Beyond the game: How this football programme empowers underprivileged youth with values and character growth

SINGAPORE — She used to have a phobia of football, after being hit by one when she was younger.

Now, however, 10-year-old Tan Xin Yi harbours big dreams of one day becoming a famous footballer and representing Singapore on the international stage.

The turnaround for her came after she joined a football initiative for underprivileged children in 2022.

Since then, Xin Yi has not only picked up skills on and off the field, but she had also gotten the opportunity to travel to Germany on an eight-day trip, where she got to train at the home of former European champions Borussia Dortmund.

Xin Yi is one of more than 200 children participating in Champions Unlimited, a football programme for children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds between six and 16 years old.

She was one of 12 participants who were selected to visit Germany in November last year. 

“It has helped me to meet new people and learn more skills, while also building my resilience and teaching me to adapt to changes in school, especially when working with new teammates,” said Xin Yi.

Champions Unlimited is run by an academy called Football Plus, which, for the past decade, has been working with youth from disadvantaged and low-income families, giving out subsidies or full sponsorships to enable them to participate in weekly football training.

Those in the programme train four times a week, are given tuition and help with homework, as well as undergo mentorship. They also get meals and bursary awards.

In 2022, Football Plus was selected as the Rotary Club of Singapore’s “major project”, where more than S$280,000 was raised to help fund their activities.

“They had done fantastic work with underprivileged children in Singapore but more funds were needed to help them build their own football pitch and to hire more professional coaches,” said president-elect Tom Wolf from the Rotary Club of Singapore.

He was speaking to TODAY during a training session to mark the 10th year of the programme on Saturday (April 27).

In addition to the raised funds, Mr Wolf said that the club had also helped Football Plus to make connections with Borussia Dortmund to offer the children opportunities to visit and train overseas.

“The idea is to create motivation for the children to work hard in school and during training, and to behave well,” added Mr Wolf.

The funds raised have helped Football Plus build a football pitch at 10 Kwong Avenue, hire more support staff, provide meals for the youths, and cover registration costs for competitions. 

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Football Plus’ programmes executive Ho Wen Jin, who has been with the academy since its inception in 2013, said that prior to the recently raised funds, they started out as a small programme with Macpherson Primary School.

“We were all football enthusiasts with talent in football coaching so we felt that sports is a good avenue to teach children character,” said Ms Ho.

“The values that they have learnt in the sport, such as resilience, determination and hard work, can also be used outside of football.”

Football Plus initially started with two staff; now they have 10, including three full-time coaches.

Most of the youths at Football Plus come from families with a household income of S$690 and below, from single-parent families or has had one or more parent who went to jail.

For children from lower-income families, Football Plus offers a form of financial assistance scheme that covers the fee to join the academy.

Ms Ho said that since the programme started, she has seen positive changes in the children, especially in terms of their values and character.

“We have seen kids who were fighting since the beginning but now when they come for training, they know that they are in an environment where there is a certain discipline,” she said.

“While they may not be perfect at it, this is what they’ve learned and I think we have made a good impact in some of these kids.”

Football Plus has also organised “career discovery” trips to provide them with opportunities in various industries.

“We realise that because of their background, sometimes the kids are limited to what they think they can be,” said Ms Ho.

WHAT THE KIDS SAY

For 12-year-old Alfa Adriel, the programme has not only helped him improve his football skills but it has also helped him grow as a person.

“I’ve learned to work as a team, not to argue with others, not to be rude to my elders and to be kind to others,” said Alfa, who has been with the programme for one-and-a-half years.

Like Xin Yi, Alfa was also selected for the trip to Germany last year, where he not only enjoyed the cold weather but also the experience of playing a match with other German children.

Alfa added that the best part of the programme is that it helped to keep his mind off the trouble or worries that he might have at home.

Xin Yi said that the visit to Germany has broadened her worldview.

“It has helped me to see that there are many people all over the world who also has the same goal as me: To become better at football,” she said.