The MylifE Inner-City Soccer Program

This project is run by Adam Mansoor who is originally from Tanzania and lived as a “street” youth on the same field that the children he serves, still live on. Adam has a certificate in coaching and currently coaches at the Grass Boots FC. In addition to the soccer and fitness training, Adam includes a cross-over educational aspect which raises awareness about drug use and HIV/AIDS. His passion for the children is what drives him to spend time with them every day both on and off the soccer field where has a very powerful impact on the children and youth he works with.  

He is assisted by Colin Davids and Petros Nkomo who participated in the 2009 Homeless World Cup in Milan. They have undertaken the responsibility of providing the children and youth, who participate in this project, with guidance, mentorship, training and support.

Adam had previously been working with 40 children between the ages of 5 – 15 and 40 youth between the ages of 16 – 25. These participants were from the poorest community in the BoKaap area and the city streets. Adam had been running this program for 2 ½ years with no funding or resources. The structure of Adam’s program included 2 fitness sessions and 3 soccer training sessions a week. Friendly matches were every Saturday for both the young and the elderly. On Sunday's Adam used to facilitate a soccer game at the Grand Parade in the City Centre which was well attended and creates a feeling of community for the Homeless people in the surrounding areas.

Grass Boots FC

Grass Boots FC is the brainchild of Vredehoek resident Stuart Diamond. Through his consistent hard work and lobbying Grass Boots FC has been given a field in Yeoville Road, Vredehoek by the City of Cape Town and through the generous donations of time and resources from members of our community and supporters abroad.  He has been able to start a project that has grown exponentially in just 7 months.

Grass Boots’ mission is threefold:

1. Ensure that kids living in the City Bowl, as well as kids from disadvantaged areas, through the MyLifE Foundation get the best training possible. We will have u7, u9, u11 and u13 teams. Although they charge a membership fee, they will not turn away a child on financial grounds.

2. Ensure that the kids coming through with the MyLifE Foundation will get a meal after their training session.

3. Get all kids out of their houses and actively and productively stimulated.

The club is registered with the Tygerberg district and teams play matches in the league. Through his partnership with MyLifE, Stuart has started a local BootBank, so that all extra soccer boot donations can be shared with disadvantaged children from all over Cape Town who have a love of the beautiful game. Stuart is consistently lobbying Sports and Recreation for better facilities at the Yeoville Road Field. At this point there is no toilet facility and no running water.

 The club is now looking for a minivan/combi so that all the MyLifE boys can be transported to their games in one vehicle.  The club is also looking for funds to hire someone to do all the admin for the club, fundraising, accounting, website updating, me ensure that it runs as professionally as possible, with no opportunities missed.

To find out more about Grass Boot FC, Please visit: www.grassboots.co.za