This year over 70 students from Ivanhoe Grammar School joined a training session in June. Ivanhoe Grammar school have been supporting the work HFCA does with underprivileged youth since 2008 and make a very significant contribution each year. In their own words three students describe what spending a morning at HFCA meant to them.
We started todays journey at Happy Football Cambodia where some of us learnt and others mastered their soccer skills! We split into ability groups and played soccer games against passionate and highly skilled yet disadvantaged Cambodian children. They inspired us through their constant smiles and their ability to connect with us as well as managing to successfully whip our butts in soccer!
- Maddi, Ivanhoe Grammar School student
The boys and girls we met this morning were certainly very happy to be there, and they seemed to be a tight-knit community because of this opportunity to be a part of a team. I found, through soccer, I was given a good chance to bond with the kids, and they were all more confident to talk to us because many of the conversations started with “what team do you go for? Within these many conversations I met Sak, a 13 year old goalkeeper with dreams to maybe go pro with one of his he teams in Phnom Penh. He said that if he can’t he wants to be a soccer coach, as he wants to help people in the way his mentors have helped him. This all allowed me to realise how important our fundraising money truly is, and seeing the thousands donated by us annually, which supports a huge community of disadvantaged kids, was a real eye-opener. Overall, this morning’s experience at HFCA made me truly realise the impact we are having on disadvantaged communities.
- Archie, Ivanhoe Grammar School student
We first went to HFCA and we got to play with the kids that were a part of the program and I can definitely say that they were better at soccer than me. We stretched, played matches and got to have conversations with the Cambodian kids. They were so polite and they enjoyed playing soccer a lot and they were super grateful that people like us from Ivanhoe Grammar School are having conversations with them.
- Alice, Ivanhoe Grammar School student
See all the photos from the day by clicking HERE
