Lüderitz Soccer Academy

Luderitz soccer academy is a soccer development program which will strive to develop the soccer skills of both boys and girls in the u/11, u/13, u/15 and u/17 age groups. It will be open and available to the whole community of Luderitz.

Currently there are no sports development programmes for children in the town of Luderitz. This programme intends to:

• develop the soccer skills of children from an early age on

•teach the children discipline and team spirit

• keep the children off the streets

• encourage them to develop a sense of responsibility

• develop soccer specific skills of boys and girls in a various age groups, i.e. u/11, u/13, u/15 and u/17

• provide the orphans and vulnerable children with opportunities to experience fun and a feeling of belonging

• provide their parents an opportunity to enjoy watching their children play and learn the basics of football in an organized manner

• accommodate the local street kids.

The beneficiaries of this programme will be all the children that are participating. The local schools will also have fitter and better prepared school teams, the Karas Region of which Luderitz is part of and of course national teams will benefit from being able to recruit children from Luderitz. The community at large will benefit in the following ways:

• The children will be monitored and assisted by coaches who are qualified and have the sport at heart.

• The parents will have an opportunity to attend well organized soccer games.

• It could serve as an opportunity for people to sell soft drinks and other refreshments to generate an income.

• This programme brings the community together to interact on a social level and to support their children which can result in better parenting.

The Luderitz Soccer Academy has been established by Mr. Bessly Makaula, who holds an International High Level Soccer Coaching License obtained in Hennef, Germany in 2001. Mr. Makaula was the Namibia School Sport Union’s national coach from 2006-2008 for the u/17 girls (2006) and u/17 boys (2007&2008) teams. He will serve this program as its coordinator and head coach and will be assisted by willing teachers of the local schools.

The Academy intends to host three local tournaments for each age group and one regional tournament in Luderitz for 2009. The Academy will be free of charge to children and will depend on donations, sponsors and fundraising events to sustain the program.

With the help of local and international donations and sponsorships, we plan to sustain this program on a long term basis.

The program will be conducted on Fridays and Saturdays for eight months during the year. Each age group will have 6 teams per gender and will play 25 games per gender