As the new school year begins
educators have the awesome responsibility of providing opportunities and
experiences that will help young people to develop their whole personality and
character, and school sport is an acceptable medium to do this through.
Sponsorships such as the Danone
Nations cup, a soccer tournament for kids between the ages of 10 and 12, play a
vital educational role in developing kids because they provide a way for
schools to teach valuable life lessons in a fun way, by keeping kids active.
“Every year, through our
competition, we touch the lives of over 2.3 million kids around the world and
since its inception in 2000 over 35 million kids have played in our competition
making it the biggest tournament of its kind in the world,” said Chantel
Ehlers, Communication Manager, Danone Southern Africa. “We are proud of
these statistics and locally we are pleased with the fact that South Africa has
managed to win the world finals 3 times (2003, 2007 and 2009).”
Schools use sports such as soccer
to teach children how to think laterally; to solve problems; the importance of
teamwork and trust; how to handle defeat and to bounce back and keep going with
confidence.
In 2017 over 2 700 schools,
ranging from rural and farm schools, to elite private institutions, registered
for the South African leg of the Danone Nations Cup. With entries
expected to come in at a fast pace this week, the organisers are hoping to grow
this to over 3 000 this year.
Youth development coaching is
specialised as it is at this age that kids want to learn. It’s vital that young
players perfect their skills without picking up bad habits and these kids dream
big.
In South Africa the majority of
coaches at this level are generally teachers, who don’t always have the
necessary experience and qualifications. Many of these coaches rely on the
internet for advice and information and, to help them, Groupe Danone has put
every game played on the final day of the Danone Nations Cup world finals last
year, which took place in New York, onto Youtube so that coaches can access
them. They can upskill through watching what happened last year.
Danone
takes the educational role it plays very seriously. “There are many
facets to the Danone Nations Cup,” explains Ehlers, “Groupe Danone has built
the tournament on four fundamental pillars: fair play, openness, accessibility
and passion for the game and uses football as an important platform to bring
health through sport to as many kids as possible. We promote healthy eating
habits and encourage the youth to believe in their dreams.”
Many of
the teams that participate in the competition’s World Finals each year are
drawn from football programmes that operate in distressed areas and from social
development initiatives that use football as a vehicle to uplift young people.
“Many of the schools that have
gone on to compete in world finals have done so against all odds,” Ehlers says.
“It’s a life-changing experience. Players come back better footballers due to
watching how other countries play and learn from them. They meet and make
friends from all around the world.”
Schools
can register for the competition by contacting the national coordinator
at the SA Schools Football Association (SASFA), Themba Tshabalala, on
011 403 2844, 084 290 0602 or 072 588 4957. Alternatively, they
can visit the Danone Nations Cup South Africa Facebook page or go to www.facebook.com/dncsouthafrica
to download the necessary documents. (Documents are also on Danone.co.za )
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