DONA'S MATES YOUTH DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

Dona’s Mates hosted another successful Youth Development through Football Coaches workshop at Tshepana Primary School from the 06 September to the 08 September 2011. Twenty eight Coaches from across Gauteng Province attended the workshop.

The majority of the Coaches came from Sedibeng Region and out of the 28 Coaches 10 of those were women. Some of the Coaches came from different Communities and some of them were based in Schools and are working as School Sport Assistants, others as School Sport Activity Coordinators.

This workshop was a great success as for the first time more women attended the workshop and this augers well for women involvement in Football Development. The aim of the YDF Toolkit workshops that Dona’s Mates is conducting is to teach Life Skills through Football.

Some of the disciplines that are taught are Teamwork, Tolerance, Trust, Fair Play, Violence Prevention, Responsibility, HIV/AIDS Awareness, Life Skills, to mention but a few and all these are taught using Football as a Tool. Fun is the name of the game in all the activities; we ensure that the participants are enjoying themselves while educational messages are conveyed.

We wish to thank YDF/GIZ for their undivided support as we have now reached over 140 grassroots and semi-professional Coaches through this programme. Dona’s Mates are still continuing with the workshops and others will be coordinated in the near future.