04 Aug 2014

Football is not just a game but a powerful tool that can be used to positively change lives.

This is the message Barobi Nwako, a premiere skills consultant, carries in her mission to spread the work of premiere skills across the country.

Having developed love for football at a tender age, she became one of the first people in the country to grab the opportunity to benefit from Premiere skills training, an international partnership between premiere league and the British Council operating in 20 countries.

The initiative started by British Council, uses football as a tool to engage with and develop the skills of young people.

Premiere skills did not only exist to impact positively on young people’s lives, but it became an eye opener to Barobi who realised for the first time that sport was not about scoring goals and winning medals but a powerful tool that can be used to change lives for the better.

“I now see that a sport is not just a game but a tool that we can all use to help our community,” she said.

Having worked with different football teams, Barobi has come down to Palapye to impart premiere skills on young people of her community. 

Currently she is working with Morwalela primary school but during the completion of her project she would have covered all the eight primary schools in Palapye, targeting young athletes, coaches of different sporting codes as well as sports masters in those schools.

Every day in the afternoons prior to a football game, Barobi seats down with young athletes and their coaches and share issues affecting young people, focusing mainly on social, health and educational issues.

These include among others drug and alcohol abuse, school drop-outs, HIV/AIDS and low achievements.
In addition to these lectures, Barobi conducts football sessions with young people who are always enthusiastic and willing to learn.

“Children in our community are benefiting from this and are responding wonderfully,” she said.

Her aim is not to move away from results oriented sports to building young leaders who can make a difference in their lives and their peers. 

Her credentials include a Diploma in Football Coaching and an International Coaching license.

She has coached several teams, including Mmusi primary school boys football team which won the Chappies tournament twice under her tutelage. 

Her journey did not start in Palapye but has changed lives in Francistown where she introduced premiere skills to a centre for people living with disability in Francistown.

During her journey, Barobi wants to impart premiere skills to as many young people as she could in various areas across the country. She is optimistic that the premiere skills will impact positively on the development of football in the country. ENDS