SA LEGENDS LEGACY PARK TRUST - COMMUNITY FACILITIES PROJECT

On the back of soccer World Cup 2010 whereby organizations would wish to leave a legacy behind, we have launched a project to build facilities in disadvantage communities and make them sustainable i.e. Soccer 5's where corporates and teams play against one another in a league situation like indoor cricket.

We have currently identified two areas Cato Manor in KZN and Soweto in Gauteng where the municipalities have given us land to develop in the relevant communities. Using the Cato Manor project as a case study it is a home to 120 000 people in a triangle between Pavilion, Umbillo and Overport where there are 13 schools and 11 500 school children. Together with the relevant Government departments who will focus on the education of the children, we the sporting legends with STI (Sport Talent Initiative), ETA (Exercise Training Academy) and top schools in the area (Glenwood, Westville and DHS) will focus on teaching them sport and life skills.

The facilities will be constructed with Tigerturf which is a multi purpose synthetic turf and a community club house with flood lights whereby sponsors and donors will be targeted from a funding perspective.

This program is a facilitation process combining all the SARLA initiatives and associations to create self-sustaining sport precincts, called "Legacy Parks". The effectiveness of this program is measured in terms of the community involvement in both the sports offered and the social and personal development initiatives.

We aim to combine the construction of two (2) twenty by forty meter (20x40m) STI TigerTurf venues, with a clubhouse cum classroom structure and a SAPS Contact Point.

The facility will employ a league manager to control the franchised "Soccer 5's" and "Tag Rugby" models that create a revenue stream to maintain the facility and its resources.

The classroom is the centre of skills development of multiple disciplines, including, HIV/AIDS awareness, Drug awareness, Crime prevention, Adult literacy etc.

The target market for funding includes both National & International Corporate sponsors, Local and National Professional Sporting Clubs, Local and National Government, the SAPS and Educational institutions.

SARLA is in the business of social development through sport, which is definitely a growth industry in South Africa and with the advent of the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the Political stance on CSI and BBEEE, this program is poised to be the perfect delivery vehicle for all concerned to highlight true and measurable involvement.

This initiative has the ability to make tangible differences in the lives of the recipients of it benefits.

The model begins with the identification of a tract of land by local or national government, which is provided to the community on a long-term lease basis and includes electrification and water facilities. The size of this land should not be less than two thousand five hundred square meters (2500m2).

The model is centred around two (2) twenty Five meter by forty four meter (25mx44m) TigerTurf facilities, which includes all the civil engineering work, lighting and fencing around the fields. This also includes the lighting up of the playing surfaces and a computer system to hold the league tables and booking software for the Soccer 5's and Tag Rugby franchise operations. Added to this is the training of the facility manager in respect of the operation and maintenance of the franchises and the maintenance of the facility. This is installed by STI.

The scheduling of games will be the main role of the manager, where during the day, kids play either five-a-side soccer or five-a-side tag rugby. There will be no charge for this. In the evenings, only adults will play five-a-side soccer or five-a-side tag rugby at a predetermined rate.

An additional structure will be provided to include a Clubhouse cum classroom and an office for the facility manager. This will be used to hold classes during the day, that will take the form of life-skills training, other awareness programmes, anti-crime initiatives, adult education or even a crèche'. In the mornings this education will be adult centred and in the afternoons more youth centred. In the evenings this can be used for educative or even religious purposes or as a safe haven for the children of those parents playing on the fields.

The life skills programs will be based on the current SARLA model, which will require funding, or should the facility sponsor wish to focus the skills orientation towards a program that they already use, this can be accommodated.

The final physical stage of this facility is a SAPS Contact Point. This will need to be funded by SAPS or its supporting structures. The purpose of this is to endear the SAPS to the local community by showing that the SAPS are there to protect their children, not just to arrest them. The SAPS can also facilitate coaches to further entrench this value and sustained through scheduled crime prevention initiatives in line with the current SARLA/SAPS urban crime prevention initiative for street children.

The factors that give us the competitive advantage is our leverage capability through our network of associates, viz. SAPS, Rugby Unions, Legends Associations, Life Orientation Organisations. Through this single facility we are able to provide access to disadvantaged and transformable communities to all of these associations, while at the same time facilitating meaning change mechanisms.

We are able to help sporting codes with:
¤ Enabling REAL grass roots development in their respective codes
¤ upgrading skills levels in their respective codes
¤ talent identification from non-traditional sources
¤ meeting transformation charter requirements
¤ growing interest in their sporting code to create supporters for ticket sales and merchandising, both current and future markets

We are able to help National and Local Government Departments:
¤ Entrench themselves in the communities in which they serve; be it crime prevention, law enforcement, primary health care, or education (both literacy-type and skills development)
¤ Create employment opportunities from within the local community
¤ Realise a measurable return for resource investment

We are able to help Life orientation organisations:
¤ provide permanent homes for their programs
¤ measure the success rate of their programs, grow and adapt them to suit market requirements
¤ show measurable results to their funders in other areas

We are able to provide funders with:
¤ Physical presence within disadvantaged communities
¤ Provide credible presence for their CSI spend
¤ Provide value for BBEEE ratings
¤ Provide value for skills development returns
¤ Demonstrable physical presence to market their social involvement
¤ Creating potential markets
¤ Growing future employees