Have you heard about IQF Foundation?
If you were watching the news on Sunday the 11th of June, you would have seen a snippet of what’s been happening with our players. Watch the report below from Newzroom Afrika.
After a successful series of trials at the beginning of the year, we ended up sponsoring sixteen boys in the Under 15’s team and two boys in the Under 11’s team. Eleven of these boys are from Alexandra Township and seven are from Zandspruit Township.
When I opened IQ Football in 2015 it was from a culmination of my passion for football coaching, brain-centred development, and seeing kids change from insecure to confident.
As the years went by, I knew this kind of training could have a great impact on the trajectory of a player’s life. And so began conversations with my wife, which turned into a vision to change the narrative of poverty and crime in Johannesburg.
We believe that by investing in the ‘fatherless’ of our nation (those who lack parental support, guidance, and a purpose in life), poverty and crime can begin to be eliminated. We want our players to be given opportunities to play professionally, but our real hope is for them to become great fathers, leaders and community builders. So we opened a separate section 18(a) non-profit company (NPO 276-555) called “IQF Foundation NPC”.
More than 60% of children in South Africa are raised without a father in their household. Fatherlessness has shown to deeply affect individuals. Not all single parent families are negatively affected, but research shows that many of the children who face poverty, drop out of school, have a child out of wedlock, and engage in criminal activity come from homes without a father. The circumstances of these children affect every family, which affects our nation as a whole.
You may wonder how this relates to football. I’m a passionate father, and so are our coaches. We believe that a football coach can have a great impact as a role model and mentor to the players they coach, especially coaches who are equipped with much more knowledge about the brain and its application to a player’s health, wellbeing, and performance.
As you would have heard from the clip above, we have also partnered with Heartlines, who are helping us with life training and support for the boys.
We’ve had a great response from parents and players alike, and our Brian-Centred Training and Neuro-based Mentoring programme has been implemented in the weekly training sessions. We are pleased to let you know that the results are showing for the boys in their matches. Our Under 15s team are top of the league and our under 11’s team (of which two boys have been sponsored) are second in the league.
The boys receive an Nkosi Bar (specially formulated meal replacement bar) with fruit and drinks each match day, and we hope to increase this to their training sessions as soon as we can sustainably provide this, and not cause disappointment.
It’s been such an exciting start to the year!
As the needs of our players has become more apparent, we’ve decided to take on more of a financial commitment to help them grow and develop under our tutelage. This includes: the meal replacement bars, snacks and drinks on matchdays (we’d love to assist them midweek too if the budget allows), and assistance with transport.
If you or your company would like to financially partner with us on this journey, please see our webpage IQF Foundation, which describes who we are, what we do, and how one can become part of the solution.
Please feel free to share this blog post with people or businesses that you think would be interested in partnering with us.
IQF Foundation NPC is a public benefit organisation that has been granted section 18(a) status. Consequently, your donations are tax deductible. You can donate online here.
Bank: FNB
Name: IQF Foundation NPC
Account number: 63008133588
Reference: Full name and surname
We have big plans for these boys, they are the men of South Africa’s future. Watch this space!
