The K+S Social Initiative is a three-year-old program to use the reach and connectivity of K+S’s festivals to promote and support football/soccer-related causes. Past Social Initiatives include Grassroot Soccer, Play31, and Soccer Without Borders.

“This game thrives on the passion of its players and fans, and CAC’s passion for helping

CAC working in Tamale, Ghana.

people around the world is second to none,” K+S cofounder and director Greg Lalas said. “We were overwhelmed with emails and Tweets from CAC’s supporters during the Social Initiative nomination process. It was truly impressive. And that really got us at K+S excited, because it was indicative of CAC’s ability to inspire people and ultimately produce results with their various programs.”

“We are delighted to be part of Kicking + Screening in 2012,” said Nick Gates, founder and global strategist of Coaches Across Continents. “It’s exciting to partner with an organization that shares our passion for the power of soccer and how it can be used to benefit children and communities around the world. We’re looking forward to sharing our work and learning from others who are using soccer through the Kicking + Screening network.”

For more information about Coaches Across Continents, go to www.coachesacrosscontinents.org. Follow them on Twitter: @coachesacross

Marisa working in Monrovia, Liberia

February 17th, 2012.  Coaches Across Continents is delighted to announce that Marisa Brown will head our Monitoring and Evaluation program in 2012.

Marisa is fresh off 4 months with Coaches Across Continents in Ghana, Liberia, India and South Africa in 2011 and is in the middle of working ‘on the fields’ with our two partners in Colombia.  She brings to Coaches Across Continents a wealth of soccer experience on and off the fields.  She was a 4 year starter at University of Wisconsin and continued her career in Spain and Sweden.  In 2009 she ran a soccer program in Paraguay and took her team to the Homeless World Cup in Brasil.

Monitoring and Evaluation in Sport for Social Development presents many challenges and

Marisa working in Colombia

the uniqueness of Coaches Across Continents and our ‘adaptable curriculum’ presents even greater challenges.  Working with our WISER model, Marisa will develop and structure new data that measures the impact of Coaches Across Continents with our partner communities.

Marisa will spend much of 2012 working with our community partner programs around the world to implement a 2 prong Monitoring and Evaluation system that will be used to assist the partners to build and improve their locally owned programs.

“M & E is such an important part of our organization so we are delighted that Marisa has joined us.  Her passion and experience in using Sport for Social Development make her a fantastic addition to our team.” Paul Baverstock, Coaches Across Continents Business Advisory Board.

Colombianitos trainers and Coaches Across Continents

February 14th, 2012. Coaches Across Continents has just finished Year 1 of our Hat-Trick Initiative partnership with the world acclaimed Colombianitos organization at their Puerto Tejada location about 45 minutes from Cali.  Like Coaches Across Continents,

Colombianitos is a former Beyond Sport Winner and the idea of a partnership started at a Beyond Sport event in 2010.

Football Skills for Life training with Colombianitos

Without a doubt, a major social issue in Pueto Tejada are the ‘gangs’ and their violent impact on daily life.  Such was the danger that our coaches were escorted everywhere, from the fields, on and off buses, to the shops and were housed by a truly amazing family headed by Maria Luz and Gregorio, who looked after them like their own family.  The day after one Coaches Across Continents session, the neighborhood had a 45 minute battle with the local police who were trying to arrest the wrong boy.  It’s events like this that make the work of Colombianitos so remarkable and at all times Colombianitos made certain that our coaches were safe and able to experience the community life.

Over the course of 10 days our coaches worked with the professional and volunteer local staff to teach and design new games that tackled the relevant social issues.  The success of the partnership was shown on the last day when the Colombianitos staff designed 6 new games that tackled drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, violence, financial literacy, social inclusion and

Colombianitos coaches teaching their newly designed games

communication skills.  We were delighted that in the closing remarks that the local coaches showed such enthusiasm for using sport for development and letting the games become the teacher rather than the classroom.

