Grassroot Soccer graduate Emmanuel Mayuka celebrates Zambia’s victory overy Ivory Coast in the Africa Cup of Nations Championship Game on February 12, 2012. (Photo: ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)
This weekend, Zambia’s National Men’s Soccer Team hoisted the winning trophy in the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, beating Ivory Coast in a dramatic final that came down to penalty kicks. Several of the Zambian players are graduates of Grassroot Soccer’s HIV education program, through our partnership with Breakthrough Chiparamba Sports Academy (BCSA). Below is an excerpt from a recent story on BCSA’s blog. Please click over to their site for the whole story!
From the BCSA blog:
“Davies Nkausu and Hichani Himoonde are two of the boys who have won gold for Zambia and are part of the boys who have been part of BCSA youth development program. The other players who have gone through the World AIDS day youth tournament organised by Breakthrough Chiparamba in partnership with Grassroot Soccer are Rainford Kalaba, Emmanuel Mayuka, Chisamba Lungu and Stophila Sunzu. As BCSA we feel that Grassroot Soccer games did not just teach them life skills and HIV prevention but the players also learned how to be good role models. As an academy we will use some of these achievements to bring positive change to more youth in the country. We hope to use more of our new heroes to send positive HIV/AIDS messages and other life skills to our population through soccer, whose participation rate will triple after winning the AFCON.”  Read more>>>