From players to coaches!
Tuesday 15 December 2009
They began playing football for Greenhouse as schoolboys and are now giving something back helping other young people at the community club.
Around half of the coaches at Greenhouse Bethwin SE FC in South London began as players.
'Kam' Kamaru Ogunkoya first went along aged 14, attracted by the football opportunities and hanging out with friends. But he soon found out it was about more than that.
'It was not just about football it was about how you are on and off the pitch. I learned how to conduct myself in public.'
Kam went on to work for a year as a volunteer coach to a team of enthusiastic young ten-year-olds.
Andrew Baffour started playing for Bethwin at the same age and found it was not only his football that improved.
'It helped me with discipline and gave me a calmer aspect to life,' he says.
He too wanted to give something back to the club that had been such a positive influence for him and became a volunteer for six months.
Now Andrew,19, and Kam, 23, have shown enough commitment to become paid Bethwin staff.
Kam is still with the 14-year-olds that he began working with when they were 10 and is already gaining his coaching badges.
'Now I'm getting to see what you can give back as a role model,' Kam says, 'they do look up to you and it is really important to conduct yourself well.'
Andrew is assistant manager to the U9s while also studying to become a PE teacher, all with a litle help from the Bethwin family.
