THE Mzansi Mayfair Soccer Academy is pulling out all the stops in their attempt to keep the youth of Florida, West of Joburg, off the crime and drug infested streets.
The crime-ridden and scary community is in desperate need of a distraction and soccer seems to be the best bet for young people.
Former Maths and Science teacher, Baber Siddique, has taken it upon himself to get young people engaging with soccer as a means of education and empowerment.
Siddique, who was born in Pakistan but is now married to a South African wife, retired from teaching to focus on running the academy, which grooms young prospective footballers.
He is hoping to raise awareness of soccer’s amazing transformative power and to benefit marginalised communities, such as Florida.
“When kids are bored and have nothing to do, they easily get involved in all the wrong things,” said Siddique.
“Sport along with education, are the biggest tools we have to fight the scourge of drugs, crime, poverty and unemployment and bring positive change to society.”
The academy was founded in 2010 when Siddique, who had never played soccer before in his life, was approached by a bunch of his students who asked him to run their soccer team.
They went through a difficult patch at the beginning as they could not afford to buy training and playing gear, soccer balls and had no place to train.
“It was very difficult,” said Siddique.
“But myself and coach Joao Betancourt made it work because we had love for what we were doing. We made a lot of mistakes but that’s how we learned and gained experience.”
As his love for the beautiful game grew, Siddique took on a new challenge of being a scout who identifies raw and unknown players for professional teams.
He travels to different parts of the world including South America where he spotted the likes of Colombia’s Leonardo Castro (Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns), Uruguay’s Gaston Sirino (Downs) and Gustavo Paez of Venezuela who played for Chiefs.
His academy has produced players such as Thokozani Hlubi who won the MultiChoice Diski Challenge (MDC) with Bloemfontein Celtic reserves and Ndumiso “ZuluBoy” Magwaza who plays for AmaZulu’s reserves.
But their biggest product is Black Leopards midfielder Phathutshedzo Nange, who is set to join Bidvest Wits ahead of the new Absa Premiership season.
“We are hoping to get more of these young players integrated into development teams across the country,” added Siddique.