As an established football coach in Norfolk I have seen the benefits first hand that sport gives to children. Not only is this great for fitness and wellbeing but also for mental health.

In England we are very lucky with the opportunities children do have to get into sport and also the facilities to play, its easy for us to take this for granted.

In other countries such as Cambodia football is very popular and is a growing sport, this also includes girls wanting to play football.

They don't have the same opportunities to play football, the equipment required or facilities to play.

Thankfully there are charities such as the Education Rural Community Organization (ERCO) in Kampot, Cambodia that provide children with the opportunity to have an education to learn life skills, the English Language, and they help the rural community to develop.

I visited Kampot in January 2024 to provide football coaching to 2 local schools run by ERCO. The children loved getting the opportunity to play football and the progress they made within a short time was amazing to see.

Since my visit ERCO they have set up a sports project the aim of the project being to be able to provide football coaching in the Kampot area.

They have asked me to help with this project which I am honoured to do and very passionate about. I have already seen first hand how much having the opportunity means to these children and the impact it has on their lives.

ERCO have local contacts and they have found 2 students that as part of their education will be trained as football coaches. When trained they will be responsible for coaching and running a weekly football group that is FREE for local children to attend.

My role will be to “coach the coaches“ and provide them with a relevant qualification that's both practical and theory based that will be endorsed by ERCO.

The Coaches will have to complete their theory part of the qualification first and I will then be flying to Kampot in January 2025 to deliver a 3-day practical football coaching course. When the new coaches have successfully completed this they will be qualified and ready to deliver football coaching.

I will also look to provide the coaches with all they need to coach football such as coaching kit, equipment and coaching resources.

This is the reason for my Fundraising page as I aim to raise £2000 which will cover all my aims and objectives..

If i am lucky enough to have any funds left over these will be donated to ERCO for them to spend on other resources they desperately need for their schools such as reading books and teaching resources.

I have itemised below how I intend to use any money generously donated.

1) Purchasing 3 sets of football coaches clothing, each set would include, tracksuit top, shirt, shorts, tracksuit bottoms, socks, trainers and a small coaches bag.

2) Purchasing 2 coaches equipment bags (1 per coach), each bag would contain, First Aid kit, 100 cone markers, set of bibs, set of 4 larger cones, 10 footballs and a pump.

3) Designing, writing and having printed a coaches football training resource pack that will include coaching cards they can use to remember the various coaching sessions they will deliver.

4) Find a suitable venue in Kampot that will be used to run the weekly football coaching group (roughly 40 x 2 hour sessions per year). This venue will also be used to run a 3-day practical football training course to coach the 2 coaches In January 2025.

5) Football shirts for the 8 students volunteering as players for the practical coaching course in January 2025.

Thank you to everyone reading this and I would be extremely grateful for any donations that you would be willing to give.

Thank you also from all the children that will benefit from this project as this will have such a positive impact on their lives.

I will be posting regular updates about the progress of this project and pictures and videos of the coaches course in January 2025.

Thank you

Duncan.