Girls' Soccer Academy a Success!
Published January 18, 2023
Butterfly Friends is transforming girls' soccer in The Gambia.
There are thousands of soccer academies around the world. Most are specifically designed to turn talented young boys into a lucrative source of income for clubs and agents.
The Butterfly Friends soccer academy, on the other hand, aims to be a place where young girls can develop both self-confidence and the belief that one day they can become just as valuable a resource as the boys, both locally and nationally.
It’s wonderful to be able to affirm that such an investment in an academy—where equality between boys and girls is fundamental—also makes our initiative truly unique in international soccer. The goal is for these beautiful butterflies to eventually emerge as both interesting and valuable partners for men in this impoverished country.
As we enter 2023, there are 80 enthusiastic girls enrolled in the academy, but interest in joining is now so high that we will likely have to expand further over the course of the year.
However, if these girls are to train several times a week after school, they’ll need bottled water in the heat, as well as an extra meal of rice. This is something we’ll try to make happen over the course of
