Spirit of Soccer. Enriching and saving lives through the beautiful game
Location
The use of Football / Soccer clinics to promote Mine Risk Education messages to children who live in densely mine polluted regions of the world.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sport
Soccer
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2006
YouTube Upload
Project URL (include HTTP://)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram:
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Few effective tools for personal improvement
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Use sport to build character
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic:
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Name Your Project
Spirit of Soccer. Enriching and saving lives through the beautiful game
Describe Your Idea
The use of Football / Soccer clinics to promote Mine Risk Education messages to children who live in densely mine polluted regions of the world.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
The use of Football / Soccer clinics to promote Mine Risk Education messages to children who live in densely mine polluted regions of the world.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
Mine Risk Education is provided by a number of local and international agencies but none engage the participants in such an active, fun and dynamic way.
Organised soccer / sports training is virtually non excitant through the school education system in Cambodia.
Mine Risk Education has in general previously been provided in a manner that does not truly inspire
or challenge young people and therefore they have been less than fully receptive to the important
messages provided to them. Such programming has provided MRE in a classroom setting through
the use of pamphlets and has even been inconsistent on key points.
Spirit of Soccer’s programming is unique in that it provides Mine Risk Education in a challenging and
fun environment, optimizing the receptiveness of the young players to receive the messages.
Provision of posters, featuring players such as Wayne Rooney, are provided as a reward to the
young players for their attention and hard work during training.
What are the existing barriers, the biggest problem, your innovation is hoping to address/change?
One word Poverty. Nearly 90% of the 875 people (mainly innocent civilians ) that were killed or maimed by Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War ( ERW) in 2005 and of the 450 casualties recorded in 2006 , the majority were farming or collecting explosives to sell as scrap metal.
Many children are forced by their parents to aid them in these activities. If through Football / Sport we can sow the dream that they can become a professional sportsman if they stay safe from mines.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
The duration of a Spirit of Soccer sports coaching/MRE session lasts from 60 - 90 minutes,
depending upon the age of the players and are instructed by local coaches that have been trained in youth soccer coaching and mine risk education.
The coaching techniques and curriculum are those endorsed and promoted by
AFC (Asian Football Federation) and FIFA.
The contents of the session are tailored to the players needs. Young or novice players receive a technical session which will cover the fundamental skills of the game,
such as passing, shooting and dribbling. Older and more experienced players receive a more tactical ses-sion i.e.: use of the skill in relation to the game.
The objective of the session is to challenge the players in a fun, informative and competitive environ-ment. At the end of the session the result is a group of players who trust the coach,
are highly motivated and ready to receive information about the dangers posed landmines and UXO.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
The program has already been implemented in Bosnia and Kosovo in recent years and was part of the team that resulted in these mine polluted regions being re-classified from High to Low risk impact areas and has been recognized by the mine action community as an effective player in helping to reduce casualties.
We are currently in Cambodia and have been approached to start a program in Africa in 2009.
We are also one of the first implementing partners of the "Football for Hope " a program set up by FIFA and our friends at Streetfootballworld.
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Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
To reduce child casualties caused by Landmines and Explosive Remnants of War by promoting Mine Risk Education through football coaching clinics to children living in densely mined areas of the world
What impact has your innovation had to date/or what is your intended impact? Exactly who are the beneficiaries?
There has also been a drastic reduction in casualties over the last year in the two provinces covered by the Spirit of Soccer team.
In Battambang the figures in 2005 were 170 mine accidents resulting in 249 casualties compared with 2006, which recorded 66 mine accidents that resulted in 110 casualties.
Child casualties have
In Pailin there were 76 mine accidents which resulted in 103 casualties in 2005 with figures for 2006 showing a over a 50% reduction with 30 mine accidents and 42 casualties suffered by mainly civilian populations.
In 2005 there were 300 child casualties , this has been reduced to 140 in 2006.
