Hout Bay Leopards Soccer School helped to arrange sports kit for several schools in the area earlier this year.
Hout Bay soccer school coach Ricardo Phillips has set himself the goal of raising almost R700 000 annually to run a school sports programme.
Last year, he launched the Hout Bay Leopards Soccer School, a non-profit company, to help children participate in sports while also giving them a basic grounding in life skills.
The soccer school started working with three schools in the area and now works with five, according to Mr Phillips, of Hangberg.
"This brings back the balance between sports and academics. Our community has lost its way a bit, and I truly believe initiatives such as these can help bring us back onto the right path.“
He was 7 when he started playing soccer for Blue Bells Football Club at the William Herbert sports grounds in Wynberg, under the Cape District Football Association banner. He started off as a goalkeeper and evolved into a striker.
Later, he was recruited by FC Fortune and played in the Vodacom League in 1999. He represented the club for nearly three years. At one stage, he also coached the Ajax Cape Town Academy before going on to coach the Castle League and then took over a Vodacom side.
He says he has been dedicated to helping youth and sportsmen in the area for more than 20 years.
"My neighbourhood and this work is my life passion and calling, so I know the ropes very well."
He adds: “I saw the need to be giving back to my community knowing the youth is faced with a lot of challenges.”
The programme he wants to run through the soccer school, at various schools in and around Hout Bay, will include a mix of sports and recreation, everything from soccer, netball and rugby to hiking, dancing and music as well as workshops on basic life skills.
So far, 200 children from five schools are registered with Hout Bay Leopards whose nine coaches run daily activities
“With sound life skills, education, the proper guidance and proper coaching, a young star can be given an opportunity to arise, excel and propel towards her or his greater destiny, venturing into new horizons,” Mr Phillips says
Earlier this year, the organisation helped to secure some sports kit for Hout Bay High School, Nowers High School Academy, Hout Bay Primary School and Sentinel Primary School (“School sports teams kitted out for success,” Sentinel News, May 31).
Silikamva High School principal Phathie Nkala-Nkohla says the soccer school has been helping to keep the youth of Imizamo Yethu and Hangberg away from crime and drug and alcohol abuse.
“Hout Bay Leopards is involved in coaching the soccer and other sporting codes using the community fields. They even got involved with the basketball and ended fixing the hoops, ensuring they were properly set up for the players.”
For more information about the soccer school, call Ricardo Phillips at 073 975 7533.