Eltheo is a 23-year-old who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. Eltheo has been a SOSA Athlete Leader Council member in addition to serving as the provincial Athlete Input Council chairperson. He is trained in both Athlete Leadership and Unified Leadership. Eltheo is a qualified futsal coach. As an athlete, he played football, floor hockey and athletics. He began pursuing leadership roles within Special Olympics in 2018. As a Youth Leader, Eltheo wants to create a positive change in his community.

Charl is a 23-year-old who lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He joined SOSA in 2018 as a supporter and volunteer through his Unified partner, Eltheo. Since 2018, Charl has undergone training to become a Youth Leader. He has been working with Eltheo for a few years now and they have become friends. Charl’s involvement with Special Olympics changed his worldview; he wants to be a part of creating a more inclusive world.
Eltheo and Charl noticed that in their community there is a recurring problem of women and young girls being excluded from sports. This has a profound impact on them, and usually it is negative, as girls sometimes end up dropping out of school earlier than they likely would have if there were more activities/sports opportunities for them to be involved with. Eltheo and Charl want to provide these ladies with sporting activities.
In order to successfully execute their project, Eltheo and Charl will need to recruit female athletes both from mainstream and special schools. They will help women develop health and life skills through trainings that promote inclusion and advocacy through sports. To make sure this project is sustainable after the 9 months, Eltheo and Charl want to create a women’s league for continuous participation.
There are 3 main goals of this project. The first is to develop a strong sporting environment for females’ athletes and partners. The second is to create a Unified female sports league. Finally, they hope to recruit more teams to participate in a mainstream provincial football league.