Tottenham Hotspur FC and FC Basel 1893 hand in hand for Sri Lankan Youth

Tottenham Hotspur FC and FC Basel 1893 are currently conducting the third module of a year-long youth education programme in the former civil war region Mannar in the north-west of Sri Lanka. Professional coaches of the two clubs work hand in hand as instructors on-site to educate young Sri Lankan women and men to become childrens’ football coaches. Initiated and organised by the Scort Foundation and its “Football Clubs for De-velopment and Peace” partnership programme the European instructor team aims to use the power of football to improve people’s lives in Sri Lanka.

Mannar, Sri Lanka: 9th January 2011

It’s Sunday, a cloudy and very humid afternoon in the fisherman’s town Mannar, Sri Lanka. Even the football pitch is still a little moist from the rain showers at night. It supposed to be dry season but Julia Brosnan, Education Officer of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, is sitting here in her light raincoat, on concrete stairs that build part of a stand of the football centre in Mannar. She was lucky yesterday when she conducted her workshop on how to plan a training session for children – the sun was shining during the whole morning and afternoon. She turns around, on the pitch in front of her 50 kids, waiting in anticipation, fooling around and looking forward to a practi-cal training session. To her right also sitting on the stands and watching the children, 31 young Sri Lankan women and men, preparing themselves to hold and conduct the upcoming session filled with various exercises and little small-sided games. Now it is time for them to show what they have learned from Julia and her fellow European instructor colleagues Willy Schmid and Joachim Eble from FC Basel 1893 as well as Fritz Schmid, FIFA Instructor, the day before. The Young Coaches are motivated to start working with the kids. “We could not work with our own children groups for about a month due to heavy monsoon rains", explains one of the participants when asked by the international instructors about their work since their last visit in August 2010.

A Partnership to Educate and Empower through Football
What brought this very diverse group of people together? The Scort Foundation, founded in January 2007, is a nonprofit organization based in Basel, Switzerland, that runs football education programmes for children and youth in post conflict regions abroad but also for disabled children in Switzerland. Its “Football Clubs for Development and Peace” partnership programme brings together European top football clubs in order to “team up to empower role models”. Tottenham Hotspur Foundation’s involvement in this partnership was facilitated by the Premier League. It all began with a good conversation between the respective heads of the Premier League, Tottenham Hotspur FC and the Scort Foundation. The project includes four modules spread over one year and Tottenham Hotspur sends its experts in football coaching and commu-nity work for each project part. Tottenham Hotspur Foundation’s involvement is thanks to their great social commitment and the support of the Premier League, who has invested in the project in Sri Lanka through its International Small Grants Fund.
The aim of this international involvement of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, besides various others in China, Poland and South Africa, is to educate young Sri Lankan women and men to become responsible coaches for children’s football. The role of the international instructors is to pass on their knowledge about football, combined with social skills to the participants in both practical sessions as well as theory classes. What makes a good coach – on and off the pitch? In this third module the instructors “hand over” additional “tools” in form of exercises and games to \Enlarge the variety of training methods of the “Young Coaches”. They in return lead their own training groups, apply the gained skills and knowledge when working with local children, and therefore act as role models and multipliers for their local communities.

The Country and its Conflict
Sri Lanka, earlier known as Ceylon, has got 20 million inhabitants. The main part of the popula-tion is Sinhalese, whereas the Tamils are the largest minority. The most urgent domestic tasks after the end of the civil war in spring 2009 are now the taking care of the originally 272’000 civil war refugees housed in camps, their return to their homes and the economic reconstruction of the highly affected north. Most of the “Young Coaches” in this programme are Physical Education teachers of different local schools and NGO workers in Mannar District who can support the de-velopment of the children by actively taking over responsibilities as coaches and role models in their communities.