“We were able to share our ideas with a group of coaches who had such a strong desire to learn new ways to implement life skills through sport.  And importantly, we were able to learn from the local coaches on some unique ways that they use sport for social development in Colombia.  It’s this type of sharing ideas that will lead to change. Many thanks to Ana Arizabaleta and Antonia Pérez for setting up this program and to all the Colombianitos coaches who made it such a strong partnership. “  Marisa Brown, Monitoring and Evaluation Strategist, Coaches Across Continents.

The TactX program allows our staff to share our unique Coaches Across Continents, Football for Social Development games and images using instant 3D animated graphics. The program is user friendly and once games are created and saved, they can be easily accessible with an offline tool. This means that games which are saved as movie files can then be taken to the communities to share with other coaches and players. Simple to complex games can be created and can be viewed from multiple angles of the field.

TactX 3D Images

Working with TactX permits CAC to share our unique Chance to Choice curriculum in 3D to communities all over the world. The CAC staff has already begun creating the games in 3D and is looking forward to sharing them with community program leaders. TactX is also an integral tool for CAC’s monitoring and evaluation program.  All CAC coaches and partner program’s coaches will become members of the TactX board, a social network program that acts as a platform for the sharing of games, advice and information among group members. Coaches will be able to ask questions to CAC coaches as well as to their fellow coaches in their communities and from neighboring countries.

Coaches in Liberia

As stated on their website, TactX is confident that their animation program will change the lives of all coaches at all levels. Brian Suskiewicz, Coaches Across Continent’s on field strategist, commented after completing two TactX trainings, “the TactX program is a groundbreaking program that will give our partner coaches the tools to take their programs to the next levels. The program is user friendly and the support from TactX personnel is remarkable.  Coaches Across Continents couldn’t be happier with partnering with such a global leader like TactX”.

Coaches Across Continents is committed to creating social change through effective learning and local sustainability and undoubtedly this partnership pushes this objective forward in a positive direction.

The partnership with Colombianitos was developed as a result of both organizations being involved with Beyond Sport. In 2009 at Beyond Sport, Colombianitos was chosen from over 300 applicants as the winner of the first UNICEF International Children’s Rights Award. This award recognized Colombianitos’ Goals for A Better Life program as being an innovative sports-led social initiative.

Nick and Marisa will work with coaches and leaders from the Colombianitos program for ten days starting February 6, 2012. Together they will coach the coaches, working with the group to teach a curriculum focused on conflict resolution, social inclusion and female empowerment.

After working with Colombianitos, Nick and Marisa will travel to Medellin to work with the Club Deportivo Union Cristiano. This club concentrates its efforts in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Medellin, working to provide opportunities for youth to develop their sports skills. The organization aims to provide an alternative environment to the life of violence and poverty that many of the youth in Medellin encounter. Again, Nick and Marisa will train coaches and work with them to leave a curriculum in place that focuses on conflict resolution, female empowerment and social inclusion.

Both organizations realize the potential of soccer to create positive social change in the lives of the youth in their regions.

Brian at our Northern Uganda program

January 19th, 2012.  Coaches Across Continents are delighted to announce that Brian Suskiewicz is heading our On Field Partnerships in 2012.  Brian will work with more than 35 community partners and all our international coaches to provide programs in more than 15 countries.

In 2010, Brian worked in 6 countries with Coaches Across Continents and in 2011 he coached in 3 more, including Uganda and Namibia.  His experience of leading international programs makes him an extremely valuable member of the Coaches Across Continents On Field team.

“We are absolutely delighted that Brian will be our On Field leader in 2012.  He’s an outstanding Soccer for Life Skills coach, an incredibly well liked person throughout the partner communities and an extremely valuable asset for all our new coaches because of his experiences over the past 3 years.”  Seamus Malin, Coaches Across Continents Board Member.

In his role as On Field Strategist, Brian will liaise with our community partner

Brian with Special Olympics, Namibia

programs, design and adapt our curriculum to make it specific to local issues, recruit and train international coaches, and work with the Off Field team to provide relevant Monitoring and Evaluation information from the field.

