My

Story

Camila

“I grew up in the neighbourhood of La Paz with my grandparents – I never knew my mother, and my father was not around. La Paz is also the place where Fútbol Con Corazón had their first project and for me, getting to know Fútbol Con Corazón changed my life.

When I was 14 years old, I took part in one of their leadership courses, where I learned to be a coach. The instructors of this course inspired me a lot and I became very excited to put everything they taught me into practice.

I have now opened my own mixed football school in which I work with children from 5 to 16 years old. These children come from the vulnerable neighbourhood of Baranoa, where they have very few resources, and often can’t go to school. There are a lot of problems with violence, drug addiction, early pregnancies, and discrimination.

This course, the Young Coach education, has given me all the strength and knowledge to continue my journey as a coach. It is a very significant experience for me because the learnings we receive are not from the same region where I live. They are different experiences from other parts, other paths of learning, and other innovative ideas. From everyone who is participating in this course I can learn something different. This knowledge is not only affecting me as a coach but also as a person, for example in my role as a mother.

The most important learning of the Young Coach Education for me was the ability to listen and that you can also be wrong at times. But even if you do make mistakes, you can get back up again quickly. If something does not work out, you will have to find a second option, a solution to the problem.

So this really helps me in my work with children, and being able to support them, to inspire them and to help them finding a vision in their lives, that’s what really motivates me. It is an incredible feeling, when I go in the street and they call out “Teacher, my teacher”. It makes me happy to be a role model for them, just as many other coaches have been a role model for me.”