Avril Fillies
Girls who play sports become women who lead.
This was the theme of an exciting Women’s Month event hosted by local NGO training4changeS with support from Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and Pieter Langeveldt Primary School.
About 60 primary-school girls gathered for a fun and empowering afternoon of soccer matches and life skill games. The celebration concluded with training4changeS’ women coaches playing a friendly game versus local women’s soccer legends. The match gave an opportunity for the young girls to connect with role-models who have paved the way in local women’s soccer.
“It was incredibly inspiring not just for us, but especially for the children,” said training4changeS coach Wendy Qangiyeza. “It sent a strong message: we don’t just coach the girls for the sake of it, we live what we teach. By getting involved ourselves, we help break the stigma around girls playing football.”
training4changeS strives to increase opportunities for girls to play soccer, pursues gender equity and empowers young women to be transformational leaders. “One of our activities was ‘Girls Can’, which emphasised that girls can play just as well as boys,” Qangiyeza added. “The message was clear: what boys can do, girls can too. Everyone has different strengths, and that’s something to celebrate.”
Daniel Thomae, co-founder of training4changeS added: “It was so exciting to have all of these girls from different schools and different communities together. Our message to the girls is clear, you are strong, smart, bold, beautiful, loved, and amazing! Playing sport doesn’t define you, but it can help you do more than you could ever dream. I think having the legends from Stellenbosch FC join our amazing coaches really inspired the girls, because right there they could see women from their own communities who are doing amazing things as changemakers, and sport is helping them make a difference.”
Research shows when girls participate in sport it helps them develop into lifelong leaders, yet girls face barriers to playing sport. training4changeS is calling for more people to invest in making quality sport programmes available to girls across Stellenbosch, and beyond.
training4changeS is an internationally acclaimed NGO based in Stellenbosch that provides a unique blend of high-level soccer coaching, quality education and mentorship to empower young changemakers. It is was the first African NGO to earn accreditation in Education Outside the Classroom, and has twice been ranked the top African NGO using sport for Peace and Social Justice. training4changeS runs a boys’ soccer academ, and school teams for girls as well as providing coaching for special needs children at Dorothea School.
• Visit www.training4changes.org to find out more.