Brian will spend more than 6 months of the year ‘on the fields’ with partner programs and communities and will work to implement our new 2012 Child Rights on field program.  Additionally, he will continue work on our new TactX on-line 3D Coaches Across Continents curriculum to maximise our year-round partnership support.

For more information contact brian@coachesacrosscontinents.org

XL Soccer Supports Give Us a Game

January 13th, 2012.  Coaches Across Continents has launched the new Give Us a Game 2012 (click for more information) at the NSCAA Convention in Kansas, USA.

The Give Us a Game 2012 Initiative is designed for teams, clubs and corporations to donate 90 minutes of their time to support the Coaches Across Continents programs in Africa, Asia, South America and North America.

XL Soccer Tours, Xara Soccer, Harvard Soccer and Texas Lonestars were 4 of the Give Us a Game partners in 2011 and their support helped programs in Tanzania, Liberia and Ghana receive the Coaches Across Continents Hat-Trick Initiative.

“Our  Give Us a Game 2012 is an exciting way for the soccer community and socially responsible businesses to be part of a much bigger picture in using soccer to make real social change.  We’re looking forward to building this exciting program throughout the USA and the NSCAA event is a perfect launch pad.”  Nick Gates, Global Strategist, Coaches Across Continents.

Meet Coaches Across Continents at the XL Soccer Booth #1335 at the NSCAA Convention January 12th-14th, 2012.

On 10th December 2011, Vijana Amani Pamoja, VAP hosted the 1

 Explore the importance of self esteem among teenage girls

 Encourage women to participate in sports.

 Emphasize on good grooming among girls /girls soccer players.

 Identify Miss Mrembo player of the year 2011

 Enable young women to make informed choices in their lives

 Create awareness on Sexual Assault among young girls

Despite soccer the tournament was made a success through the partnership of Nairobi Women’s hospital counsellors and VAP peer educators who addressed the participants on issues of GBV and Unity College of Hairdressing who groomed the girls.

BAHATI TOWNSHIP.

Bahati is a township of an average population of 100,000 people and located in the Eastlands side of Nairobi. Majority of the dwellers are low income earners with the youth facing a myriad of social and economical challenges e.g. lack of employment, early pregnancies, rape, molestation, HIV/AIDS etc.

Coaches Across Continents coaches Christian, Seth and Kelsey were part of the Year 2 Hat-Trick Initiative partnership with VAP in 2011.

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In the two weeks in each location we have built great relationships with these program directors and it is clear by the end of the trainings that they feel confident with our trainings as they move their programs and coaches to the next levels. At the end of two weeks I overheard AB telling Nick that this program was the best that his coaches had ever received and he was excited that they were now equipped with a curriculum that he knew would work. Hearing these words is a great sign and it made me reflect on the many experiences that filled these two weeks with Slum Soccer.

Arriving at our accommodation we were greeted by Deepti Karat and her family, which includes her adorable and very energetic daughter, Diva. Yes, Diva is her name and Diva is the perfect name for this little girl who filled Nick and my two weeks with many moments of laughter and joy. Unlike many other Indian children that we met, Diva is unafraid to approach strangers, share some words and ask many questions. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to meet Deepti and learn more about the dynamic and innovative work she is doing with children of sex workers at the Sunshine Foundation. She decided to completely change her career track once she saw the need to provide counseling and other services to these marginalized and underserved youth population.

Right away we met the coaches at the main center location and were greeted by a group of young and eager faces that were ready to learn new games and ways to engage with their youth teams. It is always interesting in the first five minutes as the coaches size us up to get more of an idea of what their next two weeks entails, and of course somehow Nick is able to get everyone laughing and forgetting about any doubt they might have had. In these first situations with the coaches it is always encouraging to see how football becomes the language of the group and laughter and joy become part of the regular program.

