Edwin Moses with the Laureus Kids at the US Footbal Team's Camp
Sunday the Laureus kids from the Soweto Schools Rugby Project visited the US Team’s training camp with Edwin Moses. The kids were thrilled to see the team and to be able to tak e pictures you can see here.
American Olympic legend Edwin Moses, Chairman of the Laureus World Sports Academy, led a group of excited South African children to meet the United States World Cup team at Pilditch Stadium, Pretoria West in South Africa.
The children, who all attend the Soweto Schools Rugby Project in the
township near Johannesburg, were able to watch US coach Bob Bradley putting his squad through their paces just six days ahead of their opening match against England.
US Coach Bob Bradley with some of the Laureus kids
Edwin said: “The children had a great time today meeting these great
players. And I think the players probably did as well. They seemed
genuinely happy to meet the kids.
“The team has a million things to do preparing for their matches so I would like to say how grateful we all were that they were still able to find time to host this visit.
“This is really what Laureus is all about – successful sportsmen taking
time out to do what they can to encourage and inspire young people.
“As an American I was delighted to be able to wish the players well. I hope they have a great tournament.
“And as a track and field competitor and a sports enthusiast it was good to see how a soccer team prepares for a major championship. “I just hope they have a good run and go a long way,” said Edwin.
Among the famous players in the US squad were Landon Donovan from Los Angeles Galaxy, who holds the American goal-scoring record with 42 goals in 120 appearances for his country. And goalkeeper Tim Howard who plays for Everton in the English Premier League.
Marcus Tanaman with the Laureus kids at the training camp
At the Pilditch Stadium the children were able to meet the players for an
informal autograph signing and photo session.
Dalisizwe Ndebele, Programme Manager of the Soweto Schools Rugby Project said: “The children were from a rugby-based project in Soweto, but like almost every young person in South Africa they are football mad and looking forward to the World Cup.
“This will be a once-in-their-lives sporting experience for them, and I am
sure they will have many tales to tell when they go to the project and back to their schools in Soweto.”
Lack of education is a fundamental problem for many children from
impoverished homes in Soweto.
The Soweto Schools Rugby Project operates a programme called Play to Learn, which teaches young people various school subjects while they are having fun playing rugby. This can help them to have a big improvement in their
education.
The project was established in July 2007 with just 250 participants, aged between 8-18 years, and based in four venues – Dobsonville, Jabulani, Rockville and Orlando. The ambitious target is to have over 4,000 children involved by 2011.
Laureus currently supports 78 community sports projects around the world including 12 in South Africa.
If you want to help support these kids you can act here!
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