Local and International Project Partners
Successful projects like this are developed on one hand because of the charisma, attraction and know-how of the football clubs, but on the other hand with the help and support of a lot of different partners and organisations who contribute in various ways to a successful module and pro-gramme. While the Premier League offers funds for the project, local partners like the Football Federation of Sri Lanka, the British Council Colombo and the International Committee of the Red Cross Sri Lanka support the project by offering organisational support and local staff. “This morn-ing Kishore Roy, an expert of the British Council Colombo, hold a workshop on communication and teambuilding” explains Julia Brosnan. “This is a good way of including also local experts into the education of the participants.” In November the International Committee of the Red Cross funded and conducted a three day First Aid Course with the whole group. The first aid certificates as well as the certificates as grassroots football coaches will be handed over to everyone in March during the final project module. Then all the Young Coaches have to report on their com-munity work and show during demonstration training sessions that they can apply what they have learned.

Development through long-term Engagement
Julia watches the Young Coaches on the pitch with her colleagues – two of them already know the participants from the beginning. “It is impressive how they have developed and improved since the project began. They are more self confident and can handle big groups of children”, tells Willy Schmid, an instructor of the Swiss club FC Basel 1893. “The smiles on the Young Coaches’ and children’s’ faces is the best reward for the work we are doing here”, states Julia and is also smiling when watching them. She can now better understand what her colleagues Karen Hills, Joe Lyons and Trevor Duberry were telling her about this project when they came back to London after the last project parts. In March 2011 two of them will come back to Mannar to further edu-cate “their” students so that they are able to work independently with their group in the future.

For further information about the Scort Foundation or the project in Sri Lanka, please refer to www.scort.ch or contact
Marc-Andre Buchwalder or Joe Lyons
Scort Foundation Tottenham Hotspur Foundation
Chief Executive Education Manager
Cell +41 (0)79 247 47 88 Cell +44 (0)77 99 76 10 89
Mail marc.buchwalder@scort.ch joe.lyons@tottenhamhotspurs.com

Grassroots Coaching Course by Scort Foundation of Switzerland
The Scort Foundation of Switzerland in collaboration with Football Federation of Sri Lanka and the Mannar District Football Association will conduct the Module III of their “Grass roots Coaching Course” for a selected 30 Young Coaches from Mannar District from 8th to 11th January, 2011 at the Bishop R. Joseph Stadium in Mannar.

Scort Foundation is a non profitable organization based in Switzerland and operates worldwide promoting sports development programmes through Donor organizations.

FIFA - Grassroots Training programme .
Date      :4th &,5th of November 2010.
Venue : Badulla Training Center.
Number of participants                 : 70 Boys & Girls.
Number of Teachers                      ; 15 – 20
Organized & Conducted by          : FFSL, Y.D.P.

Goalkeeping Seminar: for Co-ordinators .and Women’s Coachers.
Date      : 11th to 13th of November 2010.
Venue  : FFSL. Beddagana Training center.
Course Instructor D.Chandrasiri AFC. A License. National Coach.

Youth Football Coaching Programme.2010.
Date                       : 23rd & 24th of October 2010.
Venue                    : Bomiriya Central College Ground- Kaduwela.
No of participated  :  80 bays – U-13, U-15, and U-17.
Conducted by        : FFSL – Youth Department.
Organized             : Bomiriya Central College – Kaduwela.

"Holcim" U-15 all Island (Girls) football tournament -2010
 Date   : 9-11 October  2010.
Venue  : Maligapitiya Ground, Kurunegala.
Teams  : 18(girls) school teams
Opening ceramony 9.10.2010 at 9.00 am.
Closing ceremony 11.10.2010 at 3.00 pm

"Holcim" U-15 all Island (Boys) football tournament -2010
Date   : 16 - 18 October  2010.
Venue  : Mchyser ground Trincomalee.
Teams  : 20 (Boys)regionalchampion school teams.
Opening:  ceramony 16.10.2010 at 9.00 am.
Closing:  ceramony 18.10.2010 at 3.00 pm

 Tottenham Hotspur FC and FC Basel 1893 continue their social engagement in the former civil war region of Sri Lanka
From the 17th to the 20th of August 2010, the second module of the Scort Foundation’s so-cial education programme takes place in Mannar, North-West Sri Lanka. Instructors of the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation and Scort’s partner club FC Basel travel to Mannar to pro-ceed with the educational programme initiated in May 2010.

