Alexandra – Thirteen of the world’s most influential sportsmen and sportswomen visited South Africa’s Alexandra township on Tuesday (November 7) to meet children from the Laureus Sport for Good Projects, an independent non-political, non-profit organisation that uses sport as the means to bring people together.
Sir Bobby Charlton, Kapil Dev, Monica Seles, Martina Navratilova and Lucas Radebe were amongst some of the sports legends that spent the afternoon playing with the children.
“I think hopefully we give kids an inspiration, they get to see the best of the best in all the different sports from around the world, and all a lot of of us started out from a very humble begining,..if you have a dream, you work hard a lot of things can happen,” said one of the greatest female tennis players Monica Seles.
“It’s a marvellous response, everyone is so happy and pleased to see us, which is what we like, and of course it’s marvellous, all this, what sports can do,” said Sir Bobby Charlton, one of the most famous English soccer players of all time.
The Laureus World Sports Academy is a unique association of the greatest living sporting legends who share a belief in the power of sport to break down barriers, bring people together and to improve the lives of young people around the world.
Alexandra, or Alex is Gauteng’s oldest township and one of the poorest areas of the region, where lack of infrastructure, overcrowding and rampant crime make living conditions extremely difficult.