Tony Cassidy · @TonyCassidy123
9th Feb 2015 from TwitLonger
help please ! RT - kids football academy in Gambia lookin for old strips n boots etc - Jackie (she's a Rangers fan) lookin for some support, reply to me, i can send it to Jackie ... more info from Jackie here ... Basically i started a football team around 4 yrs ago, they were a few kids from the area of Latrikunda in Gambia, my aim was to try to get the kids off the street and into a disciplined environment, to give them something to look forward to doing what makes them happy, most of the African nations have a huge love of football, we have grown into a small academy (we like to call it an Academy ) but basically its around 150 kids minimum that turn up, the small ones at the weekends the bigger teams every day from 3 till 6, we have to train round school times both for the kids who do go to school so its not interfering with their education and also because the only training facility we have is the school play ground.
We have no money no facilities and very little kit but we do have enthusiasm and a love of the game, also a lot of natural ability.
We have gone from strength to strength will all the kids in the area wanting to train, i beg kit from teams in Scotland, I do crazy challenges, climbing mountains, cycling long distances anything really to help these kids, i spend all my available wages trying to send them balls and cones, and boots (as some play in bare feet) these kids have nothing, but they turn up every day and are happy.
Our oldest team are doing really well with several getting picked for the second division in Gambia, we qualified for the Nawatan community tournament at our second try and did very well reaching the second stage, however last year we did not do so well due to not having boots and lack of training facility but this year we will come back stronger, the under 17s are also doing good with 4 getting picked for training with the national team.
I sent an e mail to the Al Kass page but they did not reply, all I am asking for is a little help to let these kids reach their full potential, any help no matter how small is appreciated.
Many thanks, i work on my own with this project and it is really nice to have someone take an interest.
Jackie