Main beneficiaries are school children aged 6-16 yrs old who receive educational material such as posters and school note books that feature World Soccer stars such as Rooney and Ronaldo endorsing Mine Risk Education messages.
How many people have you served directly?
As of the end of August 2007 from the start of field operations in July 2006 over 28,500 boys and girls at 145 primary and secondary schools have received Mine Risk Education through our soccer-coaching program.
Through the implementation of the project a high number of young females, approx 40 % , have been able to participate for the first time in football and indeed organized sporting activities. This is in part due to the fact that Spirit of Soccer trained and employed Cambodia’s first recognised FIFA licensed female coaches.
How many people have you served indirectly?
Indirectly the project has reached in Cambodia approx 50,000 people. This has been achieved through distribution of
1. 3,000 soccer balls with the mine warning sign printed on them to remind the players to play in a safe area.
2, Production of 30,000 school notebooks that feature images of Soccer stars promoting MRE messages such as the problem of children collecting mines and explosives to sell for scrap metal.
3. 40,000 posters featuring famous soccer stars holding mine warning signs backing our slogan " don,t play with mines........
play football.
4. Through international media coverage of our program we may have reached millions and brought to their attention the devastating effect these weapons have on our young players worldwide.
Please list any other measures reflective of the impact of your innovation?
1. Helping the Cambodian Football Federation create a foundation of youth coaches that will help develop players in the future,
2. Sponsoring and employing Cambodia,s first two female coaches who hold recognized FIFA endorsed coaching lisenses.
3. The encouragement and promotion of female soccer .
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
1. Armed conflict.
Weapons, whether small arms , landmines or Explosive Remnants of War pose a danger to our young players around the world.
2. Funding.
If you compare the money spent on Weapon development to that of clearance , rehabilitation and education then there is an unmeasurable gap.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
Our major financial sponsors are Laureus Sports for Good Foundation , US State Dept, British Foreign Office and most recently FIFA and Streetfootballworld through the recently launched Football for Hope program.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization.
Annual budget for Cambodia is approx 250,000 $.
Full time staff.
1 International director
1 Local Country manager
1 Admin / Finance
8 Local Football / Mine Risk Education Instructors.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
With over 70 countries contaminated with these deadly weapons and over 220 members of FIFA its safe to say that there are the national institutions that can be implementing partners with this program to train local coaches in keeping children safe from mines if sufficient funding can be found.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
The problem facing this program is the lack of knowledge of both written/spoken English at a high level of both the coaches and management team so that they can complete comprehensive reports for donors as well as solicit funding independently in the future.
This problem in our experience is compounded by the industry created by the ‘ International Aid Agencies’ which rely on international consultants that charge huge fee’s for writing reports and putting together funding proposals.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
This field has not been completedBrief History of Spirit of Soccer:
Spirit of Soccer was founded in Bosnia in 1996 by youth coach Scotty Lee on his return to Sarajevo,
where previously he had been part of the Humanitarian effort to supply food and medical supplies
to the victims of the civil war during 1993/94.
The trip was sponsored by Arsenal FC community office and arranged by the soccer family of Sarajevo's
professional clubs. During the visit 3 children, all under the age of 10 yrs., were killed by a fragmentation mine whilst playing football on some wasteland by the airport. With his experience of these weapons
during the war and the horrific nature of this accident, Lee approached the UN and asked to be trained
in Mine Risk Education so he could pass on the knowledge to the hundreds of kids he was coaching.
In 1997, Spirit of Soccer was registered as a UK charity and Unicef funded the program until Lee’s
departure in 1998. Over 7,000 children received MRE (Mine Risk Education) through Lee,s coaching clinics throughout Bosnia. The Ministry of Sport were impressed enough to take over the scheme and it
continued until 2000 with funding from Unicef and reached a further 4,000 children.
In 1999/2000 Lee was asked to implement the program in Kosovo as part of the team that was put
together to clear land-mines and cluster munitions. Because of coaching commitments in the USA,
Lee was only able to spend a total of 4 months on this program, but still managed to reach
over 2,000 young players.
