BACKGROUND
Victoria Sports Association (VSA) is a community-based Youth Football Team and Association for disadvantaged young people; it operates in the Gamba Village (Gem Constituency, Uranga Sub Location, Siaya County of Nyanza region). It is registered with Kenya’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, and also with the Football Kenya Federation (FKF).
VSA was established in 2006. Since then we have constantly identified and developed talents among young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, helping them not only with their skills on the football field but also to keep them at school and busy with healthy activities in their free time.
We started with eighteen (18) young people and currently we have registered 150 young boys and girls. Of these, many are orphans and homeless/street children.
We started working in Nairobi, specifically in the Deep Sea Slum, and since 2019 we are operational in the Gamba Village (Gem, Siaya county).
VSA aims at engaging and organizing young people into sports, education, skills development and activities like theater, music and environmental awareness. Such positive projects can help transform our youth into responsible and pro-active adults whilst reducing the risk of juvenile delinquency, prevent HIV/AIDS, and promote health and well being.
VSA has been successful in assimilating young people with harsh realities into responsible citizens of Kenya.
VISION
To help disadvantaged children to become good citizens that contribute positively to their home country.
MISSION
To create positive changes in the life of children through education, sports and fun activities.
AIMS
VSA is guided by three major motives: Social Responsibility, Education, Commercial Sports Business.
Aims & Objectives
Social Responsibility
- To help disadvantaged and needy children through sports
- To remove children from street and transform them into productive citizens
- To reduce the number of drug addicts
- To pay an active role in promotion of youth and women empowerment – economically, socially and politically
- To create public awareness of human rights and civic responsibilities through seminars, workshops, conferences and publications
- To carry out HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns
- To keep the children busy with positive and healthy activities during holidays, especially when they are not with their parents
- To create mutual understanding and cooperation among all the youth academies in Kenya by creating and organizing soccer leagues and competitions
Education
- To offer school bursaries to disadvantaged children to promote their education and wellbeing
- To work hand in hand with parents and schools, to facilitate children to learn
- To facilitate orphans, street kids and children from poor families to get sponsors for their studies
- To provide the youth with knowledge in computer skills
Commercial Sports Business
- Talent promotion: to generate revenue by identifying, grooming, selling or buying football talent, skills and expertise
- Commercial advertising: to generate revenue for the club by selling advertising space on Club materials and events
MESSAGE BY COACH DENNIS
I am Dennis Otieno, VSA national coordinator and one of the talent promoters of Kenya’s young generation.
I started this project in 2006 and since then I have attended 3 coaching courses in football. Among these, the Coaching Course I did in Rome (Italy, 2010-2011) inspired me to start up an organization of Talents Identification called Victoria Sports Association (VSA).
We are proud to engage Kenyan youth helping them get an opportunity to play football as a way to get them into school in Kenya and abroad.
The VSA is registered with the Registrar of Societies (Kenya) and affiliated to the Federation of Kenyan Football Association (FKF) to provide professional soccer coaching activities in collaboration with parents to talented boys and girls between the ages of 3 to 18 years. The academy manages about 150 registered youths.
In the VSA work plan, the association receives soccer coaches from Kenya, Italy and other places. They are friends of the academy and provide free coaching expertise to the players and local coaches. They also organize football tournaments to create awareness like HIV Aids, poverty and hunger amongst the youth of Kenya; and promote participation in World Youth tournaments (like Dana Cup, Football Festival Denmark, Vildbjerg Cup Denmark, Gothia Cup Sweden) to promote international friendship and exposure.
The Directors, who are Local and Foreign, are persons of integrity with vast soccer administration skills and technical knowledge. The establishment of VSA was a vision of parents and sympathizers of children talented in soccer, to develop them into well-educated superstars. The Academy was established on 26th November 2006 and officially launched on 15th January 2008.
On behalf of Victoria Sports Association, I am pleased to extend my gratitude to all our partners, friends and well-wishers, who have helped us make this great idea a reality for the Future of Kenya’s Youth.
Best Wishes,
Dennis Otieno
VSA Kenya 