Dimitri Athanasopoulos, chairman of the Jacoba Football Academy, is one of the nominees in the Lead SA Community Service Awards and for him to scoop the esteemed award he needs votes.
Jacoba, formerly known as Johannesburg African Children of Bright Aspirations, identifies with the work that the football academy does.
The academy, based in Sandringham, offers young soccer stars an opportunity to nurture their talent, and furthermore, assist with their school work.
Athanasopoulos said he is excited about the nomination in the competition which he defined as a personal call to every person to make a difference.
According to him, everyone has a responsibility to make the world a better place and that is what he does within his community of the Johannesburg north-eastern suburbs.
“It could be as simple as making a stranger smile or as big as fighting to further the rights entrenched in our Constitution – each act makes a difference,” said Athanasopoulos.
“Because we use football as our engine to drive social development within our community, sports is the driving factor of the academy and through sports, we identify learners that need help in many other avenues including housing, schooling and helping one to succeed to become and contributing factor in our economy.”
The academy was initially nominated for the work it does by a member of the community.
Athanasopoulos said it is a massive honour to be recognised for something he has dedicated his life to and for the academy it is great because it will help to build awareness and share light which brings hope for the future. “This is because a child in sport is a child out of court.
“I have not been told that there is a prize but I believe that just by me being nominated as a finalist is a prize on its own, which really shows the efforts of our work being noticed as the work we do is a group effort.”
The public can vote by SMSing ‘HERO C6’ to 45633 and you can vote as many times as you like.
Details: Dimitri Athanasopoulos 072 241 5079.
Related article:
https://northeasterntribune.co.za/226142/jacoba-aim-high/
https://northeasterntribune.co.za/225299/jacoba-football-academy-recruits-players-to-boost-squad/
