Coaching Refugees

My first experience of football coaching was from 2014 to 2015 at Pandawas Academy for Refugees, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where I developed a group of individuals who never before had any football training into a winning team. It was a steep learning curve for me at 12 years old to plan for, organise, and structure training for kids only 2 to 4 years younger, most of whom spoke hardly any English. It was also my first exposure to the hardships and difficulties these refugee kids had gone through being uprooted from their homes and countries. Some had even seen members of their family tortured or killed! I had the privilege of seeing them grow from individuals who had profound trust issues into team players who began to learn to trust and coopeate with me, their team mates and other people. It taught me how unifying and powerful sports can be. Football in this situation truly is a "beautiful game".