We work together with communities to provide a safe environment for sports to children and young adults. We provide equipment, develop infrastructure and enable knowledge transfer from European hockey clubs and players to Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone Hockey Trust is a charitable organisation dedicated towards the development of field hockey in Sierra Leone, as well as other hockey initiatives in West Africa. We work closely together with the local community of hockey coaches and managers to develop and advance the sport. The trust sees itself as an enabling function. The purpose of the trust is to build up infrastructure, provide equipment and share knowledge for as long as hockey is still a developing sport in Sierra Leone. Looking forward, we want the Sierra Leone Hockey Association to be a completely self-managed and self-financed organisation. While the current focus of the Trust lies on Sierra Leone, we also offer our support to communities in other African countries who are interested in developing hockey as a sport.
We are ambitious but are in it in the long-run. We have devised a step by step plan of how we want to build the sport for Sierra Leone and also put Sierra Leone on the African hockey map. Our current focus is on equipping the existing teams and building infrastructure for safe and regular training and matches between the clubs.
Learn more about our goals
To date, the Sierra Leone Hockey Trust has collected over 100 sticks, balls, shoes and other equipment which we have either sent to Sierra Leone or brought personally, such as during the training camp and tournament we organised during our last visit in February 2020. Our members also support in promoting the sport on local radio and TV media outlets. Beyond that we also maintain an active relationship to local politicians such as the current sports minister of Sierra Leone, Ibrahim Nyelenkeh, as well as the sports ambassador and brother of Sierra Leonean president, Charlie Bio Junior.
Players currently practice on streets, blacktop or dust. Occasionally, we have also seen shards of glass on the "pitches" and fires burning next to training grounds.
Given the poor quality of infrastructure, the wear and tear of sticks is extraordinary. Most of the sticks are broken and pose a significant risk for injuries.
Beyond sticks, the lack of hockey balls, goalie kits, shoes, and proper protective gear are a strong limiting factor for proper and safe training.
To achieve the ambitious goals, the hockey community in Sierra Leone appreciates any kind of support and contribution. While our primary objective is to raise funds for the pitch construction and other structural investments, you can also provide contributions in-kind in the form of hockey sticks, balls, or any kind of sporting gear.
Fundraising activities by the Sierra Leone Hockey Trust aim at funding structural investments to improve the hockey infrastructure in Sierra Leone. A first major milestone is the construction a certified hockey pitch in the capital, Freetown. Therefore, the first wave of fundraising is completely dedicated to achieving this goal. Funds are transferred directly to the Trust managed in Germany with no middlemen involved and no potential for misappropriation.
As outlined above, the current situation is not at all dignified to play hockey. Therefore, the Sierra Leone Hockey Trust seeks active support from individuals and institutions to improve the quantity and quality of equipment such as:
Thanks to the overwhelming support by the European Hockey Community we have been able to collect a multiple of the equipment we need.
We are currently focussing our efforts on moving all of the equipment to Sierra Leone and will start a new collection run in the future. Sign up to our newsletter our follow us on Instagram to stay up to date.
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