WINNERS NEVER QUIT........On Sunday 1 April I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Fatima Samuels, Coach Juerick and Coach Ricardo at Hout Bay. They had organised a coaching clinic and 4 x 4 tournament. It was wonderful to see how these people were using the material which they had been taught at the Stars pilot project!
Nearly 80 children attended, plus their parents, plus school principals and teachers. The Eagle Stars soccer club donated trophies, and Fatima Samuels, the chairperson, donated ice cream and lunch. There even was a DJ who made sure that the crowd stayed happy! (Unfortunately Coach Riedwaan was in Johannesburg for a gig. He is a professional DJ, stage name 'DJ Wanie'!)
I do not want to use too many words, let the pictures speak for themselves. This is what Stars in their Eyes is all about......
Nic Jooste
E-mail received from Craig Hepburn, African Brothers Football Academy
Thank you for giving African Brothers Football Academy Cape Town the opportunity to take part in the Stars in Our Eyes Project. I felt truly honoured to have been invited. The course, instructors and coaches from Holland where inspirational and motivating.
The course content and information we received have assisted greatly with development of football. My first experience was being invited to attend a football practice for the ladies team at the University of Cape Town to consider me taking the job as head coach. Forty ladies arrived for the first training session, and the previous coach had one soft ball and was totally ill prepared. I could feel the frustration and disappointment of the players. Fortunately, my car is always equiped with balls, cones, bibs and the passion to get people playing football.
Had it not been for the course, and the amazing 4x4 concept we where taught and experienced the session could have been a disaster. I set up the various 4x4 options and had everyone playing in a matter of minutes. I was able to analyse the standard and prepare my future classes. Needless, to say I was offered the position as head coach. We have won our first two games 8-2 and 8-1, the first game being against a team that thrashed our team last year. We have two ex-professional playing in the team. One played in the States and Kate (who is now our captain) played in the Ladies Premiership in England. Kate commented that I am one of the best coaches she has worked with, and I am receiving a written testimony confirming my coaching abilities.
I have blended experienced players with players who have never played before and having them work as a unit. We are aiming for the league title and developing the game at the university. I will send you the website details so you are able to read all the
good news.
Regarding the Homestead Orphange Team, I have put into practice what I learned on the course. It is proving to be highly succesful, and certainly developing their game to a higher level. I hosted a football workshop for the boys this week at their holiday camp, and I decided to use the individual player format competition .....Remarkbly the underdogs took the prizes!
We are also entered into the Atlantic School League, and we won our first game against a team that I used to coach Gardens Commercial High. We beat them 4-1! So we are off to a good start and this has given the boys a real experience to compete and work as a team. I will be visiting Maduna this week and will find out how it is going in the township. I will be hosting a coach the coach course and sharing all the information we recieved on the course with all the other team coaches, we will watch videos, dvd and work through the manual and books you kindly gave us. I will send you a report and photographs regarding this course.
One again thank you for the amazing opportunity, hopefully someday we will be able to do an internationally recognised football coaching course to take this to an even higher level.
Kind regards
Craig Hepburn
African Brothers Football Academy
Cape Town
