Fife Coaching Academy
Game within the child
COACH'S AFRICAN ADVENTURE
A GLENROTHES man has thanked townsfolk who helped make a charity football trip to Nigeria a success.
John Cooper and his wife, Margaret, travelled to the African country in August to offer coaching to poverty-stricken children.
They handed out around 70 football strips which had been donated by people throughout Fife during the fortnight long visit.
Now, John, who runs Fife Football Academy, whose sessions are attended by hundreds of youngsters throughout the region,
is planning to repeat the exercise next July and may again call on people for their support.
He said: "It came about
"Marvin Andrews of Rangers is a member and I knew him from his time at Raith Rovers.
"He talked about the situation in Nigeria and I decided to help out.
"The trip was a real eye-opener for us.
"We had kids walking barefoot miles through the jungle to take part in the sessions and then going back in the dark.
"The children have a totally different attitude to life, because they live one day at a time, but they are full of enthusiasm.
"There is no coaching available to kids in Nigeria, unless they are in one of the big cities like Lagos and are able to pay for it.
"Most of them use football as a means to escape from the country and their skills, attitude and passion for the game were fantastic.
"We think we have got everything in this country, but we have nothing compared to these kids", added the Collydean man.
