Join The Little Skills Supporters Club!

I’ve taken on a new project at Craig Bellamy Foundation this week. I realised that as wonderful as it is to tell all my friends and family about the league as a whole, it would be nice for them to have something more personal to be part of. Hence my decision to create a supporters’ club for one of the teams. Thus it has become my responsibility to now raise as much money as possible for Little Skills, who are based in Bo and compete at both U12 and U14 level. This is my invite for you to join the club.

Little Skills U14 in action against Shining Stars.

Over the last four years, the Craig Bellamy Foundation has been running a youth football league in Sierra Leone – a country better known around the world for it’s bloody civil war and diamond trade. The country is working hard to leave that past behind it, but it still has some way to go. The Craig Bellamy Foundation is aiming to help by using the one thing that unites people the world over: A love of football.

The league is unique; With football in Sierra Leone associated with gang culture and neglect of education, it is built specifically to ensure that its participants engage in their communities and go to school. Points scoring for teams is split equally amongst four categories: Matches, fair play, community projects and school attendance. Simply winning matches will get you nowhere in the CBF league. Points are also awarded for doing so without accruing cards and for demonstrating outstanding examples of fair play.

Beyond match day, the children in the league must attend school in order to achieve points for their team. This has resulted in the CBF league achieving far higher school attendance rates than the rest of the country (over 90% compared to around 20% nationwide). Through individual team sponsorship, the foundation is able to pay the school fees of every child in the league.

The League’s unique scoring system.

To complete their points scoring total, teams must engage in community development projects each month. Over the course of the season, they will take part in 6 projects with themes that range from sanitation and hygene to human rights. Education programmes involving dramas or assemblies are particularly popular, whilst some teams go further and engage their community in waste disposal programmes or well sanitation.

The league is a fantastic initiative, particularly in a country that is as football crazy as Sierra Leone. Kids are desperate to be a part of it and with time the league will expand to include them all. This year the focus has been on expanding womens’ access to the game, particularly as coaches.

The fundraising for my club ‘Little Skills’ has begun. I’m collecting small donations from anyone who wishes to be a part of the supporters’ club. In return you’ll receive monthly updates and regular news on the facebook page here: www.facebook.com/LittleSkills. Please join up and click on the ‘donate’ link at the top of the feed to make a small contribution via paypal. Make sure you leave your email address so that I can send you updates.

A £10 donation will pay for one of the players to attend school in 2013. A £5 donation will pay for the boys’ water on matchdays.

Please give whatever you can and join the club. Then tell all of your friends too!

Thanks,

Ric

 

Sponsor A Club In The CBF League

The boys are now all registered. The kits have been collected, the referees and coaches trained. The players have been training hard and will continue to do so for two more weeks in anticipation of their opening matches. I would love to add at this point that the boots hve been polished and that the grass has been freshly cut. But in Sierra Leone, that is simply not part of the preparation. There are no grass pitches here; There are only fields of gravel that tear at the skin and bruise the knees.

One of the public football pitches in Bo.

But we are ready. Each club is well into the planning phase of its first community development project. Over the course of the season they will conduct a total of six such projects each. The clubs in Kenema will spend January focusing on environment and ecology, whilst those in Bo will be educating their community in sanitation and hygene. The recent outbreak in cholera has brought this very close to home for some players.

All of the staff at CBF headquarters and those in the regions around the country have been working very hard towards this point and we’re proud to say that the league is going to be another great success this year. But this is where we reach out and ask you for help. With the pledge to pay for the school fees of over 2000 children comes the responsibility of raising the money to do so. Prepare yourself for a plea…

Craig Bellamy Foundation ‘Sponsor A Club’ Initiative

I think that in previous blog posts (like this one), I’ve spent enough time explaining just how fantastic this league is, so here I will just ask for your help. To support the structure, we are working very hard to have every club in the league sponsored for the 2013 season. You can find out all the information about sponsoring a club here.

Huracan FC in Makeni have once again secured sponsorship of the coming season.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT SPONSORING A TEAM IN THE CBF LEAGUE

I’m not asking each and every one of you to dig your hands into your pockets and cough up £1000. That would be a touch unreasonable, as I know that most of you who read this blog are my friends and therefore as poor as Tiny Tim in July. Instead, I’m asking for a little bit of creative thinking on ways that you could direct £1000 towards a team in the CBF league.

You can do this by forwarding the link on to everyone you know; By asking your boss to read the website; By getting a group of your friends together to throw in a small amount each; By having a non-uniform day at your school; By getting in touch with your local paper and asking them to run a story about your fundraiser; By emailing your local football club; By emailing your local anything club. Just get the scheme out there.

It is a lot to ask, but I think that if enough people spend 5 minutes spreding this plea then eventually it will fall in front of people who are able to help out. The impact that will have will be phenomenal for the kids who it helps. They will have access to education and football, whilst making a real contribution to their communities.

Please, please, please, find a way to help us sponsor these football clubs. It won’t take you long to have an impact.