Right to Dream Staff Lead training in Sierra Leone

In April 2009, members of the senior management team from Right to Dream Ghana visited Freetown, Sierra Leone to lead in the delivery of training for Team Managers and Coaches taking part in the Craig Bellamy Foundation Nationwide Development League, a exciting partnership project with Right to Dream, which is due to commence next month.

The Nationwide Development League in Sierra Leone will use soccer as a platform for social and personal development.  Aimed at girls, boys and the differently-abled, the league system will ensure that points are achieved not just from match result.  Points will be awarded based on 25% gained from Match Results, 25% gained from Fairplay, 25% gained from School Attendance (of all registered players) and 25% gained from Community Projects (successful completion of projects in the areas of environment, care and peer education).

The week long training programme brought together 85 Sierra Leoneans from around the country, 40 coaches, 45 Team/Regional Managers.  Working in partnership with UNICEF and Coaching for Hope, Right to Dream led the design and delivery of the training course aimed at ensuring the coaches and Team Managers emerged with the necessary skills and knowledge to deliver the vision and objectives of the League.

Following the training, Gary Mountain, Right to Dream’s UK Operations Manager and Craig Bellamy Foundation Project Director,

“The training of the staff for the league is a huge step for the Craig Bellamy Foundation and Right to Dream. It shows how Right to Dream have developed a model that can be replicated throughout Africa for the assistance of children to reach their full potential, aswell as showcasing our ability to forge partnerships with other organisations who share our vision of using sport as a tool for social development.

It was a great week and I look forward to seeing all our newly trained staff members making a real difference to Sierra Leone.”

Excitement is now building up in Sierra Leone as the unique nation wide junior competition named after the English Premiership footballer Craig Bellamy is set to begin.  The Craig Bellamy Foundation League will kick-off next month in four cities in Sierra Leone involving 40 teams from which 1,600 boys under 14 years of age will be registered. Freetown, Makeni, Bo and Kenema will be the first cities to host the league which upon full expansion will reach the other nine regions of the country.

Craig Bellamy visited Sierra Leone for the first time in September 2007 and he was touched by the scale of poverty around the country. What also struck him was the enthusiasm of young boys playing football with little or nothing. The Wales captain decided he will establish a football academy in the country and support children to play football and go to school.

Right to Dream carried out the initial feasibility study in Sierra Leone exploring the viability of establishing an Academy and we are now managing the establishment and implementation of the Academy and League.