An Interesting Story from the Danone Nations Cup in Chile

The Danone nations Cup in Chile is becoming more and more popular. This year 180 teams took part despite the country being in a state of Alert due to the earth quake that rocked the country in February.

For most of the teams it is the school coach or club coach that enters the team into the event. This year there was a fantastic story about a kid that didn’t want to miss out and entered his own team into the event.

Ignacio, a 12 year-old boy from Santiago, thought that it would be a fantastic opportunity for his school to take part in the event. Unfortunately he was absent when his teachers registered the team, so he wasn’t included.  Since he was left out of the team and really wanted to play in the event he registered his own team. He did all the homework that he needed to do, he got all the necessary documentation and most importantly he got his team’s parents permission to take part in the tournament. The kid even made the team kit himself.

The team trained 5 days a week but unfortunately they did not get far. They did have fun and the tournament will always be a good memory for him.

Peter Crouch, a Guinness World Record and a Speach by John Scales in Englands Danone Final

This years England National final took place at Chelsea Football Club’s home – Stamford Bridge! Whitgift were winners of the tournament but everyone that attended were winners in one way or another. A Guinness World Record was broken and the kids were spoken to by John Scales about nutrition.

Over 700 kids took part in the tournament country wide and in the end St Cuthberts and Whitgift Independent School were the last two standing.

 The final took place in front of 2000 spectators. St Cuthbert’s team was under attack for the whole game and in the end Whitgift won 1-0 with a brilliant effort from their right winger in the second half.
 
Whitgift has a history of sporting success and many of its students have gone on to compete in their chosen sport at a professional level. The football team has been a fairly recent addition to the school as it was only set-up in 2001 by none other than Colin Pates, a former Chelsea player. The school has an abundance of coaching staff which are former professional players. Steve Kember is another ex- Chelsea player who is currently coaching the team and both Colin and Steve are thrilled that their team will be playing at their former home ground.

In the build up to the match, Guinness World Record adjudicators were on hand to judge whether 429 participants (school children, Danone employees and professional choreographers, Kayzar Dance School and Peter Crouch) could successfully brake the standing World Record for the largest Robotic Dance which they dubbed “Move Like a Champ”.  Fun was had by kids and adults as they succeeded in breaking the world record.

Peter Crouch is the new EFSA Danone Nations Cup Ambassador and has added his touch to the tournament by introducing his robot dance. He was supported at the tournament by John Scales who has been involved in the tournament since 2006 as the English teams mentor and team manager. John Scales handed out the prizes to the winners plus spoke to the kids about nutrition and how to eat properly to support a healthy lifestyle. 

 Danone UK has a programme that they call “Eat Like a Champ” campaign where Danone teach kids how to maintain a balanced, healthy diet. This initiative goes on to include dietary tip for training.

Whitgift will join last year’s champions Archbishop Beck in the final tournament from the 1st – 3rd October in South Africa.