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An interview with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation’s director
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The forthcoming Laureus Sports Awards, 6th February, are a Blue Riband event in the sporting calendar, but what do the awards mean for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation’s work? We spoke with Director of the Foundation, Mr. Ned Wills, to find out exactly what the awards do for children around the globe…

Nelson Mandela, one of the Laureus’ patrons, said, “sport has the power to change the world”. Can you tell us a bit about the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation’s work to achieve this change?

That was in 2000 at the inaugural Laureus World Sports Awards and I think it's fair to say that we were unprepared at the time for what our Patron, President Mandela, was about to ask of us. He made it clear that Laureus had to be more than a glamorous red carpet event and that we needed a strong charitable element as our driving force.

In the space of twelve years we have gone from our first project, a community sports-based project, in Nairobi, Kenya, to now where we support 91 projects. The projects which we have supported have helped to improve the lives of around one-and-a-half million young people around the world. We started with only two part-time staff in London, we now have 9 national foundations around the globe, plus hundreds of project leaders and volunteers around the world, it’s very exciting.


The forthcoming Laureus Awards is a big milestone in the sporting calendar for sports professionals. What, in your view, do the Awards mean to the Foundation?

First and foremost, proceeds from the Awards and its partners underpin and support the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation around the world. We hope to make a significant contribution to the work of the Laureus Foundation in the UK as a result of staging the Awards in London.

For any charity, visibility and awareness is the lifeblood and to have the world's media focusing on the event and giving us the opportunity to explain what the Foundation is all about is invaluable.

Additionally there has always been a Laureus Sport for Good Award which is given at the Awards Ceremony to a person or organisation who has made an outstanding contribution to society through the medium of sport over many years and who has made a difference to the lives of young people around the world. This gives us the chance to make a statement, in the Awards context, of what is important to us.


In the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation 2010 Annual Review part of the mission overview says: “The combined elements of Laureus present a unique entity that supports and showcases the work of the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation” In your eyes, how do the Awards do this?
You only have to look at the kind of events that have been staged at the last few Awards to see how the two parts of Laureus complement each other. Last year, the Awards staged a football match involving great players such as Patrick Vieira, Edgar Davis, Fabio Cannavaro, Gianfranco Zola, Christian Karembeu and Marcel Desailly, raising funds for the Laureus Foundation.
There was also a symposium on the problems of obesity in young people and how sport can be one of the solutions for this problem. Also, The Awards Show has a Global Television distribution allowing us to showcase our work and that of the projects we support on the ground.


What kind of extra benefits will the Awards bring to the work of the Foundation?
Laureus as a charity only works if people know about it. We are lucky to have so many great sporting names who volunteer their time to support the work of the Foundation and choose to give something back to society. As our Chairman the Olympic legend Edwin Moses says "The future is incredibly exciting. Wherever you look you see Laureus Academy Members striving to establish and support new projects. These are men and women who achieved what they did in sport because they never gave up. That energy and drive is now going into Laureus and the beneficiaries are underprivileged youngsters around the world”.


Thanks to Ned Wills and the foundation team for making this interview possible

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