Not Just Soccer for Youth/Coaches in Mozambique

Summary

The Sport Gives Life program in rural three rural Mozambican towns mobilizes 50 coaches and reaches 1,200 children to become Champs and develop the necessary skills on and off the field.

What is the issue, problem, or challenge?

Children play soccer and other games as entertainment or for leisure. There is a dearth of life-skills education at school and at home. By harnessing the competitive nature of soccer (the biggest sport in Mozambique) and training coaches to create the best possible players and hence the best team, we bring the focus of HIV/AIDS, health and social ills to be part of the player's attitude off the field: the compulsory off-the-field skills of being a star player.

How will this project solve this problem?

Lurdes Mutola Foundation trains coaches to take a new approach to their players. Implementing the new "Champ!" manual through trainings, and setting up the organizational-competition model in limited geographic areas for localized impact.

Potential Long Term Impact

"Sport Gives Life" supplies coaches with the resources to create a winning team with on field skills and Star Players with skills on health and life. The program reaches 1,600 players in 3 towns thru 50 coaches.

Project Message

The Sport Gives Life Program uses the intrinsic power of sport to change behavior. Players, coaches realize that the best player has skills off the field as well. This program teaches those skills.
- Manuel Monteiro Jr., Ex-Sec. Gen. of the Mozambican Soccer Federation

Additional Documentation

This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).

Resources