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What is spirit of soccer?
Spirit of soccer is a grass roots childrens football charity which is registered in both the USA and UK and operates two soccer/football coaching projects at present in Cambodia and Iraq.
What does spirit of soccer do in those countries?
Spirit of soccer was founded in 1996 and uses soccer/football as a medium to remind children who live in these countires that have suffered from war of the dangers of landmines and uxo left behind through soccer/coaching clinics.
How did a project such as this come about?
In 1993, founder and executive director, Scotty Lee went to Bosnia to help deliver food and medicine to frontline villages and towns effected by the terrible civil war in the former Yugoslavia. During the next year lee witnessed the effects of landmines and explosives on the civilian population.
In 1996, on a coaching trip sponsored by Arsenal FC community office, Lee returned to Bosnia. During this visit, children playing football near Sarajevo airport inadvertantly set off a landmine killing 3 of the players and maiming 4 others.
All the players were under 10 years old.
Sickened by the accident lee devised a scheme where the dangers of landmines would be promoted to the children through football coaching.
The rest they say is history.
How do you achieve this?
Spirit of soccer works very closely with the minstries of education / sport and the soccer associations of these countries to train both pe teachers and coaches in the latest coaching techniques in youth development endorsed by fifa and mre (mine risk education.......... teaching people skills to live with landmines/upon until they are cleared)
These coaches / teachers then run soccer activities in their communties and at the end of each session spend about 10 minutes passing on lifesaving information to the young players about the dangers of landmines and uxo.
We also provide thousands of soccer balls, posters (featuring famous players such as Wayne Rooney re: inforsing our mre messages) and technical information for teachers and coaches about landmines and youth development in football..
What is a landmine/uxo?
A landmine is an explosive device that is designed to kill or maim people. Uxo stands for unexploded ordnance and is basically anything that if fired or launched and fails to detonate....... eg. Artillary shells, cluster munition, bullets.
Isn't that what the late Princess Diana was involved with?
Yes.
How many landmines are there?
Too many and nobody really knows how many there are but its safe to say there are at least 60 million in and around the world.
How many people die or are injured every year?
Again no one knows the excact figure but a least 20,000 and over 30/40% of that number are innocent children............ approx 8,000 children......... many are our young soccer players!
How many children have been coached so far?
Since 1996 over 45,000 children have received football coaching and mine risk education from spirit of soccer trained coaches in the countries of Bosnia, Kosovo and Cambodia.
Who are your partners?
Presently we receive funding from the US State Dept, Laureus sports foundation, FIFA, Honda Formula 1 and The British embassy in Phnom Penh. The players of Arsenal, Manchester United and the Bosnian national team has supported our mine/football poster campaigns.
What are your plans for the future?
Currently we are looking at implementing other coaching projects that promote overall health and safety about the dangers posed by drugs, smoking, and crime, unhealthy eating and living to the young players of the world.
By the end of 2008 and with funding support we hope to add projects in UK, USA, Iraq and Moldova.
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