Community engagement awards for Sophia Young Stars
Students involved with FC Sophia Young Stars, as well as the club were nominated for a number of awards in the recent Rhodes Community Engagement Awards.
The club was nominated for community engagement partner of the year, while Guy Butler House (the residence which partners with FC Sophia Young Stars) won residence of the year.
Community Engagement volunteer, Eshlin Vedan, won a gold award for excellence in community engagement.
FC Sophia Young Stars is a youth soccer club based in Joza. They have two teams - under 11 and under 15. The teams are run by Siyeni Silo and Lindisipo Swartbooi and train four times a week. There’s a school tuition project on Friday organised with the help of Rhodes University student volunteers and matches during weekends. It’s not just about sport in an area where facilities are scarce, it’s about character development and creating responsible and productive members of the community as well.
Lindisipho Swartbooi, the chairpman of the club said, “I had this vision from 2009 of one day starting my own football club. I started the club in 2011 after realizing that many
My choice would be JP Pietersen. He’s an older player and has the experience from previous World Cups and his hat-trick against Samoa was outstanding. He’s a great physical player and does the basics right. of the youth of Joza had no recreation and sadly were resorting to criminal activities”.
Eshlin Vedan, who is also the community engagement rep at Guy Butler House, has been a volunteer and community engagement student leader for FC Sophia Young Stars for the past two years. “I help tutor the boys from the team in Maths and English every Friday and have enjoyed the experience,” said Vedan.
Vedan added that “Teko and Siyeni - who I feel are unsung heroes of Grahamstown - have been very kind to me and helped to make me feel like I am part of the team. As much as I may have helped the kids in terms of learning, I feel that they have also taught me lessons which I can never learn in University. I have grown in terms of leadership skills and in terms of my overall attitude towards life due to witnessing the hard work”.