A heart of goal: Mitchells Plain youth play for change
ENRICHING: Founder Jeremy Simons, 36, with children who have joined the soccer club in Woodlands, Mitchells Plain
A Mitchells Plain dad has turned his gang and drug-infested community into a sports hub for vulnerable laaities.
Jeremy Simons, 36, from Woodlands started an informal soccer club and says the amazing thing is that all the 80 boys in his teams are from the area but never knew each other until they joined up.
Jeremy started coaching eight laaities in Hans Aschernborn and Walter Battis street in February and within a month, that group grew to 50.
The club, which doesn’t have a name yet, is divided into four teams of kids, who play against each other and train every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
“The children are not so well off, a lot of them come to practice with sandals, which clearly shows that they are struggling,” he says.
“The bigger ones used to stand on corners which was not a good sign, but thanks to this initiative, things have changed.”
Jeremy decided to take action after a community meeting on a field in the area where ward councillors, the ratepayers’ association and other authorities met to discuss crime and murder in Woodlands.
“They were discussing how we as a community need to stand together and how parents spoke about their kids being killed; innocent children being the victims of shootings and how we need to fight gangsterism and drug abuse.
“I went home and in the second week in February, I decided to take my kids and a few of their friends and decided to practise with them.”
Jeremy tries to feed the kids boerewors rolls or curry bunnies to make sure they don’t go hungry.
“One of the parents also gave all the children party packets, we always try to keep them happy and when we play, I just buy chips, bompies and sweets to entertain them.”
Jeremy has joined forces with the YMCA Y-ize Up organisation in Strandfontein for further youth development.
“For the boys to visit the Cape Flats Museum and other facilities at the YMCA is enriching and can help them with decision making for where they want to end up in life.”
To help Jeremy uplift the youth, call him on 065 559 2950.