During the year long educational programme conducted in four modules, the professional instruc-tors of the participating clubs educate 31 young women and men from Mannar District to become young coaches for children’s and grassroots football and consequently multipliers for their local community.

In co-operation with local organisations, football is applied as a tool to foster health, integration, core values and development. The project’s participants are taught both didactical and methodo-logical knowledge and know-how, which they can implement later on when working with their own groups of children.

In addition to the Red Cross Mannar-Sri Lanka (who started to educate the participants in First Aid during the first module), Scort is supported in the second project module by the British Coun-cil Sri Lanka. Instructors of the British Council will conduct a workshop on “Youth Leadership and Ethics through Soccer” – important skills for the participants when they forward their newly ac-quired knowledge to the children in their community.

Scort is a non-profit and politically independent foundation with Gigi Oeri as President (FC Basel President), supporting young people in difficult living conditions through targeted football initia-tives and developing sustainable networks. In its partnership programme (“Football Clubs for Development and Peace”) Scort unites professional football clubs in order to realise football edu-cation programmes on a local and international level.

The year long social initiative in Sri Lanka is supported by the Premier League, Liechtenstein Development Service, FIFA and Holcim Sri Lanka.
Further Information: www.scort-go-for-it.org
For further Information about the Scort Project Sri Lanka please contact:
Barbara Schneider
Scort Foundation
PR & Communications Manager
Cell +41 (0)79 869 47 88
Mail barbara.schneider@scort-go-for-it.org
http://www.scort-go-for-it.org

Mannar, May 20th, 2010:
It was a warm welcome when the international guests from Switzerland and England arrived after a long trip in Mannar. They could enjoy traditional dances and plays performed by local children. “Especially our youngsters need the right leisure time activities so that they are not confronted with depressions and alcoholism like many of their parents after these tough times”, emphasizes the major of Mannar when welcoming the international guests from London and Basel. The international delegation consisting of representatives of FC Basel, Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, FIFA and the Scort Foundation wants to help facing exactly these problems by educating young women and men as grassroots football coaches, role models and multipliers. On Tuesday morning the official kick-off of the year-long social football initiative took place at the Mannar football centre. The football centre was named as “Bishop R. Joseph Stadium” within the official opening ceremony. The Bishop donated the ground to FFSL for the construction of the football centre which is now used as project location for the year-long coaching education programme. They both are very pleased that Scort and the professional coaches came to Mannar to conduct the coaching education programme. “We are very happy and proud that you are here”, Manilal Fernando, President of the FFSL, says during the opening ceremony. The participants of the coaching education programme are teachers, staff of local aid organizations and persons interested in football. Willy Schmid, Coach and Coaching Educator from FC Basel, wants to mobilize the “Young Coaches”: “Most of the participants already work with children on a daily basis – we now want to teach them how to conduct grassroots football trainings for a large number of children and how to use football as a social tool.” Karen Hills, Womens Football Development Officer at the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation very much appreciates the participation of five women in the programme. As a former female player and now coaching expert she is convinced by the social power of football.

The programme focuses on teaching didactical and methodological aspects of grassroots football as well as teaching social competencies through football, which Gigi Oeri, President of FC Basel and the Scort Foundation, considers as one of the most important parts of the programme. “We want to show the participants that football can be used for various purposes. First of all it is fun for the kids, but it also makes them forget the tough times they were facing in the past and the Young Coaches will be role models for the youngsters so that they can positively influence their lives in the future.” In addition to this, staff of local partner organizations teach locally relevant topics. Yesterday, the Red Cross Mannar conducted a first aid course. During the next three project modules the British Council and the NGO Future Peace will also contribute with their specific knowledge in trauma coping, team training etc.Each participant of the year-long initiative is supposed to set up an own football group for children to implement their new learned skills and to offer the kids an organised leisure time activity.

