WEDNESDAY, 23RD OCTOBER, 2019 – A panel of judges from Arsenal and its official online money transfer partner, WorldRemit, have selected eight coaches as finalists for their Future Stars coaching programme. The eight finalists will now compete in a public vote on www.futurestars.worldremit.com for the chance to attend a personalised training programme with Arsenal Football Development coaches in London – sponsored by WorldRemit.
The eight finalist includes 4 males and 4 females. Bakit Isaac Agogo (Gulu, Uganda), Feisal Abdi Hassan (Nairobi, Kenya) Luis Alejandro Castañeda Vargas (Bogotá), (Colombia) Samuel Taylor (Accra, Ghana), Beldine Lilian Achieng Odemba (Nairobi, Kenya), Chinasa Ukandu (Lagos State, Nigeria) Joan Nabisenke (Kampala, Uganda) Vivian Johana Pirateque Garzón (Bogotá, Colombia)
Samuel coaches under 13, under 15 and under 17 teams at Em Sporting Club, which is located in a rural area near Accra. A passionate football player himself, he decided to start coaching to bring together children and coaches from neighbouring villages to enjoy football together.
The eight Future Stars finalists will now compete in a public vote for the chance to attend a personalised training programme with Arsenal Football Development coaches in London – sponsored by online money transfer company, WorldRemit. Two winners will be chosen – one male and one female.
Samuel says that, if he were to win the training session with Arsenal Football Development, he would use the opportunity to share learnings with the local football community and enhance the standard of coaching.Voting is open until 11th November on www.futurestars.worldremit.com
Applications to the Future Stars programme were judged on the following criteria by a panel of judges from WorldRemit and Arsenal: The commitment of the coach to improving the lives of their community, impact the coach has had on young people within their community, strength of the coach’s proposal to pass on their training on their return home if they win the programme.
The Future Stars programme was developed by WorldRemit and Arsenal to celebrate the positive impact that grassroots youth football coaches have on their communities, helping the children they train to develop life skills both on and off the pitch. Now in its second edition, the Future Stars programme received over 1,400 online applications this year from across Africa and the Americas.
From these entries, a panel of judges selected 20 semi-finalists to receive Arsenal shirts for their youth team as recognition of their hard work within their communities. The judging panel then narrowed these 20 semi-finalists down to eight finalist coaches – four male and four female.
