about us

ready or not? this kid presented himself well equiped for a match to be considered for a match we recently played with a sister academy in sunyani to help raise funds.

sometimes football itself, but there is nothing to stop them for the greatest requirement for football is the passion, which indeed they have it in abundance.

Glentoran football academy stands out to bringing this passion into realities for these kids by providing them with what they need to develop their passion for football and to directing them into successful careers in football and other aspects of life. We have so far enrolled at least 75 kids into the academy and a complete list of these kids, who recently were granted personal sponsorship by members from the Glentoran community trust is displayed on their website www.gctni.com

The academy is run on benevolent donorships and contribution by the founder, Christopher Forsythe who has so far injected so much hope in the lives of these kids.

The holistic programme framework is designed for daily - round sessions.
Each session includes some literacy activities plus three basic educational components.
1. Soccer skills and technical training with an education and sports science approach.
2. Health/Physical development
3. Social development life skills. These life skills are taught as non-formal education "learning circle" activities that also take place on the football pitch. They include health/physical development topics such as the prevention of HIV/AIDS,
clean water, personal hygiene awareness, how healthy bodies make strong players and social development topics such as fair play, respect for others, gender equality and peaceful solutions. The programme is fun, participatory and open to all.

At glentoran, we believe in making everyone in the academy the best we can, and we believe the game of football, if given the right attention and direction can be beneficial. It is the START that matters and so we inculcate the spirit of sportmanship into our kids right from the onset.

education for a purpose

Glentoran football academy also enrol the kids in schools to help give them book knowledge apart from their being trained to become soccer giants in the future. This has helped increase the level of the knowledge of the kids and has given them enough hope for the future.
We also hold periodic trainings and workshops for the kids to further add up to their basic knowledge.

The most interesting thing is that, most of our kids were derived from the streets, where they busily looked up to their daily schedules of probably carrying goods and rendering petty services for people. The fact remains that, these brilliant and skillful kids had lost all hope in themselves and at Glentoran, we try to restore hopes back into their lives and make life meaningful for them. It is in vain that we sometimes hold up games for the kids still on the streets who are not fortunate enough to benefit fully from our academy due to our resource restrictions to mix up with kids from the acdemy.