Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

More than a beautiful game, soccer brings communities together

byJoe Higgins
1 November 2019 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Reading Time: 4 mins read
AA

Soccer gurus: Nelson Kimaru, Keria Nuru and Aida Ibrahim at the Skill Up graduation held at Australian Catholic University’s Brisbane campus.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Soccer gurus: Nelson Kimaru, Keria Nuru and Aida Ibrahim at the Skill Up graduation held at Australian Catholic University’s Brisbane campus.

NELSON Kimaru is a soccer guru.

He played it where he was born in Tanzania, where he was schooled in Kenya and where he now lives in Brisbane.

In Kenya, he was selected for the national soccer competition.

When he came to Brisbane, he was looking for a way to play again.

Nelson signed up for Kicking Goals Together – an eight-team soccer competition and employment skills program led by Australian Catholic University’s Brisbane campus and Multicultural Australia.

It has helped more than his dribbling and kicking. 

“When I’m in a group of friends, I don’t want to talk because I feel like if I talk like this … they will ask, ‘Why is this guy talking?’” Nelson said. 

“So I don’t want to express my feelings with them. 

“But playing (soccer) together … joining this Skill Up, I got a lot of development and courage.

“I meet different people who I didn’t even imagine I could meet. 

Related Stories

East Africa is suffering ‘dire’ drought and facing famine

Brisbane adoration community sees surge in adorers, more needed

New report highlights Tigray atrocities, says Ethiopia could face famine

“So I … have that skill of being (courageous), talking to everyone now.

“(I) meet someone for the first time and have a quick chat, or chat with them for a long time.”

This season finished with the Allied Health All-Stars defeating Rohingya United 8-6 in the grand final, clinching their first grand final win, and the Skill Up participants graduating in two days of back-to-back celebrations on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 22 and 23. 

The graduation hosted a networking event where Skill Up participants could mingle with local businesses like Bunnings Warehouse and Centacare.

Keria Nuru was a participant in Skill Up.

Her dad was a soccer coach in Africa and she used to play soccer when she was young growing up in Ethiopia.

While the women in the program don’t have enough teams for a competition of their own, they train to develop their soccer skills and get educated on employment skills.

“I met new people and I (have) that information – how to get a job and how to have fun with people,” Keria said.

“(I learned) much about communication with others.”

Another young woman in the program, Aida Ibrahim said she found out about the program through her friends.

Aida feels more confident about what she needed to get into the workplace.

“Put a football in front of 10 people and tell them to pick teams, and a game will happen,” Kicking Goals Together co-ordinator and Australian Catholic University lecturer Dan Vandenhoek said.

“You probably don’t even need to tell them to pick teams – just put a ball out, some goals and a game will happen.”

While the game was simple, organising a full competition was more involved.

It started in 2016 when a group of Rohingya footballers approached ACU through an existing community program and said they had started a team but were hitting barriers to participation.

“The typical soccer competitions in Brisbane weren’t working for them due to transport costs and other barriers,” competition founder Matthew Pink said.

“They also wanted their football team to be a vehicle for celebrating their own cultural identity.”

After partnering with MA, ACU was able to host a soccer competition on its playing fields.

Nelson said he learned a lot in the program.

He said in Africa, people could return to high school at any age to learn what they needed to learn, but in Australia, education was restricted by age.

“So if you’re over 18, you’re not allowed to go to high school or primary, you have to seek another way to go,” he said.

He had to go to TAFE but that was not ideal.

“It’s not what I expected,” he said.

He faced challenges every day.

“You’re in a new country, new people, new things, so you have to be able to stand by yourself,” he said.

But by making friends and professional connections through soccer and Skill Up, Nelson didn’t have to stand alone anymore.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Fiji Archbishop Peter Loy Chong calls for ‘a synod on the ocean’

Next Post

Amazonian rite and married priests pass vote in final Synod document

Joe Higgins

Related Posts

East Africa is suffering ‘dire’ drought and facing famine
News

East Africa is suffering ‘dire’ drought and facing famine

20 April 2022
A Holy Hour before the Blessed Sacrament
QLD

Brisbane adoration community sees surge in adorers, more needed

31 March 2022
New report highlights Tigray atrocities, says Ethiopia could face famine
News

New report highlights Tigray atrocities, says Ethiopia could face famine

5 March 2022
Next Post

Amazonian rite and married priests pass vote in final Synod document

Senator confirms cashless welfare cards can be used to pay for pornography and sex services

Catholic convert's wooden necklace from mum turns out to be Rosary beads

Popular News

  • Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    Here are the stories of 10 new saints being canonised this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI turned 95 on a ‘very happy’ day

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Angel’s Kitchen serves hot meals to the hungry in Southport

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Parishes unite for Logan deanery family festival this Sunday

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Queensland election: The pro-life political parties committed to abortion law reforms

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Holiness is possible and the Church provides tools to attain it, cardinal says
Faith

Holiness is possible and the Church provides tools to attain it, cardinal says

by CNS
18 May 2022
0

HOLINESS is possible, and the Catholic Church provides the tools for attaining it. That was the theme...

Church workers have helped more than 1.2 million Ukrainians during the war, Caritas says

Church workers have helped more than 1.2 million Ukrainians during the war, Caritas says

18 May 2022
Minority Catholic woman takes pride in Asia’s overlooked saints

Minority Catholic woman takes pride in Asia’s overlooked saints

18 May 2022
Bishops call out racism, gun violence after U.S. shooting

Bishops call out racism, gun violence after U.S. shooting

17 May 2022
Parishes unite for Logan deanery family festival this Sunday

Parishes unite for Logan deanery family festival this Sunday

17 May 2022

Never miss a story. Sign up to the Weekly Round-Up
eNewsletter now to receive headlines directly in your email.

Sign up to eNews
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
  • Jobs
  • Contribute

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyChoose another Subscription
    Continue Shopping