SportCares and US Embassy Singapore Empower Girls through Football

SportCares and US Embassy Singapore Empower Girls through Football

SportCares Foundation and U.S. Embassy Singapore came together to organise an all-girls football clinic, as part of an ongoing collaborative effort to enable youth to live better through sport. The clinic was attended by more than 60 youth from SportCares and various community groups and was led by ActiveSG Football Academy Principal, Aleksandar Duric.

Apart from learning the skills and techniques of the sport, the football clinic was also an opportunity for these youth to learn powerful lessons on personal empowerment and social inclusion, values that are strongly aligned with SportCares, by incorporating the Coaching Across Continents resource packet in the clinic’s programme.

Says Mr Blair Hall, U.S. Embassy Singapore Chargé D'Affaires, “Communities reach their full potential when they enable women and girls to meet theirs. Programmes like SportCares are helping prepare Singapore’s next generation of women leaders by teaching young women about teamwork and success on and off the field. U.S. Embassy Singapore is proud to partner with them on this initiative.”

“No matter what background or culture you come from, the beauty of sports lies in its natural ability to bring communities together. The football clinic organised today is aimed at fostering social integration through sport. Over the past two years, we have been grateful for the support from U.S. Embassy in Singapore, which has been widely supportive towards the SportCares Foundation and firmly believes in the values of these initiatives,” said Ms Laura Reid, Deputy Director of SportCares.

Enabling Youths to Play It Forward

The football clinic also provided an opportunity for the youth to sign up for Sport Singapore’s new initiative, ‘Play It Forward’ – A fully subsidised certification programme by Sport Singapore and supported by the National Youth Council (NYC) that will enable aspiring youth coaches to gain the necessary knowledge and skills to become a Volunteer Coaching Assistant at the ActiveSG Sports Academies and Clubs starting with the ActiveSG Football Academy.

Speaking from her experience today, Nur Shahirah Mohd Hisham, a SportCares youth said, “The training was really fun and easy to relate with. We had a lot of time to practice our football skills and I personally came away learning a lot, not just from Coach Aleks but also from the new friends I’ve made today. I look forward to more clinics like this.”

SportCares and the U.S Embassy Singapore first partnered for the 2014 edition of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore in which a tennis clinic was jointly organised for SportCares youth as part of the Love Tennis Programme.