Noah (17): A football dream coming true

Sep 09, 2019

By the Philips Foundation team

Through the shared belief that there is always a way to make life better, the Philips Foundation, Young Impact and PSV Foundation worked together to pursue Noah's dream of having a football team of his own.

People of younger generations also find it important to make a difference in everyday life. They just not always have the support and resources to put their own talent and ambition to good use and realize the social impact they're pursuing.

An all the good reason for the Philips Foundation, Young Impact and PSV Foundation to make that happen. Young Impact, founded in 2016, believes that young people can have a positive impact on the world, and their social surroundings. Since then, the Philips Foundation, through a shared belief in improving lives for people where many things are not self-evident, has supported Young Impact to connect, inspire and set things in motion with younger generations.

Football for everyone

Noah, 17 years old, has the dream of setting up a football team together with his peers who also live with Jeugdzorg, a Dutch institute that cares for young people who, for various reasons can't live with their parents. Because living a healthy life does not come naturally, Noah believes it is important that sport is available to everyone, including those who're not able to live at home.

But how do you set up football team? And how do you even keep the team together? In other words, what does it take to make a dream come true? To offer a helping hand, the Philips Foundation and PSV Foundation joined forces to set up a suitable clinic, hosted by a professional trainer of Eindhoven based football club PSV.

Chasing the dream

A dream is often associated with 'impossible', but not for Noah. Before he even spoke to anyone of the Philips Foundation or the PSV Foundation, he already prepared a step-by-step plan on how to recruit people from the youth care organization where he is staying to sign up for his team. "Every young person must be able to play sports and look after his health", said Noah.

He sincerely despises exclusion from anyone. Nationality, gender; for him it doesn't matter. Everyone should be able to participate. The hope for him is to achieve a ripple effect, to mobilize more younger people to do the same.

So, what are the next steps? "A football competition that participates in tournaments and receive weekly training. It all seems so normal but for some children it is not at all self-evident."