Mamelodi Soccer Camp 2010

AIS in partnership with Big Save and Funanani hosted a soccer camp on the 8th April to 11th April 2010 at the PVM Grounds in Mamelodi. The camp impacted lives of 143 children over the three day period.

The expressed joy in the children faces as they took part, the appreciation expressed by the parents when they attended the certificate award service and cooperation between the staff made it an event of note for 2010.

MORE ABOUT THE EVENT…

In the previous year successful soccer clinics were organized and this year with the foresight of creating a continuous development environment for children attended– AIS decided to step up the game to Soccer Camps.

The soccer camp program was based on the ‘Answer the Call’ curriculum which has been developed for 2010 in the Ambassador’s offices in the USA.

The children that participated in the camp were sourced from about six different primary schools around the camp grounds and also from the Funanani after school program.

The age range of the camp varied from the youngest being 4 years old to the oldest being 20. The children were then split up into three ages namely juniors, intermediate and seniors and age appropriate training was applied. Each child received a T-shirt as part of the sponsorship from Big Save.

The coaching staff that was led by Mark Versey was made of International & local coaches from AIS, Funanani staff, AIS Coaches Fellowship and Mamelodi coaches. In total we had over twenty coaches that assisted through the camp.

All the coaches attended a training day prior to the camp, and when the camp started each coach stayed with the same children each day to help create a team spirit that was evident in the days that followed. The administration and coordination of the events was continuously on their toes as they had to do registration, food hand-outs and other tasks.

The complimentary setup of local and international coaches helped in talking to the children as they were addressed both in their mother tongue and in English.

Each day of the camp comprised of skills session, bible time, assembly, fun games and tournament.
Each day the coaches focused on different skills: dribbling, passing and shooting, which hopefully where helpful in the game situations. During the assembly and the Bible time we focused on the story of Jonah: The sin of Jonah, the Repenting of sin and turning back to God and concluding with Gods mercy for Jonah and the people of Nineveh, just as Jesus mercy for us.

At the end of the camp, awards were presented to the Winners of the: Penalty Shootout, Dribbling Competition, 6 Second Shootout. As well as the teams who won the World Cup tournaments in each age groups. 

 
On Sunday we invited the parents and the children to attend the church service at Lewende Woord Church and they were given their certificates.