Impact's Andy Caldwell is using his Learning in the Community (LITC) days to take his inner city football team players to South Africa to coach young people.

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 London.

Hub Athletic is already a well-established community youth football team based in Waterloo, Central London. They compete in the West End London Amateur Football League Division Two. Our players range from 16 up to 21 years old, and are drawn from a wide variety of social and economic backgrounds. Hub Athletic are also the Middlesex County and the Regional FA Charter Standard Adult Club of the Year 2009.

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 across our young people whilst contributing to wider social development issues. Four years ago many of the players did not know each other and 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 football coaching

Hub Athletic are now planning a coaching trip to South Africa, which will be a huge step towards changing lives.

• The team will coach young South Africans who live in real poverty in townships
• Hub Athletic is a multi-cultural team, and for them to work in a divided South Africa is hugely significant 
• The trip is facilitated as a leadership development experience and every team member will have the opportunity/challenge to lead sessions.

The trip will equip the team with the knowledge, belief and skills to break the poverty cycle many of them are stuck in. On their return to the UK, Andy and Tim engage them as ambassadors to go and spread the learning and their new-found global view into local primary and secondary schools.

Fundraising

Later this month, the Hub Athletic players will be attempting to run every bridge in London. It’s over 14 miles. All monies raised from this will help towards their travel to South Africa. Please note, you are not donating money to a charity, nor will any monies go towards Andy or Tim's travel - they will pay for themselves personally. You are donating it to young people who don’t have the networks or the relationships that enable them to raise money to go on this trip.

To sponsor Hub Athletic as they raise funds for the team to travel to South Africa please click here.

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

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