MFAD 2012 – The Goal of Inspiring Hope through Soccer
It’s an unfortunate reality that we exist in a world where there is a great divide within how our different societies live. There are still, across the globe, distinctive differences between the lifestyles some can afford or choose to live versus others. No matter how many initiatives are out there to make a difference in producing a sustainable change, which enhances the quality of others’ lives, year after year this great divide remains a reality. That said, good things happen in large handfuls all around us every day and they do make a valuable difference. Angels exist and they are amongst us paving paths of opportunity for those who simply need to be shown the way to make their dreams happen… Every helping hand can and does make a difference.
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Hope Academy: Football. Faith. Future.
Several weeks ago, on the spur of the moment, I attended a function in support of a very good friend, who in turn was supporting a fantastic cause. MFAD (Match For A Day) is an annual fundraising event assisting Hope Academy projects and is run through Ambassadors in Sport (AIS).
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A pioneering programme which makes use of football, a much loved sport in South Africa, as a means to support and rehabilitate those in need. The goal is to inspire positive change and encourage prosperous futures for our youth to look forward to. Initially developed to rehabilitate young offenders in Pollsmoor Prison when it was founded in 2004, the programme recruited sporting Ambassadors to really drive home the message of a brighter future. The programme was soon a successful one with a need for a more structured approach. The first Hope Academy was launched in Drakenstein Youth Prison in 2008. The programme promotes three key pillars: Football. Faith. Future. Through their many Ambassadors in Sport utilising their own professional talent and open hearts, Hope Academy (follow on twitter: @aishopeacademy) has seen a significant change in both the behaviour and attitude of many a misguided youth within the prison system. The programme doesn’t end there. The need is far too great. There was, and still is a definite need for a high level football programme working with youngsters in various community areas too. Hope Academy runs the very same intensive holistic development programme in several community areas with the aim of developing many more Academies throughout Africa.
Sport Ambassadors for this programme include the likes of Matthew Booth, Ricardo Katza, Gary Bailey and Gordon Gilbert to name a few.
MFAD 2012 – The Ultimate Endurance
Saturday, 13 October 2012 marked the 24 hour Match For A Day (MFAD) event that took place in Randburg, Johannesburg. Thankfully the skies cleared during the course of the morning following some rather dampening weather leading up to event, making for a thoroughly enjoyable sunny, clear day (and night) for a spot of sporting fun!
An All Star AIS team attended the 24 hour event at various times throughout the day and assisted in raising money for the Academy and its cause. The All Star team comprised players such as Gary Baily (Manchester United), Mark Fish (Orlando Pirates and Bolton), Rowen Fernandez (Kaiser Chiefs and Supersport United), Ricardo Katza (Hellenic and Supersport United) and, the man I was there to support along with fellow friends, Gordon Gilbert (Maroka Swallows, Kaizer Chiefs and Mpumulanga Black Aces).
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“I firmly believe that if you have a burning desire in your heart to achieve something, you must do everything in your power to make it happen. It will happen with hard work and determination. All you have and all that you are is enough to make anything you want a reality in your life. But you have to work at it with everything you’ve got to turn it into something great. Success is ultimately earned. Passion and hard work are key ingredients to success. With faith in both, only the best can be achieved. This is why being an Ambassador in Sport is so important to me. I get to share my passion with others and try and motivate them to achieve what I know they can. Hope Academy is about life changing experiences which encourage incredible talent in football. MFAD is an amazing event that does just this. It’s a privilege to be a part of for these young boys alongside my fellow ambassadors. These youngsters are inspiring to play with!” – Gordon Gilbert
The teams competed in rounds. Each game ran for 40 minutes on two separate fields with the winning team remaining on the pitch to play the next challenging team. The losing team would move off to the second pitch alongside it to play the All Star Team during this 24 hour marathon event. The games continued in rounds until the team with the winning endurance levels took the victory for the day’s event. All teams were competing for the titles of Last Team Standing and Longest Duration. The teams that impressed in the end were the Legal Wise A boys, having achieved the longest duration and Local Legends who won their midnight game and achieved the last team standing title.
It was evident that this day’s event was all about the kids. Although the All Star professionals were in on the action the event wasn’t altogether about their familiar faces. The youngsters most certainly did enjoy meeting the players and it was heart-warming to see such genuine smiles all round. The atmosphere was well balanced in just the ideal way: a whole lot of fun and some serious action packed games. You could really get a sense about how the sport of soccer really does ignite something significant within much of our youth. I personally felt it there amongst the young players running around me that day. These children take their game about as seriously as the professionals do, but know how to have a good time playing it as well. In between, music blaring, young and old (and you could tell which were the more favourite tunes), entertained with a little dancing and singing which energised the grand stands and the many onlookers who came to support.
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During the day it was a thrilling event and the games were fantastic to watch! By nightfall, bodies were aching and it was evident to see. What struck me was how very many didn’t seem to lose an ounce of passion for play. The aches were in the bodies, not in their spirit! And that’s where the success of this fantastic cause was more than achieved! It’s certainly one that I feel truly does deserve far more attention. As an annual event, I hope that next year’s tournament receives a lot more support. It’s not an event I’ve personally ever been exposed to before but it most certainly didn’t take me long to see how valuable this kind of thing can be to youngsters out there growing up in this world. Well done to all of the organisers and participants who pulled off a fantastic day, achieving a significant step further in paving the way for a greater good! See you next year!
*Photographs courtesy of Bruce Smith
ABOUT THE BLOGGER
Bronwen Watson is a Johannesburg based professional copywriter, with over 4 years copywriting experience including creating content for a diverse variety of fields in both long and short copy. From health and fitness to web design, online marketing and travel articles, as well as blogging, Bronwen has written several articles for the web and contributed to many marketing communications including brochure copy, email banners and screensavers.
Bronwen is an online copywriter for a Johannesburg based digital agency, specialising in online and social media, administrating, writing and editing content for blogs, mobile and social media community management.