August 21st, 2010:  In 2010 the demand for Coaches across Continents continued to grow at a rapid rate and programs were added in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, so that by the end of 2010 there will be 18 programs in 6 countries impacting up to 90,000 children and teachers.

So far in 2010 our wonderful coaches have worked in Nairobi with VAP and Carolina for Kibera, in Oyugis with SEP and in Kisumu with KYFA.  In Uganda our partners are Straight Talk in Busia, FRO in Pader and Buwate Youth nr. Kampala.  South Africa saw a new partnership with Whizzkids and in Malawi we are working with Play Soccer and Funwefarm before heading back to Tanzania with Kigoma and new work in Geita.  Our year on the fields in Africa finishes in Zambia with Beyond Sport Integrated in Monze and Play Soccer in Lusaka.  Additionally our program has been used by Urban Soccer Collaboration, USA and we are looking at potential programs in Haiti and with Global Special Olympics.  Each partner is carefully selected after completing a rigorous application process.  Each program has a unique set of challenges and our Chance to Choice curriculum is developed to have the flexibility to work for the needs of our partner rather than using a one size fits all approach.

Off the field Coaches across Continents continues to gain global acclaim.  We were invited to Barcelona in March as a finalist in the Global Sports Forum and in September we will be running workshops at the 2010 Beyond Sport Awards in Chicago.  We were awarded a new Global prize of a Connor Sport Court that is shipping to Kigoma for the first ever all weather facility in Tanzania.  Select Gear became a full Hat-Trick partner in Uganda and corporate sponsors began to take notice of the impact our organization was having in communities. Our CSR 2010 that was developed with Accenture Consulting has raised business awareness of the power of sport.

Our business boards added some great leaders with Christian Aviza, Graham Bradford, Andy Old and Ciaran McArdle and we are developing playersacrosscontinents.org and soccermomsacrosscontinents.org to be part of our business development program to help raise new funding sources for our work.  We unveiled our own WISER evaluation system to measure results of our work through sport that will have a major impact in this developing field. And in September we roll out our new brand logo that was designed with grassroots.org and freelogoproject.org to showcase the impact of our Hat-Trick Initiative.

Sport and development is a new way to educate communities and its power was seen in South Africa during World Cup 2010.  Our job as the global leader in this new field is to create awareness of the true value of sport and work with partners in developing communities and businesses and sponsors in developed countries to use the power of education through sport to influence social change.  It’s not enough in 2010 to educate about the facts of HIV, the education has to be about influencing behavioural change.  Female empowerment isn’t just having women play sport but to use that sport to create healthier young woman who have a ‘voice and a choice’.  And our job is to use sport to help communities avoid conflict and show that there are always choices for every decision.  Most importantly, sport gives the chnace to educate in a fun way.  In the past 3 days we have received 4 new partner requests from countries like Botswana, South Africa, India and Ghana and we are are anticipating further controlled growth in 2011.

Already we are turning our attention to 2011 and ensuring that Coaches across Continents is able to provide even more Soccer for Social Development programs.  Behind the scenes our Boards are working tirelessly to build an ’off the field’ system  to support our successful ‘on the field’ programs.  Over the next few weeks we will start with 2011 staff recruitment and organize 2011 program dates and communities.  It’s an exciting time for everyone involved with Coaches across Continents.

August 5th, 2010:  Connor Sport Court, one of Beyond Sport’s Business Support Partners has matched funding from Beyond Sport to develop Tanzania’s first all weather, multi-purpose court. Coaches across Continents, winner of Best New Project 2009, entered a competition to win the free court and convinced the judges that Kigoma, where the organisation has been working for nearly three years, would be a great recipient community for the court.

Kigoma is located at the North Eastern Shore of Lake Tanganyika in Western Tanzania, 1,200 kilometres from Dar es Salaam. The Municipal has an area of 128sq. kilometers and approximately 225,000 inhabitants. Kigoma struggles with early school drop out, with especially high drop out rates for young girls. Kigomaalso struggles with AIDS and HIV, poverty, and lack of employment opportunities.

There is currently no safe and sufficient place for Coaches across Continents to do their work. The only “formal” playing surface in the area is filled with deep holes, strewn with rocks, broken glass and trash, and the ground is uneven and made up of deep sand in parts. The field’s surrounding security wall has been partially demolished allowing animals to frequently roam across the field.

A court from the world’s largest court builder will change all this…watch this space to see the project take shape.

“We would like to thank Beyond Sport and Connor Sport Court for this Award.  In the past two years our coaches have worked with more than 150 local teachers and coaches and more than 15,000 children to start the sport for social development program.  The Municipal in Kigoma and the Sports Officers, Nico and Masari also deserve a great deal of credit for their pioneering work in Tanzania.”  Christian Aviza, Board of Directors, Coaches across Continents.