In 2002 Lee was approached by the US State Dept. to plan a possible Soccer/MRE project for Iraq.
Because of the security situation he was unable get the project under way, thus he was asked to return to Bosnia, arriving in March of 2003. The project was now entering a new phase of development where the emphasis on training local coaches in both Youth development and delivering MRE messages to
children was continued.
Working closely with Ministry of Sport, Education Dept. of BiH Football Federation and Sports University of Sarajevo, Lee trained and sponsored 10 young coaches (6 male/4 female) who gained UEFA 'B'
licenses and were trained by Spirit of Soccer and Bosnian Mine Action Center in Mine Risk Education. Touring the country to heavily mine polluted areas of Bosnia Herzegovina ,the Spirit of Soccer team coached and passed on life saving skills about the dangers posed by mines and ERW to over 21,000
boys and girls. The project in Bosnia ended in April 2007, after Bosnia was classified by UNOP’s as
a 'LOW RISK' region and the casualty rate amongst children had been reduced to zero since 2005.
During this period Spirit of Soccer attracted funding from US State Dept., International Trust Fund for
De-mining, ,Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, Nato and the UK Embassy.
Endorsement of the highest order was received by the program when Sir Bobby Charlton and
Illie Nauseates visited the coaches and children as part of Laureus support.
Lee and his coaches received a 'national sports award" from the Ministry of Sport for BiH.
In Spring 2005, Lee was invited by Laureus to accompany 'Sport for Good" Chairman Edwin Moses and actor Jackie Chan on a visit to Cambodia.
Because of coaching commitments in Bosnia and USA Lee was unable to go but received an assessment of the Land-mine problem from Moses and the Military Attache of US Embassy in Phnom Penh.
With the program in Bosnia being handed over for local ownership in Jan 2006, Lee traveled to Cambodia to see if the Spirit of Soccer Soccer/MRE program would be of any assistance in reducing the casualty rate amongst the youth where 300 children were either maimed or killed by these devastating weapons during 2005.
The US State Dept. and UK Embassy of Phnom Penh agreed to match the Laureus Funding of $80,000.00 and the program was fully implemented in May 2006.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material.
I am married Brit residing in the USA with 2 young children and spend around 5/6 months in country running the programs and the other time developing programs , fundraising and coaching professionally.
I have had 15 years experience of delivering direct aid in conflict and post regions of the world primarily to children under the age of 18 yrs old.
I hold both UEFA and USSF "A" licenses in soccer coaching.
I,d like to be a multi millionaire so i could fund my own and others sporting initiatives.
How did you hear about this contest and what is your main incentive to participate? (this is confidential)
We received an invitation by email to submit our program and look forward to exchanging ideas and learning how together we really can make SPORT a serious medium to tackle some of the social problems our children of the world face.
Affiliation (please list all that apply)
FIFA / Streetfootballworld.
Football Federation of Cambodia.
Ministry of Education,Youth and Sport.
CMAA (Cambodian Mine Action Authority)
CMAC (Cambodian Mine Action Center)
US State Department.
Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
British Foreign Office .
Players of Manchester United F.C and Real Madrid.
Challenger Sports/British Soccer.
UNDP and MASG.
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Comments
I totally appreciate the idea of using a positive aspect to draw attention to a serious field – and I am delighted with the idea that the power of football as the most popular sport in the world is used for a good and serious purpose – in your case Coaching and Mine Risk Education in Cambodia.
I have a couple questions concerning the conducting of your project at the coalface:
How do you ensure a long-ranging effect for children in Cambodia? Are there like educational products out of your activity such as books and movies? Do you already have existing co-operations with educational institutions in Cambodia? How are those lessons you speak about constructed?
Thanks a lot and Good luck with your project!
Cheers
Benedikt
Dear Benedikt,
Thank you for your message.
