First 11 PlayMaker graduates of Diepsloot Safe Hub
DIEPSLOOT– General manager of Montecasino, Glenn Joseph wished the graduates well in their future endeavours and wished the new intake of PlayMakers a great year of growth, development, and enjoyment.
Diepsloot Safe Hub has seen the graduation of its first intake of 11 PlayMakers in a one-year Sports Administration learnership and leadership and has now launched its second intake.
Celebrating its first year of successful operation, the safe hub gives more than 2 000 local youngsters from grades R to matric regular access to a safe environment for facilitated sports, arts, life skills lessons, personal development, accredited training courses and the opportunity for a better future.
The PlayMakers are young people between the ages of 18 and 27 from Diepsloot who work at the Safe Hub with the children in various activities, implementing the EduFootball programme with the participants, gaining valuable work experience and training to become more employable.
They are committed to changing their communities and being positive role models to children and youth.
Throughout the accredited NQF Level 4 in Sports Administration learnership, they also go through personal development training to help them successfully transfer into future employment, education or training.
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The Safe Hub was funded and built by Amandla EduFootball in collaboration with the Oliver Kahn Foundation and Tsogo Sun’s Montecasino entertainment destination, as part of its CSI activities. The ongoing programme is delivered by Amandla through a funding partnership with Montecasino at an investment of more than R4 million over three years.
The 11 PlayMakers who graduated from the learnership in December also completed other accredited qualifications that include First Aid Level 1, a Safa referee course, Safa Coaching D licence, basic computer literacy, as well as Amandla #MakeYourPlay workshops that cover facilitation, conflict resolution, relationship building, goal setting, professional communication, sexual harassment and financial management.
Elizabeth Mabusela (20), graduated as a PlayMaker last year and has now been appointed as a programme officer at the Safe Hub. She said, “The PlayMaker learnership year was not easy but it was exciting and the team worked well together and learnt a lot. I found out that hard work pays off and it reminded me of my mother’s words, ‘the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams and work hard for them’.”
By the time they graduated, most of the PlayMakers had already secured opportunities for further education and employment in various areas, including sports management at the University of Johannesburg, Virgin Active fitness instructor, grassroots soccer facilitators, retail shop assistant and a Safe Hub programme officer.
Glenn Joseph, general manager of Montecasino said, “Over the course of the year, through our interactions with the Safe Hub, it has been wonderful to see the PlayMakers building strong and caring relationships with the young learners who attend the Safe-Hub programmes. We are committed to investing in Diepsloot through our CSI programmes as it is on our doorstep and home to many of our staff members and we are proud of its success in its first year of operation.”
This year’s Diepsloot PlayMakers learnership launched on 13 February with 13 learners (eight girls and five boys).
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