Ballard High School grad Chris Kaimmer has started up Woza Soccer Adventures, an organization that is set to take high school soccer players to train and do service work at a rural Zulu soccer academy in Mtubatuba, South Africa this summer.
The My Ballard team caught up with Kaimmer back in 2010 when he organized for Ballard Youth Soccer to donate some jerseys and gear to the very soccer academy that the high school students will visit in July.
Kaimmer (pictured above working with kids in Mtubatuba) has always been a keen soccer player, playing for BHS until his graduation in 2005 and then for Yale during his time at college. He decided to move back to Ballard from his teaching job in Boston to start up Woza Soccer Adventures and help local young people give back to the global community.
Kaimmer’s passion of using soccer to give back started when, after graduating from college, he lived in Mtubatuba for a year while doing volunteer work for NGO Grassroot Soccer. The organization fights against HIV/AIDS by using the power and popularity of soccer.
Through working with Grassroot Soccer, Kaimmer saw an opportunity to not only give back, but to assist local American teens in learning about the greater needs in the global world, and started Woza Soccer Adventures.
“My vision is to create a teen adventure travel company for soccer players that sustainably funds worthwhile soccer academies and sport-focused NGOs in the developing world, and this is my pilot year to try to prove that it can work and that kids would want to go on a trip like this,” says Kaimmer.
This July Woza Soccer Adventures will be taking a group of high school soccer players to Mtubatuba to improve both their soccer skills and their social awareness. Fees paid by players to go on this summer’s trip are set to fund a new soccer field for the academy and health/education initiatives in the community.
A presentation will be held this Thursday, January 16 at Cederberg Tea House (1417 Queen Anne Ave N) for interested students and families to find out more about the trip. All are welcome to attend to presentation which is set to kick off at 7 p.m.
To find out more information about the application process and the program itself click here.
Photo courtesy of Woza Soccer Adventures.
