For a lot of football mad individuals, there comes a time when you must accept defeat in terms of playing at a high level. The dream of playing for Liverpool, Manchester United or Swansea City has to come to an end. This is the case for Amir Joubara, who had played football at a decent level back in his native country of Sudan before arriving in South Wales as a refugee.
25 year old Amir had been playing playing football for a local senior football team in Swansea, when he had come across the BME Sport Cymru project in Swansea. He arranged a meeting with local project officer Mohammed Basit, who had recently started his role with Ethnic Minorities & Youth Support Team. This gave Amir a chance to understand the aims and objectives of the project and how he could get involved and benefit.
Amir made it clear that he would like to get involved in the coaching side of football. He was very keen to pass on his footballing knowledge to young people and help them fall in love with the beautiful game. To support Amir and his quest for knowledge, the BME Sport Cymru project helped him to enrol and complete the FAW Football Leaders Award. The course consisted of 5 online modules, followed up by an 8-hour practical day.
Amir talked about the course, saying: “The online modules that I completed gave me a vast amount of knowledge and ideas. Completing these modules and obtaining all the online resources has given me the confidence and ability to deliver basic football coaching to young children in a fun, safe environment”.
Since the completion of the FAW Football Leaders Award, he has also attained the FAW First Aid Award and FAW Safeguarding Award. Amir is keen to learn and to put those lessons to practical use. Towards the end of 2017, there was a request from parents of local young children to organise a casual football activity for their children. The BME Sport Cymru listened to the requests and managed to organise a football session in partnership with Swansea Mosque. This was a great opportunity to utilise the Mosque’s newly built sports hall.
The session has been running since November 2017 and is supported by Amir who has volunteered his time to contribute to the delivery of the session alongside a more experienced coach. The young people have enjoyed the sessions, in particular Amir’s fun methods of delivering football drills. The session attracts an average of 14 young children each week, with barely any advertising done to promote the initiative. This is a great platform for Amir to learn and gain the experience and confidence which will help him in the long run.
Amir has continued to coach the young people and has also volunteered his time to lead and support a local team called ‘Kush Stars’. The team has recently won the mini group competition as part of the Western Bay Community Cohesion Cup which is being delivered in partnership with South Wales Police. Amir is now looking forward to leading the team when they play against the Western Police Team on the 24th May.
Amir has also enrolled onto the FAW C Certificate Youth Course in August. This demonstrates his interest, ambition and commitment to his sport. Amir’s long term goal is to become a full time football coach and to work in a football environment – his aim to go back into education to start a Sports Management degree.
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