Samaritan’s Feet, through the sport of volleyball, is providing a path to a future of possibilities for girls and boys who desire access to sports as a way to avoid slums, poverty, and lack of advancement opportunities because of where they were born or to whom they were born.
Youth Volleyball Mission
Youth Volleyball Mission
Goals & Opportunities
The Youth Volleyball Mission aims to motivate participants to enroll and stay in school while encouraging them to learn a craft as a path to achieving long-term goals. With an emphasis on expanding opportunities for girls seeking to participate in sports, the Youth Volleyball Mission will provide on-going access to a safe environment to play, develop self confidence, and growth towards a better future.
The Youth Volleyball Mission supports participants within the Youth Volleyball League communities to access scholarship opportunities domestically and internationally and provide the opportunity to connect to youths from other parts of the world and to expand beyond Nigeria to other Sub-Saharan African countries and African communities.
While developing young people to be successful at representing their schools and communities at local, regional, and national competition levels, the Youth Volleyball Mission will bring coaches and others with a love for volleyball together to create an internationally recognized youth empowerment program.
How You Can Help
- Donate Funds. Donations will support the Youth Volleyball Mission by providing participants a safe facility, clean water, transportation, meals/nutrition, medical materials during practice and matches, travel, clinics, resources for expansion to reach more children, etc.
- Adopt a Youth Team. Players on a club or school team can adopt a Nigerian youth team by providing uniforms, spandex shorts, shoes, socks, ankle supports, and knee pads. The adopted team will bear the name of the donating team.
- Donate Volleyball Equipment & Court Materials. Individuals, teams/clubs, and organizations can donate volleyball equipment such as volleyballs, nets, standards and antennas, officiating materials, whistles, volleyball courts, etc.
- Servant Hearts Coaches Mission. Club, high school, and college coaches are welcome to join us on the ground to share skill training, officiating, and team building with local coaches. This is a life-changing opportunity to directly impact lives and leave a lasting legacy of love in another part of the world.
- Be a Barefoot Coach. Club, high school, and college coaches can join our colleagues by hosting and coaching games in their communities in their bare feet. Resources raised will help benefit Samaritan’s Feet and the Youth Volleyball Mission.
Show Me Junior Volleyball National Qualifier
Samaritan’s Feet is honored to accept the opportunity to be the charity for the 2016 Show Me Junior Volleyball National Qualifier hosted by the Heart of America Region. Thanks to the Board of HOA for their generosity in selecting the Youth Volleyball Mission to feature at this national youth event.
The competition which will bring participants from all of the country will take place on April 2-4 and 8-10 at the Kansas City Convention Center. The qualifier is projected to host over 24,000 people through the combined weekends and the Youth Volleyball Mission will be prominent with a booth to share information with participants.
Program History & Future
2013/2014 – Summer 2015. Regular training at Teslim Balogun Stadium Zone (Lagos, Nigeria) for 9-14 year-olds. 45 Volley-lites and 45 regular volleyballs brought from the USA for participants’ use in Nigeria. Over 350 9-14 year-olds attending training programs at Teslim Balogun & Unilag sites in Nigeria.
Summer 2015 & Spring 2016. Expansion of training sites to 3-4 additional local areas. Volleyball standards, additional balls, carts, and t-shirts donated. Teslim Balogun expanded from 2 to 4 courts. Participants organized for team practices. Test-run a league by hosting mini-tournaments and educating coaches.
Summer 2016 & Summer 2017. Projected beginning of the Annual Youth Volleyball League. Plans to take volunteer coaches to further expand the reach of the mission underway for 2017.
Summer 2018 – 2020. Projected duplication of the program in other communities within Nigeria and expanding to selected Sub-Saharan African countries and African communities.
2020 – 2024. We aim to maintain the current infrastructure established in the past while continuously enhancing our offerings. Our program includes 10 training sites with 15-22 coaches working on the ground to instruct and train young athletes in the sport. Team-building concepts are taught using positive words, body language, and encouragement. We seek to bring technical knowledge from the US by bringing over coaches to provide instruction. There is a tangible need to improve logistics for delivering products from the US to Nigeria.
We are focused on increasing girls’ participation, targeting a ratio of two girls for every boy. Significant improvements are needed for the facilities, including new equipment, flooring, and roofs for stadiums exposed to the elements. We also aim to increase the availability of volleyball equipment, such as training balls, ball carts, nets, and antennas. Our goal is to instill a culture of teamwork that promotes collaboration, patience, and service. These skills foster positive leadership in young children, helping them grow and mature to make a difference in their villages and communities.
About Coach Ibraheem Suberu, Coordinator for Samaritan's Feet Youth Volleyball Mission
Coach Ib competed in High School, Collegiate & Club Volleyball in Nigeria. Moving overseas, he competed with London Malory VBC of Volleyball England League earning the League’s Division II MVP in 1989. He also enjoyed a successful Collegiate Career in the US with Park University, MO before transitioning to a coaching career that has spanned over 20 years. He spent 15 years as Head Coach at Pittsburg State University, KS (NCAA II) and 2 years as Head Coach at University of Saint Mary, KS (NAIA). As an advocate for youth volleyball, in the fall of 1999 he founded YMCA PK/Star Aquila Volleyball Juniors, competing in the Heart of America Region of the USA Volleyball Juniors system. He is also the Founder/Lead Trainer/Head Coach for Coach Ib’s Advanced Volleyball Skills Training Academy. Coach Ib is currently Master Trainer/Coach for Club North Volleyball, Kansas City, MO.
“Thanks to everyone that has contributed to this life changing mission to our young ones here in Lagos. As an adage here in Nigeria goes…’The Young Shall Grow’ Your kindness and gift of prayer and resources is directly opening doors of possibilities for a young person here. Each of the young people in this program know that everything we are doing is made possible because of you. Each participant will carry your goodwill gift with them throughout their lives”. – Coach Ib
For more information, contact Coach Ib at isuberu@samaritansfeet.org or 620.249.6380.
Thank You Partners
Cambria Kuipers, Tampa United Volleyball Academy
Patty Reynolds and members of Club North Volleyball
Janet Quallet Quinn of East Coast Power Volleyball
Samson Ebukam, T & S Foundation
Ike Ogwuegbu, Be the Difference Foundation
Zoe Bell, Ardrey Kell High School
Atlanta Performance Volleyball Club
Tracy Vondran and GCVC (Greater Columbus Volleyball Club)
Sports Performance
Atlanta Sports Performance
Hillsborough Community College
Swarm VBC Kansas City
KC Power
Oklahoma Peak
