Mentorship and Character Development was the main focus when we started in the village. Igniting dreams and instilling belief in kids in the village starts by mentoring and developing their characters. That way we could identify boys and girls with leadership qualities, unique skills and capabilities and help them succeed in their journey. We have regular initiatives that are designed to pass the message in an effective manner and one which is relevant to our Academy Students. This is one of the programs that has improved the performance of the different Age Groups of the Academy and also given them hunger for success.
“The Dreams Alive Foundation Mentorship & Character Development programme changed my life and the lives of my friends too. I dropped out of school but through football, Chris took me back and I've had a positive behavior change, improved in football, academics, discipline and personal growth."
Our curriculum is reliant on the Kenyan Education system 8-4-4 and most of our players are at The Primary school Level and secondary school. We participate in local tournaments in various regions of the Country helping us instill characters using the different cultural aspects observed. We are hoping to do a few International Tournaments in future to enable us integrate the global aspect of Development into our character Development program to enable us have complete graduates ready for the football market and the job markets for those who may not venture into football after school. We provide our players with videos of players who had the same traits, positions and style of play and have made it internationally to motivate them. We teach them about of some of the world's most successful people and their main characters and attributes to enable them emulate the best in their journey.
We share values towards Character Development:
Being at the heart of the community – we will deliver programmes that the community tells us it wants, in the places they want us to be to enable us use the power of football and the impact the kids in the academy have in the community to transform the community, instill positive character development and develop the academy into a world class facility that will be a den of hope to all the kids in the community.
The program provides an opportunity for Academy students learn and practice leadership. Also it gives them a chance to showcase their talents and learn from their mistakes while improving their skills while learning important life skills from the mentors, mostly former internationals who come for talks. Innovate, Support & inspire we look at new ways of working and new activities to engage with our students without barriers to access and participation. We provide a conducive environment where they maximize their potential to enable them work hard to live their dreams, while also supporting other kids in the community .
Leadership training through Character Development has become very important in nurturing The Academy students . We develop capabilities every day with every student having different responsibilities on a daily basis. This is mostly in the pitch and maybe serving of meals after training whenever there is food. This is because they attend different schools thus difficult to have them in same environment . Our dream is to build a world class in house academy with a school so that they can grow in leadership as a family.
Showing Them How To Give Back This is all about creating big hearts for the future sustainability of the program and the communities where our graduates come from. We teach them the importance of giving back from the heart and through deeds . Our senior academy players are usually seen coaching the younger age groups whenever the coaches are not around. this inspires the younger players making them work towards getting better. They have become positive role models. All age groups are encouraged to take part in Giveback initiatives throughout their academy journey. The seniors also make pledges to support the less fortunate should they make it in life .