The court has recently departed the Connor Sport Court factory and will arrive via sea to Dar Es Salaam in early September.

August 4th, 2010:  Beyond Training: from ‘smart’ objectives to WISER outcomes. A necessary paradigm shift to achieve success in developing countries.

In a known and predictable world rational solutions can be planned, for training as for anything else. A training programme based on the concept of the transferability of skills can be organised and implemented so that coaches acquire the skills they are thought to need in order to achieve pre-determined, often narrow, ‘smart’ objectives.  (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely). However, such a training approach takes little account of idiosyncratic local needs, perspectives and opportunities and can’t cope with a world of uncertainty or a high degree of complexity. It is ‘a one size fits all’ approach, which, paradoxically, may be a misfit everywhere. 

 Coaches across Continents works in complex, challenging and constantly changing environments which demand a significant degree of knowledge, analysis, judgment and flexibility in order to meet the context specific requirements of every unique situation. Accordingly Coaches across Continents goes beyond training and ‘educates’ coaches to make appropriate choices in their use of the Coaches across Continent’s curriculum in their work in significantly varying situations. Using a cascade model of development in order to optimize programme sustainability, these coaches then educate locally based coaches to similarly utilise this unique and effective curriculum. 

 Wisdom is the power of judging rightly. Without wisdom success is impossible in situations which are complex and ever changing.  Therefore the evaluation model of Coaches across Continents has of necessity evolved beyond the simplistic and potentially ineffective concept of ‘smart’ objectives to evaluation based on WISER outcomes.

Coaches, both international and local, are required to evaluate their programmes based on the following WISER criteria:

 W

Was the programme ‘workable’? How did it take account of and respond to the specific reality and needs of the unique context?

a)      What was unique about the context?

b)      What particular needs were identified?

c)      What were chosen as local priorities and why?

d)     How were these priorities met?

I

Was the curriculum utilized ‘intelligently’, with thought being given to the relevance of a wide range of ideas and factors?

a)      What alternative ideas and approaches were considered?

b)      How were activities selected appropriately to match identified local needs? 

c)      How was the curriculum responsive to ongoing learning and emerging issues?

S

Was the programme and curriculum ‘situated’ within the network of local relationships within the community?

a)      How did the curriculum align with local partners and build on existing programmes?

b)      How did the programme build relationships and gain credibility within the community?

c)      How did the programme add value to the community?

E

Were the coaches willing to ‘experiment’ appropriately, to try out new ways and formulate new aims, in response to newly clarified or identified local needs.

a)      What local needs were newly identified or clarified?

b)      What new or variant activities, games or approaches were introduced to meet these needs?

c)      What new aims emerged as a result of these experiments?

R

What ‘results’ were achieved, both quantitative and qualitative?

a)      What criteria was used to measure or judge success?

b)      How many people attended the programme? Did the attendance increase or drop off throughout the programme?

c)      What was the evidence of community interest in the programme?

d)     What was the evidence of learning by participants and within the community as a result of the programme?

e)      What was the evidence of sustainability of the programme?

By seeing the limitation of the ‘smart’ objectives’ way of understanding things, Coaches across Continents is moving beyond simplistic training methods and superficial numerical evaluation. In grasping the nettle of ‘WISER’ outcomes, Coaches across Continents is at the forefront of evaluation that honours complexity, speaks to the uniqueness of local contexts, builds on emerging strengths, enhances sustainability and empowers coaches to move from chance to informed choices in their work within communities.

“We have been working on a ‘monitoring and evaluation’ method for over two years that works best with sport for social development and specifically with the flexible nature of our Hat-Trick Initiatives.  We’d like to thank all our coaches in the field, our partner programs, iFc 1966 and the members of our Boards who have worked on this project. The WISER model continues our work as a leader in sport for social development ”  Nick Gates, Global Strategist

July 27th, 2010:  The English Soccer season is upon us and we are delighted to launch our first ever fantasy football league.  To join our league and have fun throughout the soccer season, simply click http://www.firstgiving.com/fantasysoccer and follow the instructions.

Coaches across Continents was proud to have had former England coach Sir Bobby Robson as a keen supporter of our programs and we are delighted that the winner of our fantasy league will receive a Sir Bobby Robson Memorial soccer shirt and scarf.

Coaches across Continents runs programs in 6 African countries in 2010 and was the winner of Beyond Sport Global Award for Best New Project in 2009.

Any donations made to join the fantasy soccer league will be used by Coaches across Continents for our programs in Africa and by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation to fight cancer.

