South African Women's
attacking midfielder, Amanda Dlamini, has been appointed the ambassador of the
under-12 Danone Nations Cup Southern Africa soccer tournament.
Dlamini, who is currently in camp
preparing for the Olympic Games, will start her official duties on Saturday,
June 25th when she attends the Danone Nations Cup national finals
happening at the WJ Clements Stadium in Reiger Park.
Here she will motivate the
participating teams to believe in their dreams and how important it is to
develop healthy lifestyles and how this will impact on their football
careers.
“We are delighted that Amanda has agreed to join the Danone
Nations Cup family,” said Chantel Ehlers, Communication Specialist,
Danone. “She is an excellent role model to our young up and coming
players. She is driven, works hard and is a great motivator. She
epitomizes what the Danone Nations Cup stands for, which is fair play,
openness, pleasure of the game and friendship.”
Dlamini captained South Africa
from 2010-2013, before resigned to concentrate on her university studies and
focus on her game.
In that time, she helped the
national team to silver medals at the 2011 Cosafa Cup and the 2012 African
Women Championships.
She led the team to the 2012
Olympic Games in London – the first time South Africa had participated in the
event.
She hails from rural
KwaZulu-Natal where she started off in the game playing with, and against boys.
Her dream was to play for the
women’s national team, and ever since she achieved that she has been passionate
about empowering the youth and helping them realise their potential.
In 2013 she established the
Amanda Dlamini Girls Foundation aimed at inspiring young girls to make their
dreams come true irrespective of their backgrounds and circumstances by
creating an enabling environment that will allow them to be empowered through
the use of sports and educational life skills.
“I was so humbled when Danone
asked me to be their ambassador for the Danone Nations Cup,” said
Dlamini. “Working with the youth is very close to my heart hence I
started my foundation. The majority of the kids that play in this tournament
are from rural areas, like me. My humble beginnings have made me realise the
importance of developing a good set of values and a strong moral code to
conquer life and make my dreams come true. I also know the
importance of a healthy eating plan and how this affects everything you do –
from brain to bone development.”
“Further, I have realised that
basic education from schools only provided basic literacy and limited life
skills training. It is my mission to stop kids, particularly in the rural
areas, from becoming involved in crime, drug abuse and other bad influences
which is increasing in this country due to irresponsibility, loss of
hope, lack of self-esteem, limited or no life skills training and the lack of
role models.”
She joins an illustrious group of
world stars who are the ambassadors of the Danone Nations Cup.
Former French star and current Real Madrid coach Zinedane Zidane is the global
ambassador of the competition, while the national ambassadors include Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria), Gheorghe Hagi
(Romania) and Carlos Tévez (Argentina), just to name a few.
Post the national finals she will
then assist the kids leading up to the world finals taking place in Paris,
France between October 14th and 16th.
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