I believe that the amount of laughter and fun that the coaches experienced during the training sessions surprised them and even led one of the female coaches to asking me if it was always important to have the children laughing at all points of the session. I reminded her that we always use a mix of coaching styles and encouraged her to figure out her own style that aligns with the Slum Soccer program. Many of the coaches were also new to football, seeing that cricket is the main sport of the nation and football has not yet received much support or attention. During the sessions it became apparent that many of the coaches themselves had not learned basic football skills, so we included many games that simply taught the basic football skills like first touch, passing and field awareness. For many of the female coaches, the opportunity to play football didn’t exist when they were younger, so it is even more important to teach them the basics.

Football is growing in Nagpur and particularly with the launch of the Nagpur Premier League. We attended a game with not only all the coaches from Slum Soccer but with about 100 children from the Slum Soccer network. The large group of Slum Soccer participants made up the majority of the audience at the Gupta game and their cheers and dancing lit the night up with energy and enthusiasm.

I had the opportunity to speak with the female participants during a Guerrieras workshop that was held in Hinganghat, which was also where the tournament was held. The Guerrieras workshop is part of the Coaches Across Continents female empowerment curriculum and it is now in the pilot phase. The multimedia components in this pilot include a short video about the Brazilian women’s national team narrated by the captain and which details her experiences playing football and the obstacles she has confronted to arrive at the position she is in today, and a short power point with images capturing the women’s professional league in Brazil. These images generally create great dialogue amongst the participants and are not only intended for female participants, but rather are ideal for all participants- young, old, female, male, mothers, fathers, etc. With the female coaches of Slum Soccer, the photos and questions prompted them to relay to the group about their assiduous journeys to become involved in a male dominated sport and then to become coaches. For me it was very interesting to hear how each woman encountered different obstacles and surprisingly how the majority of them had to put more effort into convincing their mothers to allow them to play in comparison with their fathers. Of the group of 8 coaches, all are hesitant to marry, for marriage to each of them means not being able to continue being involved in sports. One woman even said that her father has promised her to find a man that will allow her to continue to coach football. The conversation was a learning experience for all, as I also contributed my own experiences in the game of football, thus giving each of them a different perspective.

Participating in the Tenth State Level Slum Soccer tournament that was entirely organized by the Slum Soccer coaches was such a wonderful way to end our first phase with Slum Soccer. The coaches organized this tournament to bring in teams from all over India, including all the way from Mumbai. The tournament was held in the center of town at a field where a street football pitch was located. Each game was guaranteed a crowd of 200 people or more, including many youth, young men, politicians and football supporters. On the second to last day of the tournament the local program director organized a collective bike ride through the town where the youth shouted out environmental slogans as well as posted them to their bikes. It was great to be part of this group as we traveled through town attracting attention from everyone and hopefully raising awareness for environmental issues affecting the community. All of the coaches from Slum Soccer participated in the bike ride riding alongside the youth players.

Apart from the time spent at the field watching the games, Nick, AB, the two new interns and I spent the rest of our time meeting people in the community and going from house to house taking photos with families. It was great meeting some of the coaches’ families and they were overjoyed that we took the opportunity to meet their family members and to see where they grew up. During the multimedia project with the female coaches, a couple of them mentioned to us that their family started to support them when they were receiving attention either from participating in international tournaments like the Homeless World Cup or when the coaches had an opportunity to work with international coaches. In a way these instances legitimized to their families and communities that what they were doing was real work.

It was difficult to say goodbye to the coaches, AB and his family as well as Deepti, Diva and the rest of their family, because both Nick and I became quite close with the Slum Soccer family over the two weeks. Both Deepti and AB are inspirational figures, having both decided to pursue work in the nonprofit sector, which is not common for the younger generations. They are determined to provide better opportunities for the youth in Nagpur and are great role models themselves, having achieved great heights academically and professionally.

After leaving India I was filled with a great sense of pride in being part of such a strong partnership and I am looking forward to hearing updates from the coaches and AB in regards to their coaching experiences and their work in their communities.

To see the list of key-note speakers at Beyond Sport Cape Town click:  http://www.beyondsport.org/the-summit/speaker/speaker/index.php?Id=7