Age
14
Country of Residence
South Africa
Founding Story: What was the spark that led you to start your project? What was the "Aha!" moment that led you to get started and see the potential for this to succeed?
The spark for The Glory of Soccer started on our dusty field in Duncan Village .We were playing an important game and the power went off because of a faulty connection, and everyone just left feeling sad. In that moment we realized soccer is not just a game here, it is our life and it keeps us away from drugs and crime. Our "Aha!" moment was when we saw that if we can make soccer safe and organized, we can bring all the youth together and bring back pride and glory to our community, and we knew it would work because in Township .everyone comes when you call for soccer.
How do you encourage other people to join your project or learn about the problem you’re working on? If you have a new idea, tell us how you will do this in the future.
We encourage others by going to schools, knocking on doors, and using WhatsApp groups to invite youth to come watch and play.
How many people are on your team?
3
Impact: How has your project created impact / made a difference so far? Or, if at an early stage, what will impact look like?
So far our project has already brought more than 40 youth from different parts of Duncan Village together to play safely every week. We have cleaned our field, reduced fighting during games, and younger children now have role models to look up to. Parents are also happy because their children are busy with soccer instead of being on the streets. In the future, our impact will be bigger - we want to see less crime, more youth staying in school, and a united Duncan Village where soccer brings glory and pride to everyone.
Project Category
My project is an existing project that I started
Project Stage
Growth (We’ve moved past the very first activities and are beginning to have consistent weekly or monthly impact)
Project Summary: Describe your project in one sentence
The Glory of Soccer, shows how soccer brings hope, unity, and discipline to the youth of Duncan Village and can change our community for the better.
Project title
The glory of soccer
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve? Why does it matter to you and your community?
The problem we are solving is that youth in Duncan Village have no safe place to play soccer and are losing hope. Many fields are not safe, there are no proper lights, and there is crime and drugs around us. This matters to us because soccer is the only positive thing many of us have, and without it, many young boys and girls get pulled into gangs and bad habits. We want to solve this because we love our community and we believe soccer can save lives and bring unity.
Website URL(s) or social media handles.
N/A
What’s Next: What are the next steps you plan to take to grow or strengthen your project over the next year? If your project is still in the idea stage, describe the steps you will take over the next three months to launch or begin developing it.
In the next year, we plan to grow The Glory of Soccer by fixing our field lights properly so we can play safely at night, registering more youth from schools around Duncan Village starting life-skills workshops every month.
Your Innovation: What is different about your project compared to other programs or solutions already out there? How is your project new or innovative?
Unlike other programs that only give soccer balls or only focus on winning tournaments, our project is different because we use soccer to solve real community problems. We don't just play, we teach safety, discipline, and unity while we play. We are youth from Duncan Village leading other youth, so we understand the real struggles. Our innovation is that we turn our dusty, unsafe field into a classroom for life, where The Glory of Soccer means bringing hope and pride back to our own community by ourselves.
Your Solution: How are you solving this problem? Share your specific solution.
Our solution is The Glory of Soccer project, where we organize safe soccer games, clean up our local field, and use soccer as a tool to teach life lessons. We bring youth together to play, we teach them about teamwork, discipline, respect, and safety, including the danger of illegal connections around the field. We also lead workshops where older youth mentor younger ones, so soccer becomes more than a game - it becomes a school for life that gives hope and glory to Duncan Village.
Your team: What role(s) do your team members play? How do you share leadership with them?
Imimagaliso, you must stay with the path you are going, don't see people doing better thing and what to go there.
