Team talk
Sustainability review 2009

SCORE (Sports Coaches Reach Out) is a South African non-profit organisation that uses sport and physical activity as a way to develop leaders. SCORE works in disadvantaged communities where children have little opportunity for sport and play. Local youth are trained and empowered to coach sport and teach life skills in their communities and at the same time become positive role models. South African and international volunteers are implementing SCORE's sports and life skills programmes in over 30 communities across South Africa.

SCORE receives financial and employee support from the Adi Dassler Fund. In addition to a significant contribution to help run SCORE programmes, adidas employees volunteer their time, knowledge and skills to support SCORE including organising fundraising activities.

Selected volunteering activities with SCORE include:

• In February 2009, a group of ten employees from adidas Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Headquarters and adidas South Africa built the foundations for a multi-purpose sports court in the Khayelitsha township outside Cape Town. adidas staff also ran sport and play training sessions for local township kids together with the SCORE youth leaders.
• Now in its second year, adidas South Africa employees organised and financed a Christmas party for the children of Baphumelele Children's Home, an orphanage in Khayelitsha.
• In April/May 2009 adidas employees invited two SCORE staff members to a three-week internship at the adidas EMEA Headquarters. Employees volunteered their time training the SCORE staff so they could improve their own skills, and learn some tools and processes that they could take back to help enhance the work of the SCORE organisation. On the adidas side, the employees clearly gained from the cultural exposure of hosting and training the two South African staff members.

More about SCORE

Coaching for Hope is an innovative programme which uses football to make a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged children in West and Southern Africa. Coaching for Hope organises courses where professional coaches from the UK train local youth workers to Football Association standards. At the same time, the local coaches learn how to deliver HIV sessions to young people in their communities. So far over 30,000 children have benefited from football and HIV awareness sessions and 700 coaches have been through the courses.

adidas financial aid has funded the creation of three adidas football leagues in South Africa, Mali and Burkina Faso, which adidas staff have since visited. The funding has also enabled Coaching for Hope to set up the first disability coaching course in Mali which promotes the development of football among a neglected group in the community.

More about Coaching for Hope

Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe e.V. is a German non-profit organisation that finances and operates a small orphanage in Kwale near Mombasa, Kenya. adidas employees financially support more than half the children in the home. In its second year, a group of adidas employees from adidas Area Central travelled to Kwale to build a football and basketball court for the orphanage and an adventure playground for the children. They also painted the home. Employees also helped teach the children to play flute and ran painting sessions.

In the second year, the field activities concentrated on the Kwale community Mwangaze Visionary school, where the adidas employees built a multi-purpose sports court as well as ran 'train the trainer' education sessions for the sports teachers at the school.

More about Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe e.V.

In 2007, adidas Argentina started to regenerate potreros - areas of common land - in low-income neighbourhoods around the country. By the end of 2009, 13 potreros had been reclaimed.

The focus in 2009 was on investing in existing potreros by connecting with the organisations that were using them. Near the adidas Argentina office is the potrero in San Isidro, where the local not-for-profit group UASI La Cava works with over 300 children from the underprivileged neighbourhood. UASI La Cava engages children through sport and promotes education and local leadership. adidas employees have supported sports training and started a study and homework group for the children there, donating over 500 books. They have also given money, which was used to provide gear and school supplies for over 125 children from La Cava.

adidas Argentina supports the potreros which are further from Buenos Aires by funding sports-related events and workshops, the first of which took place in Salta on August 15 2009.

AAIH (Associação Internacional de Interesses da Humanidade) is a neighbourhood association taking care of over 500 children and youth, involving them in sports and educational activities. It is located close to the adidas warehouse in Embü, a suburb of São Paulo.

To begin with, adidas Brazil helped refurbish the AAIH sports ground (an empty lot), building a multi-sports court suitable for football, basketball and volleyball. The court was inaugurated on November 7 2009 with a celebration event.

About 2,000 children, neighbours and members of the community, as well as many employee volunteers from adidas Brazil, who helped organise the activities on the day, attended. Initiatives planned for the future include employee volunteering, donations and improving infrastructure.