July 26th, 2010:  The Select Gear donation of uniforms has arrived at our partner program in Kigoma, Tanzania with the help of Passback and Eurosport who helped in the delivery of 6 boxes of uniforms.

The Kigoma Program was our first Hat-Trick Initiative program.  Coach Nico in Kigoma contacted Coaches across Continents in 2008 and in July of that year we ran Year 1 of the program.

The program helped Coaches across Continents win the prestigious Beyond Sport Global Award in 2009.

“We would like to thank Select Gear, Passback and Eurosport for their wonderful donation to our program.  Our teachers are working hard in our schools using the Coaches across Continents curriculum.  During the presentation of the jerseys also we invite the TV journalist in order to advertise you organization to all Tanzania. You can see one of the picture I have got interview from STAR TV.”  Coach Nico

In September, Coaches Brian and Tracy will be joining Coach Nico in Kigoma for the final year of our partnership, a successful partnership that will have trained more than 150 teachers to use soccer for social development.

July 20th, 2010: 

Ciaran joined our Business Advisory Board on July 1st, 2010 and brings with him a wealth of experience both in soccer coaching and in the world of soccer business.

Ciaran began his career as a summer coach with PLAY SOCCER New England in 1996 and joined full time in 1998.  By 1999 he was the National Director for Coaching.

In 2001, Ciaran chose to build his own successful business when he started www.xlsoccertours.com, an organization that provides top level soccer tours to the UK, Spain, Sweden, Itally, Holland and Brasil.  In 2008, XL Soccer Tours became an official partner to Coaches across Continents and assisted with the first Hat-Trick Initiative in Kigoma, Tanzania.

“I’m excited to be part of this unique challenge to use soccer for social development.  Coaches across Continents is providing a program that is changing lives in communities around the world and I’m looking forward to working with the Boards to build a sustainable foundation for future business development.”

Ciaran will also be putting on his coaching gear on the fields in Africa in 2011.

//

July 19th, 2010.   Our team of coaches are working one of our most challenging partnerships with a wonderful organization called FRO in Pader, Uganda.  The overall aim of FRO is to reintegrate former child soldiers into the community through work and social training.  Our coaches designed a unique program whereby these former child soldiers and orphans are trained to be Soccer for Life Skill Coaches with the Coaches across Continents curriculum and then these locally trained coaches go to work in primary schools to educate young children.  It is an ambitious program that is already showing signs of success.

The LRA in Northern Uganda abducted more than 23,000 children to fight for their cause.  Often the children were forced to kill their own family, ensuring that they had nothing to go back to.  Although the war has been over for a couple of years, the leader of the LRA is still at large and the former child soldiers are having to reintegrate into a distrusting society.

Coach Ivan writes, “The program with Coaches Across Continents and FRO is set up so that in the mornings we meet with one of the FRO classes and do the activities with them and then in the afternoon we do the sessions with an actual primary or secondary school class where the FRO students can progressively get involved in the coaching process.”

Ricky, the founder of FRO and Francis, their program director have recognized the power of sport for social development and have encouraged the students to become part of this program.  While they were initially surprised by our insistence that girls be part of the program, they made sure that all the girls attended the sessions.  Many of the girls at FRO were kidnapped by the LRA and were raped by the soldiers so that there are many small children at the center.  Coach Sophie commented about one of the young children, “Morris, (one of the children) had a foot that got badly burnt: his skin had come off and the top of his foot was red and white. He received an injection for the pain and some kind of cream to apply on it but nothing to actually protect the burn from infection. He was walking around in the dust on all fours trying to get hold of one of our balls and I fear that in a few days his foot will be badly infected.”

Coaches Ivan, Sophie and Steve have committed themselves to this 8 week program with enthusiasm and resolve.  Conditions in Pader are remote and Sophie writes, “In Pader, the unmistakable signs of poverty reflected by the wretched living conditions, the state of the roads and of the very few buildings and the significant lack of resources do not shock me as much as the little peculiarities I witness that are considered as normal here and that make me realize the enormous gap between this world and the one back home. The daily glimpses into the lives of some amazing people have made my experience so worthwhile and give me more insight into what the life of these people is like.”. 

But the spirit of the young people at the FRO center and their enthusiasm for learning these new skills has been incredible. 

“Of all of the Coaches across Continents programs, the FRO Pader Program presented the most challenges.  FRO had previously not used soccer as a life skill tool and we had to introduce the very basics for coaching.  But immediately the students wanted to talk and play soccer, they wanted to learn these new skills and were excited at the thought of being able to become coaches themselves and help young children in the community.  The spirit of all these students and of FRO has made the first year in Pader a great success.  We congratulate our coaches and everyone connected with FRO for all their hard work”  Nick Gates, Global Strategist.

