7/31/2019 Update Newsletter May 2012-Compressed
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Dear Friends of
Ubuntu Football,
Fall 2012Nurturing the next generation of African leaders and footballers.
What a difference 6 months makes! Previously,
Ubuntu was essentially a football academy program
between 5pm-7pm four times a week. This year, we
feel as though every moment of every day is spent
investing in the lives on our players—from school
pick-ups at 7am to packing lunches every night! Best
of all are occasional calls from the principal's office
(inevitable when you are the "parents" of 17
extremely energetic boys!). What's so encouraging is
that this kind of full-time input is exactly what
youngsters need in order to become the great men,
leaders and footballers of tomorrow, which is the
mission we've embarked on with your support.
You will remember that the major focus of this year
has been extending our mentorship through football
into the classroom, and in our
previous newsletter you saw
photos of the boys all in uniform,
ready for their first day at school.
With every passing day it has
become more and more evident
that this step was absolutely crucial. Sun Valley
Primary and Silvermine Academy have partnered
with us as fully as we could have hoped, providing
exceptional individual attention to each boy's
academic progress, emotional well-being and
character development. Our boys have been pushed
and assisted to a whole new level of learning and
have responded brilliantly. At times each of them
has had to confront and work through challenges
that they might otherwise have simply side-stepped.
And, this entire process of education and learning to
overcome adversity has been within the context of
steadfast belief in each individual's potential and
Update Newsletter
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value. From our experience, it seems clear that these
3 principles—learning, embracing challenges and
being valued—are part of the foundation on which
great lives are built.
On the football field, our players have continued to
excel, earning recognition and admiration across
Cape Town, not only for their success, but also for the spirit and style they bring to the football field.
The Strandfontein Under-13 tournament is the
unofficial start of the junior season in Cape Town,
and attracts the very best talent from various leagues
across the city. Our boys, playing for the Fish Hoek
under-13 side, made it all the way to the final beating
extremely strong sides like the Old Mutual and Mr.
Price Academy sides en route. We lost the final game
but our boys were excellent throughout, and by the
end of the weekend countless coaches and spectators
had stopped us to say that they have never seen such
excellent football from under-13 players, which was a
great credit to the way our boys played. One of our
players, Wandile Sicholo, was named player of the
tournament, which is a remarkable accomplishment
given the fact that he was up against the best players
in the province, including the likes of Ajax & Santos.
The official league season has gotten off to a great
start for our under-13 and under-14 players, and
recently the Fish Hoek under-13A's further
established their credentials as one of the teams to
beat in Cape Town by winning 2-0 against the Ajax
Under-13A side. Ajax are arguably the most
successful junior development organization in South
Africa, and had won all of their league games so far
this season so this was a fantastic achievement for
our boys. We'd be delighted to have you come down
and watch the boys in action any Saturday, and
our home gameagainst
Hellenic at
10.40 on
Saturday
June 2nd
should be an
excellent one
to watch
(also home on June 23rd). Please feel free to contact
us for directions or later fixture details if you'd like
to join us any time.
Away from the academy, our Football Forward
grassroots mentorship through football in Ocean
View has been growing almost every week and has
become a very popular place for kids between 6 and
12 years of age every Monday and Wednesday
afternoon. The goal of Football Forward is to
provide a healthy, safe alternative to the streets for
youngsters after school. Every Monday and
Wednesday afternoon we have around 65 kids
coming down for some great coaching, nearly an
hour of non-stop game time and a ten-minute life-
skill lesson. While the Academy focuses on an
intensive footballing and educational mentorship of
exceptional young players with the hope that they
will grow up to become iconic leaders of the future,
Football Forward is our way of building strong,
broad-based connections within local communities.
Some of the younger players we see every week may
go on to become part of the academy one day, and
hopefully all of them will learn values that will point
their lives in the right direction.
As always, we're so grateful to you—our
supporters—for being such a vital part of this team.
All of this has been made possible by your
generosity, and we look forward to sharing this
journey with you for years to come.
With thanks from the Ubuntu Team.