For a young footballer at Kick4Life, success is about more than what happens on the pitch. It is also about developing a thirst for learning and knowledge, gaining the confidence to tackle a difficult subject, the support to prepare for an exam, and the guidance to understand what comes next. In Kick4Life’s Academy, the Academics Pillar works alongside Football and Character Enrichment to give young people the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to achieve their potential.
The Academics Pillar currently supports more than 60 students from Grade 8 to Grade 12 who attend a range of public and private schools and are also players within Kick4Life teams. The support includes structured tutoring, mentorship, skills development, career guidance, online learning, extracurricular activities and assistance with university, scholarship and internship applications. A key part of this support is academic monitoring, which tracks students’ grades, attendance and behaviour. This helps the team identify challenges early and provide additional support where it is needed.
Our tailored tutoring sessions take place on weekdays after school and provide support in subjects such as English, Sesotho, Sciences, Geography and Accounting. Sessions may be conducted in groups or one-on-one, depending on learners’ needs. Science tutor Tumelo Phello explains that the sessions begin by understanding where learners are coming from and what they need that day. “Participants arrive, settle in, and we talk about how their day went and the difficulties they have in a specific subject or topic that we shall be doing on the day,” he explains. When several learners need help with different topics, tutors balance the needs of the group while making sure individual learners are not overlooked. Tumelo also breaks difficult content into smaller steps to make it easier for learners to understand.
Tumelo says some of the most rewarding changes are not reflected in test scores. He has seen learners who initially doubted themselves become more willing to participate, ask questions and attempt problems without fear of making mistakes. Some of his most rewarding moments come when a learner finally understands something they had been struggling with, a small breakthrough that can change their attitude towards learning. His motivation for volunteering comes from a desire to give back to the community and empower young people through academics while supporting Kick4Life’s mission.
Consistent support can translate into results that once seemed out of reach. Thabo Motsopa, who completed Grade 11 in 2025, remembers struggling particularly with Mathematics and Physics throughout high school. Regular tutoring helped him strengthen his understanding of both subjects and build greater confidence in his academic ability. “The tutoring sessions I took at K4L made a big difference in my academic journey; the biggest highlight would have to be in Maths and in Physics. I struggled a lot in those subjects all throughout my high school life but then after getting consistent guidance from my tutors in those subjects I was able to improve massively in those subjects, even attaining a B in Mathematics and an A in Physical Sciences in my LGCSE final exams, which is something I wouldn’t have ever imagined I could achieve.”
Thabo’s academic progress has since formed part of his wider journey through Kick4Life. Alongside football, he became a Life Skills Coach in the Community Programmes Department, working with younger children, before recently securing a scholarship to attend African Leadership Academy in South Africa, where he has begun his two-year Leadership Programme.
Hlompho Lets’oara, who also completed Grade 11 in 2025 and has since begun her studies at Machabeng College, found that the experience was as much about perseverance as it was about academic achievement. Attending additional classes after a full day at school was not always easy, especially when her friends were able to relax after school. “I won’t lie. It wasn’t easy going to more classes after a full day of school while my friends got to relax. School would end, and while my friends stayed behind to hang out, I had to leave immediately for tutoring at Kick4Life. After a full day of being taught, the last thing I wanted was more classes. Some days, I was exhausted, sitting there in my uniform, wishing I could just go home.”
Despite those challenges, Hlompho continued with the sessions and found that the support she received extended beyond individual subjects. After receiving Cs in Accounting and Physical Science in her mock examinations, she continued working with her tutors through difficult topics and past papers. Her results reflected that persistence, improving to an A in Accounting and an A* in Physical Science. More importantly, she left the programme with greater confidence in her ability to overcome academic challenges. “But the grades are only half the story. Kick4Life tutoring gave me something I didn’t know I’d lost; self-belief. Belief that I was smart enough and that I didn’t have to quit on myself because I failed once. I’ll carry that with me.”
The experiences of Thabo and Hlompho show why the Academics Pillar extends beyond simply providing extra classes. It is about helping learners recognise where they are struggling, giving them the time and guidance to work through those challenges, and creating an environment where asking for help is part of the learning process. A significant part of the programme’s strength lies in its people. Most tutors are volunteers, including some current Kick4Life players participating as trainees through the organisation’s Fit4Work & Play programme. This gives young people an opportunity to contribute to the development of their peers while gaining experience and skills that can support their own futures beyond football.
Alongside tutoring, learners receive mentorship to develop study habits, prepare for examinations and manage academic pressure. They can also access online courses, career exposure, debate, public speaking and mind games, as well as support with university, scholarship and internship applications. Together, these opportunities create a development pathway that extends beyond the classroom and football pitch. The goal is not simply to help learners achieve better grades, but to help them become disciplined, confident and future-ready young people who are willing to ask questions, learn from mistakes, pursue opportunities and contribute to their communities.
At the heart of the Academics Pillar, progress can begin with something simple: identifying a difficult topic, breaking it down, asking questions and trying again. Over time, those small steps can build not only stronger academic foundations, but also the confidence to believe that challenges can be overcome. The journeys of learners such as Thabo and Hlompho show how that confidence can carry forward into new opportunities, helping young people recognise their potential both inside and beyond the classroom.
