You may remember earlier this year we reported that Impact's Andy Caldwell was using his Learning in the Community (LITC) days to take his inner city football team players to South Africa to coach young people. Here is an update from his trip and his plans for a summer of football...

About Hub Athletic FC

Along with his friend Tim, Andy trains and manages a football team of inner-city young people each Friday night in Central London.

Hub Athletic is a well-established community youth football team whose players range from 16 up to 21 years old. Many of the players are NEET (Not Employed or in Education or Training) and being part of the team is an exciting opportunity to begin to tackle the issue of worklessness whilst contributing to wider social development issues. Four years ago there was a lot of tension and conflict at training, currently the team are top of their league with four more points needed for promotion.

The team have come a long way. Many of the players are now interested in coaching others. In December 2008, three of the team went to India to coach young people living in the slums in Bangalore. Earlier this year five of the players delivered a football coaching session on an Impact graduate development programme.

South Africa 2010 football coaching

Hub Athletic raised funds to undertake a football coaching trip to South Africa. The team spent 10 days working in a challenging community on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

The trip provided the team with the knowledge, belief and skills to break the poverty cycle many of them are stuck in. Each team member led coaching sessions with groups of young South Africans who live in real poverty in townships. On their return to the UK, Andy and Tim engage the Hub Athletic players as ambassadors to go and spread the learning and their new-found global view into local primary and secondary schools.

Watch a short film about Hub Athletic's time in Africa.

2010 - a summer of football

Andy is spending the summer of 2010 back in Johannesburg. His plans include spending two months working with the inspirational Coach Lazzie who started the football school Hub Athletic visited. Andy will help Coach Lazzie look for more funding, develop his young players and build relationships with professional football clubs in South Africa.

Read more about Impact's approach to Learning in the Community

Read more about Andy's trip to India in December 2008