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Visit 1 December 2008
Jon Holloway and Clive Maguire from the Swindon Town Football in the Community have embarked on their new initiative of taking the good name of Swindon Town FC inton the African nation of Zambia.
The initiative has derived from their work at Marlborough College where they have linked up with the organisation Alive and Kicking who manufacture footballs for children on the African Continent.
In early December 2008 Jon and Clive flew to Lusaka in Zambia where they teamed up with Chris Roe from Alive and and Kicking and Samuel Matete from the Sports Youth Trust. The objective of the five day trip was to look at the possibility of setting up a footballl based project to work with children who live on the compounds and townships in their copper belt area of Kitwe. During their time in Kitwe, Jon and Clive coached over 100 children and spread the good word of Swindon Town FC and Swindon Town Football in the Community Trust.
The long-term aim of this initiative is to work with Samuel Matete who is a former World 400m Hurdles champion and Silver Olympic medallist from the Atlanta games in 1996.
In October 2009 it is hoped that a football coaching camp and competition will be set up for nearly 200 children to attend from 12 townships in the copper belt area of Zambia. One of the main aim is for all the children to be kitted out in appropriate wear including football boots.
Clive Maguire from the Football in Community commented, "It was a fantastic trip whch enabled us to work with some very talented children whose lives revolve around playing football. If we can as an organisation affect and improve the opportunity for these children it will be a fantastic piece of work for our department. It was a very thought provoking trip which made us appreciate how fortunate we are and what great opportunities children in our country have in comparison to the children of Zambia. We are very excited anout the proposed camp in October 2009 and very much looking forward to revisiting Zambia and working with the children in this very deprived area."
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