July 14th, 2010:   The 2010 Kick for Hope Tournament has selected Coaches across Continents as a chosen charity.  We’d like to thank Kick for Hope and all the teams who are working to help charities and communities in Africa.

Kick for Hope is promoting our Ten in 2010 World Cup Challenge to give clubs an opportunity to adopt their own project. By committing ten teams to Kick for Hope in 2010, your club can choose to fund a project through these charities. Projects include but are not limited to:

 In 2009, Coaches across Continents won the Beyond Sport Global Award for Sport for Social Development. In our first two years, we have seen teen pregnancy reduced, an increase in school participation for boys and girls, and more than 400 local teachers and coaches in 4 countries now use our curriculum. By choosing to support a Coaches across Continents project your club will fund teacher and coach training at new sites in Kenya and Uganda which will provide health, life and leadership education for more than 8,800 children aged under 16. Coaches and teams are welcome to join us at a community project in Africa. For information visit www.coachesacrosscontinents.com

The Sudanese Refugee Network gives a local club the opportunity to help under-resourced African refugees right here in San Diego. Refugees only receive limited federal benefits and many live in poverty. Your support will help SRN provide much needed nutrition, tutoring, and clothing to local refugees in need. When you choose to support the SRN with ten teams, your club will have the opportunity to meet with SRN directors and see how your support will meet the needs of hundreds of refugees. For information visit www.sudaneserefugees.com

In Lesotho, southern Africa, 23% of the population is infected with HIV/AIDS. Many of these are children who do not have access to treatment that could save their lives. Test Your Team events are large one-day soccer festivals where teams not only get points for winning matches, but also for taking part in health education and voluntary testing. In a single day, Kick4Life can test more than 500 kids for HIV, referring those who are positive to life-saving treatment and counseling. By selecting Test Your Team, your can help us save hundreds of lives! We would also love to invite your coach to come to Lesotho to observe and take part in the event that your club has made possible! For information visit www.kick4life.org

There are thousands of children living on the streets of Lesotho. Many of them have been orphaned by HIV and now have nowhere to live and no-one to look after them. Their lives on the streets are fraught with danger from crime, poor health and poverty. Kick4Life’s Street Youth Initiative enables hundreds of these kids to have fun by running soccer training every day after school. Other sports and activities such as art and drama are also available, giving the kids a rare chance to forget about their troubled lives. By selecting our Street Youth Initiative, your club will give 300 disadvantaged children the chance to play soccer every day for three months. We would also love to invite your coach to visit Lesotho to come and meet the children and deliver some soccer training to the kids in Africa! For information visit www.kick4life.org

Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. Unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all disease and kill more people than all forms of violence, including war. We’re working to change that. By choosing Charity:water for your ten in 2010 beneficiary, your $5,000 contribution can build a freshwater well in a village and provide 250+ people with clean drinking water. For more information log on to www.charitywater.org

Nutritious food is a critical building block for childrenÕs growth and development. Half of all childhood deaths can be traced to malnutrition or lack of food. And when parents are weakened by hunger, they cannot work, grow crops or provide for their families.Unless communities can establish secure sources of food to meet their nutritional needs, they have little hope of offering their children a healthy future. When you choose to support World Vision with your Ten in 2010 contribution, your club will provide drip irrigation kits to help water 30 farms. Over 150 people will benefit from this by providing them with a sustainable source of nutrition and additional income. For more information log on to http://www.worldvision.org

 Project Concern International (PCI) believes every child has the right to an education that can provide them a stronger chance in life. In Tanzania, PCI helping address malnutrition and increase enrollment, attendance and performance by ensuring children receive daily meals at school. But, food is not enough to help these children learn. Many schools are still in dire need of basic materials such as textbook for studentsÑthe ratio of child per book is often 6:1 or higher. With a $5,000 contribution, your club can fund 1,111 books in Tanzania for the 2010-2011 school year. This contribution will ensure schools are meeting the national standard of one textbook for every three students. This simple intervention will double the amount of time each student is able to read and learn each day. For more information, log on to http://www.projectconcern.org

For more information check out:  www.kickforhope.org.

July 7th, 2010 by Charles Cuttone:  Ex Breakers keeper set for coaching mission
Most every soccer fan in the United States has their mind on Africa this month. But while Tracy Noonan , like everyone else, is thinking about the World Cup, her thoughts have gone beyond the 32 teams that have been playing. Noonan will be making a trip to Africa later this summer, not to watch soccer, but to teach it.

