Everton coach helps out in Mali

Aug 8 2007 Blue & Read, Liverpool Daily Post

FOOTBALL coaches from major clubs have spent the summer running a football camp for children in Mali.

Four coaches from Everton, Spurs and Brighton and Hove Albion trained 200 children, half of whom were deaf and blind on the Coaching for Hope programme organised by Leicester based charity Skillshare International.

The programme is supported by the Football Association and Adidas, which also trains youth workers in Mali and Burkina Faso to FA coaching standards and aims to use football to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS.

Programme patron Fatboy Slim – real name Norman Cook – visited the camp last year.

He said: “Using football to engage young people in Africa about the dangers of HIV and AIDS is a brilliant idea and it works. I will never forget my trip to the Mali Coaching for Hope school. It will stay with me forever.”

Spurs coach Gareth Jones who is visually impaired said: “The work I do as a football coach for people with disabilities is highly fulfilling and rewarding I can hopefully help others find new goals in life through the power of sport.”