Personal Growth and Social Cohesion

Ayesha Moosa‘s smile explains better than anything the experience that the young South African woman has just had in Spain. The Soweto Fabulous player arrived in Barcelona along with a coach and two other players from her country. The four won their tickets by standing out in the Future Champions draft, whose prize was a tour of Spain organized by LaLiga.

“We have gone to see matches in the most important stadiums in Spain and have gone to the schools of Barça, Espanyol, Sevilla and Betis to see how they work,” explains Ayesha. As the last stage of this training trip, LaLiga took the South African footballer and her teammates to the Marcet Academy. “It was a very good experience because here they help you improve in ways you wouldn’t even think possible.”

“From an educational perspective, it has been fantastic. I hope that our Federation will come here to see it”

“The coaches were very welcoming,” notes the player. “They made us feel comfortable at all times and tried to bring out the best in us. They really helped us understand how to make everything easier on the pitch. There are things that I thought I was doing well, but in Marcet they showed me how to do them faster and easier.”

Accompanying the expedition was Kavi Naidoo, head of the Department of Education and Sports of the South African province of Gauteng: “We have seen a lot of things we would like to see implemented in our country. From an educational perspective, it has been a fantastic experience. I hope that our Federation will one day come here to see it and to try to apply this methodology in South Africa. ”

And Naidoo is not solely referring to the football side of things… “I think this experience opened the minds of our players in terms of personal development and social cohesion. At Marcet we have seen how kids from very different backgrounds can live together without problems within the framework of a sports project. It has been a hugely important experience.”