The former University of North Carolina and U.S. Women’s National team goalkeeper will travel to Tanzania as a volunteer for Coaches Across Continents. Part of the mission is to teach life skills through soccer.

“It’s really important to get really strong female role models involved,” said Noonan, who was a member of the 1999 Women’s World Cup team (she was Tracy Ducar then) as the backup to Brianna Scurry. “It isn’t about teaching kids to be the best soccer players they can be,” she points out.

Coaches Across Continents partners with local organizations in various African nations. In addition to coaching soccer, volunteers teach local coaches and also provide counsel on aids awareness and female empowerment, conflict resolution and general nutrition.

Noonan says it is rare for females in African cultures to play soccer, but the organization hopes to empower youngsters so they know they have choices.

“I think I will probably get more out of it than they will,” Noonan says about the experience.

A former ‘keeper for the Boston Breakers in the Women’s United Soccer Association, Noonan got involved with Coaches Across Continents because of a friend she met in Boston, Nick Gates, the founder of the organization.

“His passion sucks you in,” she said. “To me it was a no-brainer that I got involved.”

Noonan will leave August 27, and be in Tanzania through September 10. In the meantime, she has been working on fundraising (http://www.firstgiving.com/tracynoonan) to cover the expenses for the trip, going through logistics, taking care of shots and medical needs and working on her fifth season running the Dynasty Goalkeeping Academy, which is a specialized program for elite young female goalkeepers.

Noonan has made community service part of the curriculum for her academy.

“When I was with the national team, they made it easy for us to do volunteer work,” she said of her time alongside icons such as Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain.

That was a key reason she started introducing the community outreach program as part of her academy, showing her students a way to get involved.

Each of her students is encouraged to do something in her own community, but also to do something as part of the camp experience. Last year, they donated gloves to Coaches Across Continents. This year, all the campers were asked to bring extra sports bras, so that they could be donated.

Noonan says because the cost of shipping items to Africa is so astronomical, volunteers usually end up carrying an extra bag with them, with the donated equipment.

Last year, Coaches Across Continents reached 15,000 kids in three countries. This year, it will touch about 90,000 kids in 15 countries.

Part of what the coaches will do is teach local coaches, so that a sustainable curriculum can be developed.

For Noonan, who played in six countries on three continents with the National Team, and has visited another seven on her own, this will be her first trip to Africa.

“I’m really looking forward to doing something completely different,” she said.

Tracy will be part of the Coaches across Continents team in Kigoma, Tanzania

July 2nd, 2010

Coaches across Continents have accepted a unique challenge in partnering with Straight Talk, which works with adolescents in the community to talk about issues like HIV/AIDS, early pregnancy and marriage, and sexual exploitation. Sexual exploitation is a big problem in Busia, since it is a border town and has a very transient population. Many women and girls in Busia are sex workers – some by choice and some by force. The head of Straight Talk in the region is an amazing young man named Bashir, who has basically committed his life to the welfare of the young people in Busia.

The broad objective of STF is to contribute to the improved mental, social and physical development of Ugandan adolescents (10-19) and young adults (20-24). The programme also aims to keep its audience safe from HIV/STD infection and early pregnancy and to manage challenging circumstances such as conflict and deprivation.

More specifically, Straight Talk Foundation aims, through its communications projects, to increase the understanding of adolescence, sexuality and reproductive health, and to promote the adoption of safer sex practices. The foundation also aims at helping adolescents acquire the necessary life skills and grasp of child and human rights to make the passage through adolescence safely.

Coaches Anna, Grace, JB and Rich are using the partnership and soccer to work with teenagers and teachers in 16 schools in the region to reinforce the Straight Talk messages.  All four coaches  have worked hard to adapt to the needs of Busia, a town with a high percentage of sex workers, HIV and teen pregnancy.

Each day our program works with 2 schools and over the course of the 8 weeks, each school receives 5 new sessions that deal with issues like health and wellness, female empowerment, HIV, conflict resolution and fun. This is the first time that the schools in Busia have used sport for social development and the District Education Officer sent a letter to all local schools requesting that they all take part.  There has been a fantastic response from headmasters and teachers to ensure the success of this new program and often our coaches work with 150 children while another 200 watch and learn from the sidelines.

“Most governments, countries and communities do not understand how sport for social development should be part of all educational programs.  The Straight Talk program have embraced the power of football for change and thousands of children in their program are now having fun while they learn.  It is certainly a challenging program for our coaches as they work with thousands of children but this type of outreach will have a sustainable impact on a community desperate for behavioural change in their young people”  Coach Anna.

Check out stories from our coaches in Uganda at our Coaches Blogs