Stadium of Life development underway!
Earlier this month was the groundbreaking for the Stadium of Life in Lesotho, a moment more than a decade in the making. Over the coming six months the next phase of the Kick4Life facility in Maseru will come to life, using sustainable materials and integrating indigenous plants to create a unique eco-stadium purpose built for social change.
This phase of the development will include:
- A new 11-a-side grass pitch
- Resurfacing of our 5-a-side pitch, donated by SIS Pitches
- Erection of a fence around the Kick4Life facility enabling improved security and safeguarding for our participants.
- Spectator seating around two sides of the pitch including coach and team seating either side of the halfway line.
- Two new container changing rooms with plumbing and lighting, and a new storage container for our social enterprises.
- Improved parking facilities.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the development is a partnership with Rise - Relationships in Social Enterprise, and the appointment of 10 young people as part of a six month fellowship to design and develop the stadium. The fellows include Sello Mohami a Kick4Life player and volunteer who is a graduate of Lerotholi Polytechnic and has a Diploma in Construction Management.
Motlatsi Nkhahle, Country Director of Kick4Life, explained the vision for the Stadium of Life: "Football for Good activities will take place everyday on the new pitch, which will also serve as a home ground for our football teams. Our social enterprise model will be expanded, further strengthening Kick4Life's long-term financial sustainability and providing more employment and training opportunities for young people coming through our programmes. Climate change education, gender empowerment, academic tutoring, health testing, employability & entrepreneurship training - it will all be happening here!"
Steve Fleming, Cofounder of Kick4Life added: "The start of the development was a special moment for all of us at Kick4Life. We have had the ambition of further developing the Football for Hope site as a stadium for social change since the opening of Phase 1 in 2011 and Phase 2 in 2014 (the social enterprises), and at times it did feel like a failed dream, with funding challenges, a global pandemic and various other barriers to assail, but we kept going, and it will now be very exciting to see the Stadium of Life take shape. Thanks to everyone who has helped us to reach this point, and we look forward to welcoming people from around the world to visit the completed facility in the coming months and years."
"It's a dream come true to see Phase III of the Kick4Life Centre finally come to fruition," said Daniela Gusman, Founder and Executive Director of rise International. "Having worked on the master plan back in 2009 during my time at K4L, it's especially rewarding to be working on this project with our in loco fellows at rise in designing and building this remarkable project. We are excited to create a world-class facility that will make a positive impact on the community for years to come."
Nkhahle added: "We have a number of exciting partnership and sponsorship opportunities for the stadium and would love to speak to any local companies and organisations that would like to get involved ahead of the grand opening later this year.'
