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Ubuntu (oo-boon-too) is an African expression of togetherness. It means that what I am is intrinsically linked to and part of what we are. Nowhere is this idea of human synergy more perfectly expressed than on a sports field where a group of individuals together rise or fall depending on the presence or absence of that intangible alchemy, melding individuals into one seamless unit. Ubuntu. Ubuntu Sports Outreach has a Unique Mission Our first location will be in the southern townships of Cape Town, South Africa. This has been the birthing place of our vision. Soccer is the favorite sport in township communities and the sport holds a unique place in the nation’s consciousness as they prepare to host the 2010 World Cup. Our Premise is that amongst boys and young men who love soccer, there is no better context for building relationships, earning their trust and sharing the good news of their Saviour. It is our belief and experience that meeting young men in a shared passion is often the very best way to open doors and hearts for the Great Passion to be shared – our love for Jesus and His love for them. We also know that this is an era where excellence in sport can open remarkable doors for education and employment in the professional game. Professional clubs in developed nations are making significant investment in boys as young as 8 and 9 years old because they recognize significant value in their footballing potential. That same value lies largely untapped in Africa. Many of the communities around us offer so few opportunities to their young people that the resulting hopelessness leads to many destructive lifestyle choices including drugs, promiscuity, alcohol abuse and crime. We believe God can use soccer to birth new hope and to open new avenues of opportunity as individuals come to love Christ and share that love in their families and communities. Our first priority is to use soccer as a vehicle to introduce Jesus to those we coach and mentor, and we believe that this priority is synergistic with investing further in the most talented young men to open opportunities for them and to provide this continent with godly role models in years to come. How we will do it Our success is totally reliant on our ability to build relationships with local churches and the local schools. We will recruit our coaches from the churches that want to reach out to the vulnerable children of their community. Each primary school in the areas we work will be offered a coach to create soccer teams. They will each have two teams: 4th & 5th graders and 6th & 7th graders. Coaches will lead two practices a week or each team and they will play games on the weekends. The coach’s time with their team will include team devotions, Bible Study, HIV/AIDS education, team building, along with great soccer training. After the school soccer program is up and flourishing we will begin our second phase. Phase 2 will be the development of an academy program where the most outstanding players identified in our school programs will be brought into a high-performance program. This program will offer the most outstanding development of the selected boys, both holistically and in terms of their soccer skills, from 8th through 12th grade. The academy will develop by recruiting six of the most talented boys in the 8th grade age group each year from across the region. These boys will be brought to an academy house where the priority of discipleship and spiritual maturity will be complemented with the highest quality soccer skills development. They will be educated in local schools and will play in the regional league for Ubuntu FC with the best players of their age group from the local communities. As the young men are developing through that phase of the program we will be preparing them for the next step. Our goal is to represent our players as they either begin careers in professional soccer or use soccer as a tool to gain admission into colleges and universities in the United States. Ultimately, our dream is to walk through these years with some young men while sharing the love of Christ with them, exposing them to the amazing plan that He has for their lives, helping them develop as players, but more importantly leaders, and then watching them be the ones that transform their communities. Transforming Nature of Ubuntu
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Ubuntu is connecting the west to struggles of the impoverished world through partnerships they have with coaches.
Ubuntu is attempting to draw out the God given talents of an individual to possibly provide opportunities in education or professional football that will give them a road out of their circumstances.
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