The project is organised by the Scort Foundation with FFSL being the main local project partner in Sri Lanka. The initiative is set up within the foundation’s “Football Clubs for Development and Peace” partnership programme. “We work out concepts how professional football clubs can become sustainably engaged in international development work through sport”, says Marc-André Buchwalder, CEO of the Scort Foundation. These concepts will then be implemented in projects like the one in Sri Lanka. The Scort Foundation’s President Gigi Oeri, who came all the way from Switzerland for the project’s kick-off, emphasises the focus of the programme: “As professional football clubs we also have a social responsibility. It is not about staging a one day-event. We really want to help the people in Mannar by offering a sustainable education programme which is supposed to help the youngsters in Mannar District.”

The following two project modules will be staged in August and autumn 2010 in Mannar. The final project module is planned to take place in spring 2011.

Pictures (all © Scort Foundation)
Pic 1: Group picture with GIgi Oeri
Pic 2: Young coach with children during a training session
Pic 3:
For further information please refer to: www.scort-go-for-it.org
For further information about the Sri Lanka-Project please contact:
Barbara Schneider
Scort Foundation
PR & Communications Manager
Cell +41 (0)79 634 08 01
mail: barbara.schneider@scort-go-for-it.org
http://www.scort-go-for-it.org/

FIFA initiates the Grassroots Football in Sri Lanka

FIFA The world Football Governing Body through its Member Association Sri Lanka Football Federation will kick off the Grassroots Football Development Programme from 12th to 16th May 2010. There are 25 Teachers/Coaches for 125 children [Boys and girls of 9-11 years of age] from 20 schools will participate for the grassroots children football festival. The programme is conducted by FIFA Instructor Mr. Fritz Schbid in association with the Youth development Department headed by Mr. RMU Mahindapala. The theoretical aspects will be held at the football House and the practices and training at Reid avenue grounds. Colombo.

The Grassroots programme is an initiative in which FIFA, its member associations and their respective education authorities work closely together to encourage young children to learn about football and human values and to enjoy the game as much as possible. In short, it aims to bring happiness to children the world over.

“FIFA’s main objective in creating the Grassroots programme is to bring as many people as possible into the game, because football is a school of life.”

FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter

The concept
The Grassroots programme is aimed at boys and girls between the ages of six and 12 and can be set up in schools, local communities and clubs. Grassroots football is: -Open to everyone. A game that can be played anywhere and by anyone – there are no barriers. Easy to play, exciting and rewarding. A fair-play game.

The objectives of the programme
The main goal of the Grassroots initiative is to get as many people as possible involved in the game, instill human values and, above all, to bring enjoyment to youngsters simply by letting them take part. Its focus is the players themselves. And while football is the most popular and widely played sport in the world, there is no reason why we should not continue to encourage young boys and girls to take up the game.

Grassroots football offers fun and enjoyment. It can also be played at schools and clubs and provides young players with regular training and matches. Football is the main source of pleasure for many children around the world and offers them a means of making friends and expressing themselves. The Grassroots initiative puts the focus on playing the game and the basic philosophy behind is
That there is no better teacher than sport.

AT THE LAUNCH ceremony in Colombo - Football House

The Grassroots Football launch ceremony was held on the 12th May at 9.00 am at the Football House. There were Coaches/Trainers, Sponsors, officials of AFC [Vision Asia team], Officials of Sri Lanka Schools Football Association, Executive Committee Members, and Officials of the Sports Ministry and Educational Ministry who are the stake holders of the project.

The Programme will be continued for 5 days where the Theoretical and practical sessions will be held in Colombo. This will be followed by the FIFA Grassroots Festival to be held on Sunday at the Reid Avenue Grounds ,opposite the Football House.
FIFA Instructor Mr. Fritz Schbid is pleased over the arrangements made by the FIFA DO Office together with Sri Lanka Football Federation and will proceed to Mannar to conduct the Poprgramme in Mannar.

Mr. Shammi Karunaratne Director/General Manager of Plenty Foods addressing said that they are happy to associate Football the world's game at the grassroots level and guarantee of their total support not only in Colombo but also in the out stations as well.

Sri Lanka under 14 National Team and His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapakshe at Temple Trees.

The team will visit IRAN to participate at the AFC u/14 festival, coach - Major S. Pathmanadan, Director Youth Development (FFSL) Mr. R.M.U. Mahindapala in also in the picture.