Efe Obada Youth Camp
THE EFE OBADA YOUTH CAMP LAUNCHES IN SOUTH LONDON HOSTED BY THE NFL FOUNDATION UK, THE GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY AND THE BIGKID FOUNDATION.
Efe Obada grew up in South London and is Britain’s longest serving NFL player, currently playing for NFL club the Washington Commanders. He is an ambassador of the NFL Foundation UK and the BIGKID Foundation and hosted a youth camp in July to showcase the positive impact of NFL Flag football on young people in South London.
NFL Flag is one of the fastest growing sports globally, empowering youth athletes around the world and instilling a lifelong passion for flag football. The non-contact format is fun, exciting, fast and accessible for all, with women and girls driving some of the fastest growth. Flag football is currently played by more than 20 million people in more than 100 countries, by all ages and genders. Read our Flag Football articles here.
During the event, Obada was involved in guiding 150 children, comprising of BIGKID Foundation’s beneficiaries and local schools, alongside beneficiaries of other NFL Foundation UK community partners, through mindfulness and team building workshops, before engaging in NFL Flag training drills and an NFL Flag football game. He said, ““I grew up in South London, so this is a homecoming for me and I’m able to give something back to my community. I only began playing American football at the age of 21, so working with the NFL Foundation UK and the BIGKID Foundation to help provide more opportunities, in a sport that I love, and especially with flag football, brings me a lot of joy. The future looks bright and I love seeing the positive impact it can make on kids’ lives. I can’t wait to see more South Londoners in the NFL in the future.”
The NFL Foundation UK launched in 2021 as part of the NFL’s international charitable endeavours and in partnership with the Mayor of London’s ‘Sport Unites’ fund. The partnership delivers NFL Flag Football programs, training, and equipment to help young people aged 12-20 access positive pathways and develop the skills, confidence, and self-belief to create their own future, impact society and reach their potential.
The program currently works with 15 community groups across 18 London boroughs, delivering youth football to engage over 4000 young people in the capital, 50% of whom are female and 78% who are from a diverse ethnic background, helping underrepresented young people have equal access to opportunities. Using the power of sport it reaches communities to help achieve positive outcomes for young people around education, employment, building inclusive communities and improving physical and mental wellbeing.
The BIGKID Foundation is a community charity on a mission to end social exclusion and youth violence in communities across London through sports engagement, leadership programmes, and mentoring support. Since 2018 it has been running Flag Football initiatives and it works across 24 schools delivering the sport at a grassroots level. During 2022, it worked with over 2,500 young people and recorded in its annual survey that 79% improved their wellbeing as a result of its services.
To find out more about the work of the NFL Foundation and the community initiatives it supports across the UK, please visit https://www.nflfoundationuk.org/. For more information on the BIGKID Foundation and its mission to end social exclusion and youth violence, please visit,https://www.bigkidfoundation.org/.
To read about our NFL articles, including the NFL academy please click here.
Thank you to Harry McArthur at The Playbook for this article.
