Learn to build a Team in the Sports Coaching Project with Jens Lehmann

15 international Fellows came to Hamburg for 10 weeks in mid-April 2012 to learn how they could use sports to engage and empower young people. During the following ten-month period, they will install their own project at home supported by the D&F Academy.

Challenge Phase (16.04.2012 - 20.06.2012)

At the start of the project the Fellows spent an intense time with their Friend Jens Lehmann and additional experts from the field to learn the basics of soccer, coaching and using soccer as a tool for team-building. Next to sessions on physical abilities, training methods, games etc., the Fellows learned about tournament planning and campaigning to start implementing the first steps of the Challenge. Jens Lehmann had challenged the Fellows to use their coaching and community organizing skills acquired during the project to organize a soccer tournament with youth groups from Hamburg.

Fellows therefore mutually organized and conducted the actual tournament, the Diversity Cup, to coincide with the European Championship 2012. The main focus of the Diversity Cup and the Sports Coaching Project itself, was not the competitive aspect but the integrative and uniting character of sports. Additionally, Fellows took part in the DreamLab, the D&F start-up course that comprises of a series of workshops and trainings covering values, such as courage and leadership, and skills including budgeting and presentation skills.

All sessions were taught by inspiring speakers from a variety of fields and enabled the Fellows to find out about their real passion and create their DreamPlans accordingly. All the experiences and learning opportunities, as well as the hands-on training and tournament planning, result in the Fellows implementing the DreamPlans successfully during the 10 months Implementation Phase.

Implementation Phase (21.06.2012 - 20.04.2013)

The 10-week Challenge Phase in the D&F Academy Hamburg is followed by the 10-month Implementation Phase in the respective Fellow's home country. At the very moment all Fellows implement their DreamPlans, for example a youth sport initiative or a sports event, with the support of the D&F Academy. During this whole time, Fellows take part in an online curriculum and are coached, mentored and advised from the D&F team through a cloud in order to get their own project successfully off the ground! This way, also the ongoing mutual exchange between Fellows and alumni is fostered.

Copyright: Jens Lehmann Picture: Mareille Klein | Girls by Jwas | Football by jp.alvarez, Headerimage: Robert Suppé