German soccer pros meet 160 township children for coaching clinic
Joint training offered by ‘Bundesliga’ Champion VfL Wolfsburg, Moroka Swallows and Bay United benefits A CHANCE TO PLAY programme for disadvantaged boys and girls in Nelson Mandela Bay.
Port Elizabeth, January 5, 2010
It was an exciting start in the soccer year 2010 for more than 160 boys and girls from various townships in the Nelson Mandela Bay: Professionally guided by German ‘Bundesliga’ (First League) Champion VfL Wolfsburg as well as players from Moroka Swallows and Bay United they enjoyed a unique training session at New Brighton Oval in Port Elizabeth today.
With this initiative the players supported the development programme A CHANCE TO PLAY which aims to improve the lives of disadvantaged children and youth by linking opportunities for play and sports with learning and training projects. A CHANCE TO PLAY, initiated in 2008, is made possible by individual donations from Volkswagen employees worldwide (represented by the Volkswagen Group Works Council), and is implemented in co-operation with child aid agency terre des hommes Germany and South African non-governmental organisations.
Current German ‘Bundesliga’ champion, VfL Wolfsburg had started their preparation for the new season with a training camp in Port Elizabeth. This also included a friendly match against Moroka Swallows, both teams being sponsored by Volkswagen.
“We are pleased that Wolfsburg took some time off their training schedule to support our project “A CHANCE TO PLAY”, said Juergen Stumpf, member of the Volkswagen Global Group Workers Council, who attended the coaching clinic. We also very much appreciate the co-operation with the two South African teams Moroka Swallows and Bay United on this occasion, which made this a very special South African-German soccer event for the children.”
Project Co-ordinator Claudia Berker from terre des hommes Germany emphasized: “A CHANCE to PLAY is all about creating an environment for children to explore their talents and develop their skills. So this is another great opportunity to do so and to also get a taste of what 2010 will be like.”
Armin Veh, coach of VfL Wolfsburg underlined the club’s commitment: “It is a great motivation for us to come to South Africa not only for our own training benefit, but also to assist disadvantaged boys and girls with our skills, who would hardly ever get such an opportunity.“
The clinic included world-class strikers such as Grafite from Brazil and the Bosnian Edin Dzeko as well as Marcel Schaefer who plays for Germany’s national team.
While the children were busy improving their dribbling and scoring skills, some of their peers from the “A chance to play” programme were equally having a great time only a few kilometers away: A ‘U 13 team’ selected from six project areas in the Nelson Mandela Bay competed with 15 other teams from all over South Africa in the Volkswagen Junior Masters, a youth tournament held in NMM University’s Stadium from January 4-6, 2010.
For further information please contact:
Claudia Berker, A CHANCE TO PLAY Co-ordination, +27 (0) 82-221 2184, tdh-actp@iafrica.com; Website: http://www.a-chance-to-play.org
Dr. Carsten Krebs, Volkswagen in South Africa, +27 (0) 82 3317999, krebs@vwsa.co.za
Gerd Voss, VfL Wolfsburg:, +49 (0)5361 8903 201, Email: gerd.voss@vfl-wolfsburg.de
Background Information on some of the Stakeholders:
The Volkswagen Group Works Council
The Group Works Council is made up of works councillors (workers’ representatives) from the auto corporations Volkswagen and Audi and their subsidiaries. Back in 1998, employees at Volkswagen AG and other national and international group subsidiaries started collecting for projects for children in need.
Programmes for disadvantaged boys and girls are now funded at Volkswagen locations in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Germany. Through »helping them to help themselves« the workers hope to make a lasting contribution to improving the lives of children and their families.
Their donations also made A CHANCE TO PLAY possible.
terre des hommes Germany
The Volkswagen Group Works Council’s partner in realising the initiative is the German-based child rights organisation terre des hommes. The organisation selects projects and organisations to be supported and provides professional back-up at the local level.
terre des hommes Germany was founded in 1967 and currently funds about 500 projects for disadvantaged children in 25 project countries. Since 1980 terre des hommes, through its local partner organisations, has been supporting projects for disadvantaged children in different provinces in South Africa.
VfL Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg is home to the Volkswagen Group head offices, and the team affectionately known as “Wölfe” (Wolves) is sponsored by the company. VfL Wolfsburg won its first League championship last season which qualified them to play in the UEFA Champions League.Wolfsburg has brought a strong squad of more than 20 players to SA. Fifteen of these players are regulars in their respective national teams.
