Realising that all children, no matter how disadvantaged, should be given the opportunity to enjoy themselves and participate in organised sport, ISF has established and arranged sponsorship for a network of football squads for kids from local school, NGOs and disadvantaged families and communities throughout Cambodia.
http://www.vimeo.com/46304316ISF currently works with more than 30 NGOs (Non Governmental Organisations) and charities in Phnom Penh, Kendal, Prey Veng, and Battambang Provinces. We partner with the Football Federation of Cambodia and Sports And Leadership Training (SALT) Academy in Battambang with the aims of:
- Developing football at grass roots level by supporting vulnerable children
- Providing regular contact with positive adult role models
- Improving physical health, fitness and knowledge of the game
- Building team spirit, self confidence and self control
- Establishing competitive elements in the form of leagues and tournaments
- Using football and sports as a platform to provide vulnerable children with prevention messages about the dangers of harmful and addictive behaviours
- Providing sporting opportunities to players of all abilities
- Above all having fun!
Football Coach Training
Where possible, we support existing staff in the organizations we cooperate with and provide them the opportunity of becoming Licensed Asian Football Confederation (AFC) football coaches. If there is no suitable candidate within the organization we provide a trained coach to support the establishment of a football programme with regular training for the children.
For organizations where the distance is too far for our coaches to train the teams, ISF brings the staff from these organizations to Phnom Penh to train on a regular basis to receive the coaching skills that will allow them to train the players in their regions.
Junior Coaches
We aim at establishing the opportunity for young adults to start a career as Junior Coaches and encourage them to take initiatives of training younger children.
As an initial trial we trained one of the youths from our Education Programme who is now actively coaching children’s teams in our Football Programme. In addition some of our former players have also been hired as Junior Coaches. This programme will be offered as a vocational opportunity to potential youths involved in the Football Programme.
Leadership Training
Football coaches are role models for children and youth in the community and play a very important job in being a positive influence on the beneficiaries of the Football Programme.
The Leadership Training is a build-on programme for existing coaches to enhance their existing leadership skills to become better coaches, learn how to be better leaders and how to create a positive sporting environment for the children.
Addictive Behaviour Education Training (ABE)
Addictive behaviour issues is an escalating problem in Cambodia and many of the vulnerable children and youths in our programme are at risk of looking at the options of using substances and other means to escape the hardships of their daily life.
By using football as a tool to deliver interactive and informative education to the children in our programme we teach them about the dangers of drugs, smoking, alcohol and gambling. This is a very important part of our prevention work for children and youths living in environments where addiction issues are a part of everyday life.
This programme has been created in partnership with SALT Academy and is part funded by the Australian Embassy in Phnom Penh.
Team Sponsorship
We provide all of our sports services free of charge for the organizations that we partner with. The organizations work with some of the most vulnerable children in Cambodia and since the programme is a big success we have an increasing number of organizations and schools that want support in creating their own sports programmes.
Our teams are currently made up of boys in the age group of 8-14 years and girls aged 8-16. Each team receives a comprehensive
package including a trained football coach and all necessary materials to perform trainings and competitions. In addition we provide fields and transport to the training and matches.
COMPETITIONS
Tournaments
In April 2008, two years from the programme inception, ISF hosted the first annual PricewaterhouseCoopers ISF Cup for the children in our programme. This one day tournament which took place in Old Stadium in Phnom Penh, allowed the children to show the skills they had learned at the regular training sessions provided by ISF’s coaches. ISF at the time had 4 female teams and they were given the opportunity to showcase their talent on the day to encourage other females to participate.
We have come a long way in our commitment to provide opportunities for girls to participate in sports activities since then. Today we support girl’s teams in almost all our sponsored organisations and aim to increase this support.
In March 2009 and 2010 the second and third PricewaterhouseCoopers ISF Cup for our boy’s teams were held. With the kind support of
PricewaterhouseCoopers, who have committed to support the event for a further three years, we have been given the opportunity to continue setting up this event yearly. This will bring a lot of smiles to a lot of boys in our programme.
March 2009 saw the inaugural ISF Girls Football Tournament for U16’s. This tournament included 13 teams who represented 15 different
NGO’s from Siem Reap, Battambong and Phnom Penh. The day was a platform for the girls to show their talent and interest in football. Its success was supported by FFC & SALT Academy.
In March 2010 with support from Barclays, the inaugural Barclays ISF Girls Football Tournament took place. Barclays have committed to sponsoring this event for three years in total and it goes without saying it will bring a lot of smiles to the girls in our programme.
Leagues
Barclays strong support stretches even further. They have also committed to supporting our Barclays ISF Youth League in Phnom Penh. The 2010 season saw 32 of our supported teams participate in the league that ran yearly from January to April with games taking place every Sunday.
The Barclays ISF Youth League 2010/2011 improved on the success of the previous year with 54 teams participating.
In Battambang the ISF sponsored teams participated in the ANZ Royal SALT Academy League which is supported by ANZ Royal Bank who have
committed to continue the support for a total of three years, giving the children there the chance to enjoy a positive competition. Similar to Phnom Penh, this league run from October to April.
The leagues are composed of both girl and boy divisions promoting girls equal rights to participate in sports and physical activities.
**Click here to view the latest results for the 2012/2013 Barclays ISF Youth League**
**Click here to view the latest results for the 2012/2013 ANZ Royal / SALT Youth League**
Opening of Barclays Capital ISF League 2011/2012 – Nov 2011
PricewaterhouseCoopers 2011 ISF Football Cup (Boys) – Programme
Barclays Capital 2011 ISF Football Cup (Girls) – Programme
Barclays Capital – Closing of 2010/2011 League
2011 Boys Tournament – Mar 2011
U16 Girls Tour to Singapore – Nov 2010
Phnom Penh Post article – 19Nov10
South East Asia Weekly article – 21Nov10
Phnom Penh Post article – 19Nov10
Preparation for the U16 Girls Tour to Singapore
New ISF C Licence Coach – Leng Chanthy
Phnon Penh Post: Leng Chanthy – 23 Jul 2010