To ensure sustainability we have a long term relationship with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and the Football Federation of Cambodia. We train specially selected coaches and PE Instructors in FIFA licensed youth development licenses and together with our partners at the Cambodian Mine Action Authority and the Cambodia Mine Action Center they are taught to present Mine Risk Education (MRE).
Educational materials distributed in support of the program include school notebooks and posters featuring world famous Football stars of the Premiership endorsing MRE messages, footballs (3,000) to 275 schools/ clubs and sports kit for children.
The MRE presentations are given by our coaches at the end of organized skills sessions for children attending schools located in some of the most densely mine contaminated areas of this planet.
There you go mate.
Scotty Lee.
I would like to suggest two contacts:
1. bart.weetjens@gmail.com - Bart is an Ashoka fellow that is working to reduce landmines with the help of rats.
2. Christopher Minko submitted "Sustainable Cambodian disabilty sports infrastructure supported through socially responsible corporate sponsorship" to this competition: http://changemakers.net/en-us/node/2389
Secretary General Cambodian National Volleyball League (Disabled)
cminko@standupcambodia.org
Tel: Office: +855 (0) 23 224 032 Mobile: +855 (0) 12 932 642
Website: http://www.standupcambodia.org http://www.volleyballworldcup2007.org
Good luck!
Dana Frasz
Changemakers
Thank you for your comments.
I,ve read about the research work that Bart is carrying out in the Mine Action Journal. Unfortunately Minko has been very hostile towards our program as he see,s us a threat to his standing in Cambodia. He has constantly gone out of his way to condemn our program and the support it receives from FIFA, Laureus and the US and UK governments.
We are a pro - active NGO so our concern is not with the casualties caused by landmines and ERW but preventing casualties.
Scotty.
In the interests of professionalism, the CNVLD objects to the defamatory terminology of Mr Lee.
Under no circumstances is the ‘Spirit of Soccer’ programme a threat to the CNVLD because:
1. CNVLD’s focus is the PWDs/Landmine Survivors of Cambodia
2. SOS is a duplication of mine awareness programmes which have saturated Cambodia during the last 19 years. MA programmes have been remarkably successful thanks to professional NGOs and the Royal Government of Cambodia.
Having met with representatives of Laureus in 2005 in Cambodia, they admitted in writing that Laureus were solely interested in capitalizing on the media attention associated with working here. SOS is an exercise in promoting individuals as heroes outside of Cambodia in order for Laureus to falsely promote a relationship to Cambodia.
The CNVLD doesn’t need Bobby Charlton and Tony Hawk pretending to find landmines in Cambodia on TV as a stunt that falsely portrays Cambodia as littered with landmines to the bemusement of many professional landmine clearance and disability rehabilitation organisations. The Athletes with a Disability are CNVLD’s heroes.
Cambodia is a dynamic, emerging economy, proud to be hosting its first World Cup and needs positive portrayal to encourage tourism.
SOS is an example of the burgeoning sports and development industry where many short-term, high profile programmes focusing on individuals egos and the fund raising process take precedence over the intended beneficiaries.
Mr Lee has never, in his short time in Cambodia, contacted the CNVLD, Cambodia’s leading disability sports organisation.
Working to internationally recognised standards of transparency including Cambodia’s only UN Best Practices recognition, the CNVLD requests immediate removal of these comments and written apology from Mr Lee/Laureus
Should these not be forthcoming immediately, the CNVLD will publish the aforementioned written communication with Laureus and take legal counsel.
The CNVLD hopes that Mr Lee/Laureus now refrain from using this exceptionally positive and much needed forum for such uncouth, appallingly unjustified statements.
We need to remain focused on the task at hand: Developing genuine and sustainable sporting programmes for landmine survivors and PWDs internationally.
Christopher Minko
Pathetic.
Hi Scotty,
Thanks a lot for your detailed reply - your project totally really seems to have a long lasting effect and I wish all the best then in Cambodia!
Take care,
Benedikt Fecher
Spirit of Football Project Group
University of Erfurt, current student
www.spiritoffootball.com