South Africa awaits for talented football coach
Talented football mentor Wayne White, from Ardwick, is preparing his team of young footballers from Manchester to compete in the Street Child World Cup competition in South Africa this spring.
In January, the 18-year-old, who is currently studying activity and leadership at The Manchester College, was one of only two coaches selected to train the UK team, which is part of the Manchester based community youth project, M13.
To mark the official launch of the competition, which is running alongside a campaign to bring positive attention to street children all over the world, Wayne and the team recently made a special visit to 10 Downing Street where they met with chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling and former England goalkeeper David Seaman.
After receiving a vote of confidence from the chancellor, the team members who have been training at The Manchester College’s football centre on Hyde Road, are now making final preparations for the tournament which kicks off in Durban next week. Their journey will be featured on the BBC’s Blue Peter.
The Street Child World Cup is supported by The Sun newspaper, and will see teams of street children from Brazil, India, Nicaragua, Philippines, South Africa, UK, Ukraine, Vietnam and Tanzania come together to play football. The teams have been divided into groups and the UK team will face either Ukraine, South Africa or India in the first stage.
Wayne said: 'This is a fantastic achievement for the team at M13. We have worked really hard to build up a strong side, where everyone works together and enjoys the game. We’ve been training every week to prepare and we just can’t wait to get out there and play our best. This competition has definitely given the team the confidence boost it deserves.'
Wayne has always been interested in the coaching side of football. When he left school he started volunteering at the M13 project which supports vulnerable and deprived young people in Ardwick and the surrounding area. Through his course at The Manchester College he is also doing a work placement training the football team at Burnage High School.
Programme leader for sports development at The Manchester College, Simon Wright said: 'The college has developed a positive working relationship with M13 which has enabled the youngsters to access the industry standard training facilities here at the Nicholls Football Centre of Excellence. Wayne has done a fantastic job with the team; as well as preparing them for the physical aspects of the sport, they’ve done lots of other training in team building and in human rights which will be very useful.'
The event is being hosted by Durban based street child project Umthombo, which offers support to some of the world’s most vulnerable children through football, arts and education. A human rights conference at the end of the tournament will showcase artwork from the teams and give them a chance to voice their opinions.
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