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Thanks to the FA's Young Leaders Programme 16 year old Marcus
Strudwick has just returned from the "trip of a lifetime"
and here, he tells us about his adventure.
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| After joining the FA's Young Leader
Programme at Hanson School in Bradford, Marcus (pictured above) was
selected to join some of England’s brightest young leaders
in July 2006 when they converged on St. Georges School in Ascot for
the inaugural FA young leaders camp. |
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Botswana
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| In addition to attending the camp
Marcus was then offered the opportunity to be one of four young leaders selected to go to
Africa with the FA’s International Relations team to help the less
fortunate youngsters of Botswana. |
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| Naturally, Marcus jumped at the chance
and, when he packed his bags in October, he included a notepad and
camera to record the experience. |
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AN AFRICAN ADVENTURE
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by Marcus Strudwick
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I was about to embark upon, probably, the most exciting and life
changing experience I would ever be apart of. Sixteen
years old travelling to a continent with the governing body of
football in England, The FA. I was excited and thought I
must have been dreaming ! I was the envy of all my
friends and I couldn’t stop smiling after I heard the news I would
be going to Botswana !
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The first part of my journey took me to meet Sir Trevor Brooking at
the FA's Headquarters in Soho Square, London. At that moment,
even if I hadn’t been chosen for Africa, I wouldn’t have minded
because I had such an amazing day at the FA HQ.
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So, October half term came round rather sharpish and I had a full bag
of mixed feelings. Anxious, nervous and excited all in one
! I just didn’t have a clue what to expect, so many questions
running through my mind, most of which couldn’t be answered until we
started to work in Botswana. What would the kids be like
? What would our reception be like ? Would I be up
for the task in hand ?
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The flight to Africa was long and I didn’t get much sleep.
When we landed we were hit by 38 degress of African heat and the
airport had temporarily lost my luggage, which wasn’t the best of
starts, but I didn’t have time to let the situation stress me as we
were into action straight away from our base in Gaborone, the capital
of Botswana.
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Within hours of arrival we visited the SOS Village, whose activities
focus on neglected and abandoned children and orphans, as well as
disadvantaged families.
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I was extremely anxious before this visit as I didn’t know what the
children would be like, or how they would react to our
presence. I soon learned that the best form of preparation
was no preparation at all, the children in the village were so
friendly, fun loving and care free it was amazing. Just to think
of how there lives have been effected by AIDS, the loss of parents and
at such a fragile age.
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Welcome to Botswana
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The children were always smiling and
loved our company. I fed from their bundles of energy, it
was so weird to think that, no matter how young we were as young
leaders, we were role model to these amazing African children.
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The 2nd day was the start of what we out to Africa for, to use our
skill and put them in practice with young African leaders. After
a Botswana welcome, in the scorching heat, we greeted what would be,
for the next 3 days, our apprentices for football learning.
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We were surprised by how advanced they were, in a football sense, than
we had anticipated. Some more then others, different
confidence levels and different approaches but they were all there for
the same reason as us, the love for football.
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Even after the 1st day I had learnt a
great deal, I was lucky to be with so many fantastic role
models, they don’t work for the F.A. for no reason !
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I was also learning much about the people of Botswana, they are by far
the friendliest most upbeat bunch of people I have ever met ! Compared
to these people we really do take a lot for granted !
Apart from the scorching heat I found one intriguing challenge and
that was to find someone who could understand my Yorkshire
accent !
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Marcus with the Young Leaders
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The next day we were travelling to a local primary school, I say local
it was a good 45 minute drive for the city centre. As time
moved the heat increased and we in for a very long and draining
day. When we arrived we were met by hundreds of smiling happy
faces, all the kids were given FA t-shirts and really looked the part
!
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I wondered how my group of young leaders would deal with the situation
of coaching the primaries, hopefully there would be positives
and, more than likely, some negatives, but how would I respond
? Would I be able to think on my feet and react to any
situation that would test me ? We didn't know what to expect.
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My doubts were cast aside and everything went well, I was
extremely proud to see that the work we put in was showing signs of
success after just 1 full day together.
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I helped the young leaders on a more stepped back approach, I didn’t
get involved as much as I thought I would have had to, the leaders
were fantastic and really came out of their shells, I continually gave
encouragement and small reminders to the group which I thought really
helped. The leaders spoke to the primary school children in their own
dialect of Setsswana, which helped give instructions quicker and
easier, but the positive outcome for the day is that, not just the
leaders enjoyed the day, but the young children were thrilled from
their days football session and after hours of scorching heat they
still had bags of energy and were still smiling and singing around the
dusty terrain.
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Our final day came around so soon, the last day with the young leaders
and the final full day in Botswana, but it wasn’t to mean that we
weren’t having an easier time but just as hard as we had loads to
get through!
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We visited another primary school where the leaders would take another
coaching session, my thoughts before the day were positive and I was
encouraged by my groups’ excellent progress. We were dealing with
more children then the day before which would keep the leaders on
their toes as there would be more children to organise, but most
importantly as it was the end of the week if the positives of the trip
would outweigh the negatives.
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The leaders had another brilliant day as did we all including the
children taking part in the football and the children from the
surrounding school, who came out to join us when the news spread of us
giving out gifts from posters to sweets! We said our goodbyes to our
new friends and hopefully Botswana’s most promising coaches of
tomorrow.
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The coaching side of our trip might have been over but we had one last
activity as an FA group to complete…… SAFARI !
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Botswana wildlife
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The scenery was amazing and
the animals made it a once in a lifetime experience.
Elephants, giraffe, rhino, ostrich, warthog, impala and much more
but not behind cages like we are used to seeing them in England but
in their own natural environment the experience was truly fantastic
! The setting was brilliant I was so lucky to be
in the place I was with some fantastic people. |
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| This had been a
very special trip for me, life changing and something I will never
forget ! The people were fantastic and the locals of
Botswana couldn’t have made us feel more welcome.
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I had learnt so many new things in such a short space of time, whether
it be leadership based or on a personal level, new foods, better
people skills and an improved ability to delegate, share ideas and
responsibility.
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I’d also like to take this opportunity to also thank everyone I was
on the trip with for making the trip possible and excellent, Nick, Pav,
Nada, Heather, Donna, Chris, Lauren, Kirsty, and especially my mentor
for the trip John ! Thanks guys
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Marcus Strudwick
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YOUNG LEADERS COURSE
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The course, led by Pam Hoyle of the Bradford North Partnership, is
organised by the F.A and trains approximately 7,000 young
leaders per year.
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If you are interested in volunteering, or wish to
get into football, you can contact West Riding County FA Football
Development Team on
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0113 2822358
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or log on to
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www.TheFA.com/GetintoFootball
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(Left to Right) County's Nicola Copley, Pam Hoyle of the Bradford North Partnership
and Young Leader Laura Gadd with Marcus before his once in a lifetime
adventure
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