She is a football coach!
Imagine our excitement to accidentally learn that there was a girl football team in Tripoli, and even more when we personally met Nathalie!
To reach her house we had to go through streets full of garbage and sewage, surrounded by dilapidated buildings where the signs of bullets are vivid reminders of the recent wars in the neighbourhoods. In those streets, children were happily playing , resilient to the country’s tragic situation and reckless to COVID precautions. Nathalie describes how she first started playing football: watching kids playing from her balcony and practicing on her own. She made her first victory when she dared to defy a goalkeeper under her house, she since gained the respect of the boys of her neighbourhood. Defying social norms and encouraged by her mom, Nathalie grows her passion in football. She got trained on life skills through football with KNVB as well as world coaching, and got the chance to travel thanks to football! Her family has no source of income, and your donations will allow Nathalie to coach 12 kids aged between 9 and 12 for a period of 6 months. The kids were chosen from various backgrounds and conflict neighberhoods to improve social cohesion; priority were given to children who needed to be taken out of toxic environments. Football won’t be the main objective but a mean to work on COVID awareness, teamwork, gender equity, leadership and discipline! The children will be from mixed genders hoping to break the common stereotype that girls cannot play football…Nathalie being a beautiful live counter example!