About Jennifer, 22 years old, from Germany

Helpful, interested in sport, open-hearted, humorous, spontaneous and determined are my strengths that will accompany me in Africa. Together with the kids and coaches I will boost and assist GCU Academy as well as I gain some new experience. GCU make it possible for me to get to know a new continent with there people and culture and I’m looking forward to working as a Volunteer.

My name is Michael Schlegel and I am from Switzerland. Currently, I’m finishing my bachelor’s degree in business administration at the University of St.Gallen, which is half an hour away from my hometown Wil.

Before I’m going to resume my studies and start my master’s degree, I’m taking a time out including some traveling, practical work and a volunteer ship at the GCU Academy in Heideveld, where I’m intending to stay for about three months. I’m coming over as a Football for Worldwide Unity volunteer, I’m very looking forward to share my passion for soccer with the kids, Mario and his team and also my co-volunteers.

Meeting all these interesting people and getting to know the wonderful South African culture is definitely going to be very valuable for me as a person. I will try my best to share as much as I can with them, as well. I can not await my flight to Cape Town in August.

My name is Udo van den Berg.  I am a 53 old soccer-coach, especially for goalkeeper. Since 1989 I am training and teaching children, adolescent and adult soccer-teams, both soccer association-teams and selection-teams, as a licensed coach. I am a social-worker, a university-teacher and a psychotherapist by profession.

My intention for joining the academy from August, 16th til September, 6th, is to support good and helpful ideas by practice, also to meet new interesting people all over the world, especially from the soccer-world.

I have accompanied a lot of soccer-projects in the last 20 years, currently building, coaching and accompanying a Unified-Team, existing of children with and children without a handicap.  So I am looking forward to a good and interesting time in Cape Town!

Three  intrepid cyclists – Di Thomas, her son Ricky Thomas and friend Deon Botha, are soon to participate in the most extreme mountain biking event in the world – The Freedom Challenge Race across South Africa or RASA www.freedomchallenge.org.za.

This is a 2300km unsupported race from Pietermaritzburg to Wellington, held in the dead of winter. Riders have to carry all their own gear and find their way using only maps and a compass (no GPS allowed). There is a 26 day-cut-off to complete the challenge. All finishers receive a symbolic Lesotho Blanket, to acknowledge their rite of passage.

There are no other prizes, because although this is a race, it is mainly a personal challenge. We would like to make every pedal stroke count and add another dimension to our adventure, by gathering sponsorship per km, with all funds raised going towards the purchase of soccer boots & equipment for the kids of GCU.

GCU Academy is a youth focused organization based in Heideveld, a poor Cape Flats suburb.  It is run by Mario Van Niekerk, a reformed ex-gangster, who knows firsthand the pitfalls that await these disadvantaged youth and understands on a deep personal level their need for love & acceptance.

GCU uses soccer and recently other sports like skipping, to entice boys, and increasingly girls, to the ‘club’ and away from gang and drug related activities.  This is particularly important since none of the schools in the area offer any sporting activities.

There are currently in excess of 150 GCU members ranging in age from 8 to 21. We could never relate to these kids like Mario does, but we can help in our own small way and we appeal to you to help us make every pedal stroke count for good in our Freedom Challenge – Cycle For Soccer.

For auditing purposes, all funds will be channelled through and managed by the Tourism Community Development Trust www.tcdtrust.org.za, an NPO which focuses on bringing the benefits of tourism to Grass Roots. All donations are tax deductible.

To pledge your support “like” the following facebook page and then post your pledge to the wall – THANK YOU!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cycle-4-soccer/127801647294633

The rope skippers gave a half-time show during a soccer game.  Here are some of the photo’s

March 2012 GCU Newsletter

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November December 2011 GCU Newsletter special edition

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June 2011 GCU Newsletter special edition

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December 2010 GCU newsletter

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Uthando in conjunction with Terra Nova will have a benefit concert at the Table Bay Hotel on 17 May, where the GCU Academy will have a stand. Tickets available through concert@terra-nova.co.za or phone 0214489965 – come and support a worthy cause. Uthando promotes the upliftment of impoverished communities in the Western Cape

We’ll be celebrating on the 20^th, 21^st and 27^th November 2010

Please assist with return transport from Heideveld to the Sea Point Pavilion. On each day, we‘ll be transporting about 60 kids.

Total Transport Cost – R4500

OR

If you can provide a vehicle, please contact tours@backpackers.co.za and let us know how many people you can transport

But, if you are unable to help with the above, maybe you can help with the below?

WHAT ARE ALL THE OTHER GOODIES GOING TO COST?

