Not only does the club provide a safe environment for youngsters, but they also use the sport to make peace and spread love wherever they play on a regional level.
Western Cape, South Africa (14 February 2022) – The Peace Makers Football Club in Mossel Bay is making a big difference in youngsters’ lives. Managed by Lewellyn Brown, the football club is growing from strength to strength and is changing lives for the better while they are having fun.
Not only does the club provide a safe environment for youngsters, but they also use the sport to make peace and spread love wherever they play on a regional level. They aim to also play eventually on a national and international level and work hard at developing their skills, including soft skills, to positively impact the communities they meet along the way.
Drug abuse in South Africa is usually related (among others) to poverty, unemployment, and lack of recreational opportunities. Keeping a well-balanced lifestyle and dealing with peer pressure (one of the biggest reasons why teenagers start using drugs) go a long way in dealing with the issue. Sport is an effective tool to promote peace, tolerance, and understanding by bringing people together across boundaries, cultures, and religions. Sport is not only about physical activity but about establishing a healthy lifestyle. And football is a sport that demands discipline from the player. Association football (more commonly known as football or soccer) is a sport played by 250 million people in over 200 countries, making it the world’s most popular sport.
Lecaylo Brown (13) started playing football when he was 11. Lecaylo says, “I just love to play with black people because they motivate others to become their best”. Apart from playing football for the Peace Makers, he likes to play football on the streets. His dad is his hero, but his favourite player is Christiano Ronaldo.
Lecaylo says, “Ronaldo is a good person, and he stays focussed on his game. That inspires me, and I want to become like him”.
Sport has numerous benefits, such as building strength, stamina, and speed. Mental development, which includes the improvement of concentration and coordination, is equally important. But it is the character-building benefits that are most important. Football teaches players important values such as teamwork, fairness, discipline, respect, and social skills. And through their participation in the sport, the team builds peace through football, one game at a time.
Dillon Hess (28) played for another football club, but after hearing about the Peace Makers’ successes, he began playing football three years ago. It has changed his life since.
Dillons says, “Football keeps me out of trouble and away from drugs. What I like about playing football is the discipline. The players respect each other, and the coaches motive the team”.
The club manager, Lewellyn Brown, currently takes care of the club’s financial and other needs, but it is getting tougher by the day, especially because of the pandemic’s impact on supporters’ finances. A group of board members assist him in managing the football club, but they desperately need support. Llewellyn says that the club wants to be more than just a football club. They want to be a hub for the community where the community also benefits. They want to build the club to benefit the entire community and the individuals involved.
He says, “We want to link up our assets, skills, and relationships with our people in the community with groups and institutions. This will not only benefit the club and make it sustainable in the long run, but it will benefit all parties involved and associated with the club. We want to generate social capital so we can help others, such as putting a worthy student through university if his/her parents cannot afford to do so.”
At the grassroots or community level, participating in recreational activities such as football can keep youngsters off the street and out of harm’s way. The football club can provide useful ways of creating an environment where people can come together to do something positive and fun to avoid becoming part of the many social problems in their communities and avoid the temptation of drugs.
Now is the time for an increased focus on creating a more coherent society and for sport to play a pivotal role in our communities. The Peace Makers football club has grown exponentially through hard work and dedication and consists of a senior team and development teams that play locally, B-teams, U/13, and U/11 and netball teams. They will soon start with a football team for the ladies.
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