Young man titled ‘Mandela of the future’
NORTHCLIFF – Growing Champions head of soccer scores a big achievement.
A young man with an inspiring story of how his life changed has been selected as one of the 100 Mandelas of the future.
Delano Ayer (29) turned his life around and now gives back to his community.
Ayer grew up in a poor, abusive home. He was denied the opportunity of becoming the next big soccer star by his father when he disagreed that sport could be a career.
Ayer then turned to drugs and violence when he fell in with a bad crowd in Eldorado Park.
After nearly a decade of drug addiction and with a criminal record, he met Samantha Toweel-Moore, founder of the Growing Champions leadership and football development programme, who helped him change his life.
Ayer went for rehabilitation for five months and came out a brand-new person with the mindset of helping others not fall into the same trap he fell into.
Ayer left his full-time job to look after children living at a safe house and is also heading the football teams under Growing Champions, living his dream of becoming a big football star through them, and helping them grow by putting them through intense development so they can achieve great goals.
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