SEA POINT PAVILLION ENTRANCE FEE

200 Children – R1400

30 adults – R450

TOTAL 230 LUNCHES – R6900

200 MEDALS - R1710

GIFTS FOR COACHES

10 x t-shirts, signed by their team – R616

10 x Mr Price vouchers – R2500

200 KIDDIES PARTY PACKS – R2000

TOTAL NEEDED – R20 706

Please state the amount you are willing to sponsor and email us back on tours@backpackers.co.za

Our Bank Details:

ABSA

ACCOUNT NAME: Community Project

BRANCH NAME: Johannesburg

BRANCH CODE:  632005

ACCOUNT NO: 9187558723

SWIFT CODE:  ABSAZAJJ

REFERENCE: Your name and Party (e.g. John Smith party)

Thank you in advance!

The Western Cape Team level 1 to Level 3 did Extremely very good at the SAGF Nationals, all the Skippers have got medals

Furthermore, the Level 1-3 Team members individual events were as follows:

Level 1: Fierdoze and Done

Level 2: Micheala, Sindeka, Buntu and Xola

Level 3: Thabo, Lonwabo and Shaun

For Level 2 I have put the Team as follows: Micheala (Gordons), Sindeka Mangi ICWD), Xola Booi (CWD) and Buntu Soganga (Phillippi Gym). The team got Gold for the overall single Rope and Double Dutch events.

Furthermore info and detailed results, will send them as soon got them. But the WESTERN CAPE TEAM level 1-3 did us very proud.

Tomorrow starts the Level 4-6 Competitions. Wish as well the Boyz best of Luck, I know they will do well as well.

Taski be great idea when Team gets back, the Media be aware of the how the Western Cape Rope Skipping Team did at the SAGF Nationals etc. Think about it…

Will try and update you as soon as possible, everything’s still alright and Team is well-behaved

Ayoba!

Sbu (Western Cape Team head Coach)

Kicking the gangs and drugs

Ex-gangster is turning around lives with soccer

Sep 6, 2010 1:36 AM | By SHANAAZ EGGINGTON

The school, in a gang-infested Cape Flats suburb, resembles Pollsmoor Prison.

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ESCAPING THE GHETTO: Mario van Niekerk uses soccer to give vulnerable children a chance to escape the cycle of poverty Picture: ESA ALEXANDER

‘Our dream is to make it all the way to the PSL’

Woodlands Primary is choked by double rows of barbed wire, security gates and burglar bars so dense they block the sun from shining into the classrooms.

But after lessons, the school’s overgrown sports field in the suburb of Heideveld, echoes with the thud of balls being kicked by members of a junior soccer academy run by an ex-gangster determined to rid the community of crime – one player at a time.

The Great Commission United (GCU) soccer academy was founded nearly 10 years ago by Mario van Niekerk.

And a documentary film called Mario and the Rude Boys screened at the Encounters Film Festival in Cape Town has now put the academy on the map.

Van Niekerk hopes that the film will change people’s perceptions of the Cape Flats and gangsterism.

“GCU is not just about football, it’s about giving youngsters a chance to experience something other than drugs and gangs,” said Van Niekerk.

“We have other activities such as rope skipping for girls, and a feeding scheme for kids who come to school hungry. We offer life skills training and mentorships for those trapped in the cycle of gangs and drugs,” he said.

Toddlers in threadbare clothes run along the field where the young players practise. “. The little ones, have nowhere else to go. We even pay creche fees for some of them,” said Van Niekerk.

The film examines Mario’s life and that of the coaches and the players in the academy. It details their struggle against gangsterism, drug abuse and poverty, and culminates in a match between them and a local gang, The Rude Boys.

Van Niekerk set up the match after observing the talent of a Rude Boy player called Pitte, wanting to save him from the clutches of drug lords. But life after the credits finished rolling has remained tough for Pitte and The Rude Boys.

Van Niekerk last week said that poverty had forced Pitteto work as a taxi guard, and the rest of the players were still “out there looking for direction”.

“People have no sympathy for gangsters. I think that if they knew what boys on the Cape Flats have to go through every day, they would have a different attitude. Our boys are constantly targeted and pressurised by gangs,” he said.

Shafiek White, 25, coaches the U15 team. He spent five years in prison, but turned around his life with help from Van Niekerk.

“I became involved with the Americans gang at 15,” he said. In 2004 he was convicted of two attempted murders and, aged 20, sentenced to 10 years in prison.

“Mario did not give up on me. He visited me in prison and convinced me that there was another way. ”

Darryl Smith, a PSL footballer, has close ties to GCU. He credits the team for turning his life around after he became a drug addict.

“We teach the boys discipline and dedication. We’re an amateur team with a professional attitude,” said Van Niekerk. “Our dream is to make it all the way to the PSL.”