Dreamfields Project ‘gives children a shot at life’ with launch of school sport programmes

5 Mar 2023

The head of sustainable programmes at the Dreamfields Project, Silas Mashava, knows what it is to grow up without much — and also how important sport was for him as a schoolboy. Now he is paying it forward.

Silas Mashava grew up in Soshanguve, outside Pretoria, where he spent his free time playing soccer with his friends.

“We didn’t have much, and opportunities were scarce, but my love and passion for sport kept me going,” he said.

“My love for sport grew when I got to Hillview High School. I was around 13. This is where I played soccer and cricket and became part of the athletics team.

“Through the support and coaching from my teachers, I developed a keen interest to study sport further, then I enrolled in the University of Johannesburg and completed my diploma in sports management, which allowed me to get into the sport industry as a coach and now an administrator.”

Sustainable programmes

Now the head of sustainable programmes at the Dreamfields Project, Mashava said he learnt many valuable lessons through sport.

“Sport taught me many valuable principles and life skills that continue to shape my life. I hope to use that and give back to the next generation by creating opportunities for youth in sport. I want to help them use sport to create better lives for themselves and those around them. Give them a shot at life.

“Sport is a way of life — we learn more from practical experiences sport gives us: discipline, hard work, how to deal with loss and victory, how to work together, and most importantly, to have aspirations for a better future.”

Dreamfields last week launched projects in 18 schools to encourage young boys and girls to play soccer and netball.

“This is part of a project we are starting that is supported by the Roy McAlpine Charitable Foundation. The programme will support creating leagues inside schools and equipping schools with soccer kits, netball kits and equipment. We are looking forward to many young boys and girls participating and experiencing the joy of playing their favourite games.

“We are also excited that young girls can imagine themselves playing professionally one day. We want to help by ensuring they have the right equipment, get the right opportunity to play… the extra coaching they need and also equip teachers involved in this initiative,” Mashava said.

“We will have a Level 1 netball course later in the year. We want to grow the love of netball in this country.

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“Sport has often been identified and recognised for its importance in building better communities. We hope introducing these sport programmes will translate to creating a better schooling environment where kids can go to school and look forward to learning and activities that can support the learning environment… creating better communities, and many of these young boys and girls will grow up and become better citizens.”

He said while not all of the children in their programme will become professionals, he hoped the life lessons they learnt would help them become better citizens.

“We are launching this project in three provinces — Eastern Cape, North West and Western Cape. We now have programmes in every province in South Africa.

“Sport is very important and our wish is through these opportunities to allow children to excel.”

He said some of the children who started off in Dreamfields programmes had been included in development teams for AmaZulu FC and Orlando Pirates.

“I think this is one of the things that we’ve been missing in the country. There is no proper development of players, Many young boys and girls only start to play soccer at 13. This means they have missed out on five or six years where we could have made them into better players.

“Better communities are created through activities. Children learn values and when they grow up they will remember where they come from.”

He added that it was his sincere hope that the programme would help keep young children away from alcohol.

“We are hopeful that this will contribute as one of the pillars to growing a healthy group of young people for our country,” said Mashava.

Benefits

Mandla Xoko, a learner enrichment sport coordinator from the Department of Education in the Eastern Cape, said the partnership between the department and Dreamfields would help a lot as not all children were academically gifted.

“Children will benefit from this programme. We must develop school sport so that all children can have something to do. Those who participate in sport have discipline. Sport contributes a lot to education.”

A local coach who was part of the programme launch in Bhisho, Masixole Mnyayiza, expressed his gratitude to the Dreamfields team for providing a coaching programme for Eastern Cape children.

“This is going to develop our children. Our children will go far. Everything we learnt here is going to help us. As coaches, we need to take responsibility to ensure this programme is not going to die in our province,” said Mnyayiza.

Eastern Cape sport analyst Ravi Hlathi said: “School sports have honestly been ignored in the past few years. This initiative is reviving it. School sports are essential — it’s where young talent is noticed… where young players are moulded and a way to keep children’s minds busy and distract them from joining drug and criminal gangs. Some kids even get a scholarship to go and study overseas because of sport.

“Hopefully, this will be a great opportunity for the rural sports that have always been ignored, because that is where I think we can find the raw talent.” DM/MC

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