the sports academy
our story so far

The Academy was founded in 1999 by British social impact entrepreneur, Tom Vernon. Aged 19, Tom came to Ghana and was inspired by the people he met, particularly the many children whose passion and enthusiasm for sport was clearly evident.

During a successful career as a coach, it became apparent to Tom the lack of opportunities that existed for young people to play sport and obtain an education in a safe and supportive environment.

Tom quickly realised the potential role that sport could play in social development at an individual and community level, where sport could have the power to inspire, and combined with education could help provide children from extreme poverty with the opportunity to build a better life for themselves, their families and their communities.

Tom quit his coaching career to become focused on establishing the Right to Dream Academy, that uses the medium of sport and education as a means of helping to alleviate the desperate, poverty stricken situation that many young people find themselves in.

Starting on a small scale, training just a few boys on a dust pitch in Accra, the Academy has grown to the point at which it is today; a hugely successful international school which offer full scholarships to children drawn from all over Ghana.

The Academy has focused on empowering pupils, teaching them the necessary values and skills, and providing them with the opportunities and experiences so that they can make a long-term difference to their own communities.

We recognise that for positive, long-lasting change to take effect at a community development level, you must inspire, empower and provide the skills, knowledge and experience to young people from those communities who will ultimately be responsible for enacting that change in the future.

The unique graduate routes that the Academy has established are designed to help give Academy pupils the opportunity in the future to be in a position whereby they can ‘give back’ effectively.

Based on the success we have achieved to date, Right to Dream is now focused on ensuring that we can offer these unique opportunities to many more children in the future. We are establishing a multi-sport Academy, which will offer scholarships to girls and boys in football, tennis, athletics, basketball, golf and boxing. To learn more about our new Academy please click here.

Within the last year we have also begun working in Sierra Leone, where we are using football as a vehicle for social development in a country where football can have the power to assist in the rebuilding of communities and offer a source of inspiration to individuals. To learn more about our work, please click here.

In the last two years, the Academy in Ghana has established a partnership with the Right to Dream Underprivileged Children’s Centre (UCC). The UCC is a drop-in education and welfare centre for children from backgrounds of extreme poverty. To learn more about the UCC, please click here.