WATCH: We’re Still a Team!
WATCH: We’re Still a Team!
ISF Takes The Pitch Online
Though our Football Programme is on hiatus, ISF coaches are still dedicated to their players. They are using technology creatively to keep players engaged. Without the structure of school and sports, they fear these youth may well fall into child labour or delinquency. “The factories have closed so a lot of people have no money and can’t pay rent. Some have run away to the countryside,” says Leap, one of our committed coaches. To make sure these vulnerable children keep active and stay positive, our coaches share football techniques and exercise plans with them thjrough a dedicated Facebook Group and in online lessons. So far the response has been very encouraging, with many players sending us back videos of their training sessions.
Coach Leap thinks actions like these are crucial to helping the kids around him, “I always encourage them to learn online. I had to drop out of school to look after my family. That was hard, so I don’t want these kids to do that.”
Also while organised sporting events have been suspended during the COVID-19 crisis, the Football Programme is upgrading their skill set. Coaches are undertaking additional training so they come back better than ever. And some of our young, passionate coaches are engaging in community outreach. Their actions prove that even if the ISF pitch is empty, we’re still a team.
“I always encourage them to learn online. I had to drop out of school to look after my family. That was hard, so I don’t want these kids to do that.”
For the children not in our organisation, our coaches also set themselves about creating a new way to play. Every day, they saw young people playing on the streets, not following any of the guidelines for COVID-19 prevention. So Yin Samedy, head of the Football Programme, devised an innovative new way to play that took WHO best practices into consideration. The game’s special rules enforce proper physical distancing and the wearing of Personal protective equipment (PPE). Since we released the game, it has garnered international attention. Read more about Social Distance Football.
As a result of COVID-19 and its economic shock waves, we are suffering a significant drop in donations and operating with fast-depleting resources. However, we’re determined not to stop doing the creative, life changing work we’ve been doing for 14 years. If you’d like to support us to roll out programmes like this to more Cambodian children, please do consider donating to us.
