‘We feel like it’s our duty to give back to the community’

Glen Williams joins Cardiff City star Sol Bamba as he visits a primary school in the capital as part of a scheme which is really making a difference to kids and players alike

“HE’S

Miss!”

Although this is a Roald Dahlthemed lesson, one child in Mrs Chamberlain’s classroom is not talking about The BFG.

But if one were to pluck out two adjectives to describe Cardiff City player Sol Bamba, big and friendly would be somewhere near the top of the list. And standing at 6ft 3in, he is a giant to these eight-year-old children.

Bamba is visiting Herbert Thompson Primary School in Ely as part of a project by the Cardiff City Foundation, which aims to improve literacy levels across dozens of schools in south Wales. And Roald Dahl Day is the perfect opportunity to do just that.

The towering Ivorian sits front and centre on a table of five wide-eyed children in front of the whiteboard, smiling broadly like an oversized pupil.

Wednesday’s lesson centres on super-powers, inspired by the Dahl book Matilda, in which the title character has the ability to move objects without touching them.

But while Bluebirds fan favourite and father-of-three Bamba wishes his super-power was to be a bit quicker on the pitch, he had to concede his knowledge of Roald Dahl’s work was not quite as extensive as some of the pupils’ in Mrs Chamberlain’s class.

“I knew Matilda,” he tells me. “I didn’t actually read the book but I went to London to see the show with the kids and I really enjoyed it. I said to my wife that I need to read the book, but I never did.

“My kids are at the age where they play the PlayStation all the time. My boy doesn’t play as me on FIFA, though, because he says I’m rubbish.

“And the girls don’t really do much reading. I want to get them to do a bit more but, kids being kids, they prefer to play.”

The same cannot be said for the children of Herbert Thompson as their eyes gaze off in wonderment when lesson leader Tom, from the Cardiff City Foundation, asks them to channel their inner Matilda and name their own super-powers.

Tom rattles off a list of inspiring figures both past and present and, while taller than our whiteboard, one girl resonates with the scientific super-power of Stephen Hawking, another boy yearns for the lightning speed of Usain Bolt.

One child springs off his seat and launches his arm into the air like an overly-animated Quentin Blake character before shouting: “I’ve got superduper speed!”

Bamba erupts with laughter, as do the rest of the class, but the young boy is unperturbed, which is the seamless beauty of this exercise – it is visibly empowering for the children.

Tom tells them they cannot say they do not have a super-power, because everyone has at least one, he says, and the children are right on board.

“Nothing to do with Fortnite or PlayStation, though!” Mrs Chamberlain warns as some of the boys’ faces turn.

But the humour which underpins all of Dahl’s work appears to permeate the room when some of the superpowers are read out, much to Bamba’s delight.

And it’s clear the presence of the ever-bubbly Bamba is having an impact on the kids.

One child, Tobi, says: “My superpower is being positive and being able to get through tough times. I look up to inspirational people like Sol Bamba and realise that I want to be like them someday. He is a really inspirational person to us.”

Tom runs through a montage of the giant defender playing for Cardiff City in the Premier League last season, running through a reel of his four goals in football’s top flight to a chorus of oohs and ahs from Year Four.

One shot shows the player performing an incredibly acrobatic “bicycle kick”, which narrowly misses before he scores just seconds later, but it’s not the goal which has the kids talking.

“A few of the kids have said they want the super-power to play football,” Bamba says. “For them to think it is a super-power, I think is very interesting, although one of them said they wanted the super-power to do a bicycle kick!

“But that’s kids, though, that’s why we love doing it.”

It is a joy-filled hour with Year Four, a 30-strong class of children who have character, humour and wit in abundance. But, of course, there is a more serious and important aim behind the work carried out here.

The Foundation and the players want to better the lives of children in the community, children like Carys.

The 11-year-old was diagnosed with dyslexia and has sometimes found it difficult to concentrate or even read the whiteboard during some lessons.

She found numeracy lessons particularly hard and would often shy away from asking for additional help. But through the Foundation’s Primary Stars Project, Carys has been brought out of her shell and she is starting to realise her potential in the classroom, too.

She was one of 11 mascots for the Bluebirds’ match with Fulham on August 30 as reward for her commitment to the project.

Foundation coach Ben has been working with Carys since she joined the project and says he has seen a huge progression.

“Carys has shown tremendous progress since being a part of the Primary Stars Project,” he says. “It’s been a pleasure working with her in school and helping her to achieve the goals she has set herself.”

Another is Kayden, 12, who also struggled with confidence issues but, again through the Foundation, subsequently blossomed and the change is undoubtedly an uplifting tale.

“The work that the teachers have done, and the Foundation, has just transformed him really, as a person,” Year Six teacher Jo Dunne says of Kayden.

“He’s become so eloquent and he actually enjoys talking in front of an audience.”

And what better reward than to have Bluebirds icon Bamba pay him a visit.

Kayden jumps in: “He sat by me and it was just amazing. I used to be very shy but now I’m more confident. The Primary Stars classes have helped me think outside the box instead of just giving one-word answers.”

It is this sort of work and the visible improvement which makes it all the more fulfilling for the likes of Bamba and other Cardiff City players. And they do not see this as a chore – in fact the opposite is true.