ideas on warm-ups and drills but also culture and language, getting involved in songs and dances taught by the students at the schools.
The group also had chance to tour some of the sights including Table Mountain, Cradle of Humankind, Cape of Good Hope, Nelson Mandela’s house and memorials in Soweto, Johannesburg’s most infamous township, which set the scene for the context in which South Africa’s culture is based.
A sobering visit to the HIV Treatment Action Centre in Khayletshia, along with a unique opportunity to visit some locals in their homes, highlighted just how many other issues impact upon the lives of children in South Africa. Poor living conditions, HIV/AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse, hunger and fear are all realities of everyday life in the townships.
Drawing comparisons between the UK and South Africa, the group saw similarities in the invisibility of women’s football and the stereotyping and prejudice shown towards female players. As in the UK, football is generally considered a man’s sport and females struggle to gain the respect they deserve from their male counter-parts. In South Africa however, this takes a more serious tone, where women may risk their lives, in order to play the sport they love.
Participating in a seminar examining the challenges of developing women's football in the UK and South Africa at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, the party heard from a range of key speakers and entered into some interesting debates and discussions. The highlight was a powerful speech delivered by Marion February, UTC Coach, speaking on women's empowerment and her exchange with Norman Arendse, President of SAFA Cape Town.
Asrid Van Kesteren (Goalkeeper for Banyana Banyana, South Africa’s National Women's team) also spoke of her loss when her team-mate midfielder Eudy Simelane was abused and brutally murdered in a homophobic related attack, simply because she played football. Both shocking and poignant, Asrid’s speech emphasised some of the differences between the two nations in terms of the female game.
Speaking about the trip, Lindz said: “As the most prestigious football event being held in South Africa, football is everywhere and it brought people together. South Africa was definitely a life changing experience, one that will always stay with me. We visited a deaf school in Johannesburg, coaching female teenagers which was the most incredible experience of my life and was undoubtedly testing. We faced barriers on language, equipment and numbers which was challenging for everyone and something that we couldn’t prepare for. But it wasn’t only about the football, we learnt about the struggles of everyday life, dealing with HIV/Aids, loss of family members and no income in order to live. To see these underprivileged South African children with big smiles on their faces and their positive attitude was so rewarding. I will never forget this amazing experience."
Lindz added,"I am part of the FA Young leadership and volunteering scheme which runs a camp every year to 100 young leaders around the country that volunteer within football. From 12th July a 5 day camp will be ran at Wolverhampton University where all aspects of football is covered such as goalkeeping, disability football, refereeing and futsal. This year I will be a mentor to a management team member so I’m looking forward to a new role at camp."
No doubt Lindz will be using her experience to date at the FA National Camp next week. The County FA is proud of the support it provides to young leaders since it launched the first FA National Young Leader Camp back in 2005. Every year since then, Leicestershire & Rutland CFA had up to 2 young leaders selected by the FA to join the elite group of Young Leaders who some also went on to be awarded Scholarships. In 2006 – Prathiv Kolhia (known as Storma) from Bosworth Community College was selected as part of the FA YL Management Committee who then in 2007 also went to Malawi and won a Scholarship in 2009. Rupesh Popat from Judgemeadow Community College was selected in 2007 as a member of the FA YL Management Committee and won a scholarship in 2010. Stuart Brown (Burleigh Community College) and Lindsey (Lindz) Tugby (Guthlaxton Community College) selected in 2008 as members of the FA YL Management Committee and have just completed training to become Mentors for other young leaders at the FA National Camp in July 2010 which will take place at Wolverhampton University.
Representing Leicestershire & Rutland CFA at the FA Young Leaders National Camp will be Sarah Milner (Rawlins Community College) and Ben Garner (Beauchamp College). We wish Sarah and Ben best wishes and hope they will do well at the camp. For information of getting involved with volunteering at the County FA and learn about the FA Young Leadership Camp, please contact – Marion Hayton – Senior Football Development Officer at: marion.hayton@leicestershirefa.com Candidates must be between 16 – 17 years old by the end of July 2011).
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