Our Champions
Sport helps children in rural Cambodia grow in confidence, lead their teams and dream bigger. These are the champions your support creates.
Who Are Our Champions?
Our champions are the children who take part in the Globalteer Sports Programme. In rural Siem Reap, most children grow up without organised sport, with no sports facilities, little equipment and few chances to simply play. For more than 10 years, our local coaches have brought sport to over 2,500 children in Cambodia across 7 villages and 9 schools.
The real impact shows in the children themselves. Shy students find their voice, players learn to lead their teams, and girls discover what they can achieve on and off the pitch. Every story reflects the commitment of our coaches, donors, sponsors and volunteers.
Sport gives every child the chance to shine.
What Makes a Champion?
For us, winning matters less than the person each child becomes. Through regular coaching, children build skills and values that stay with them for life:
Confidence
Children grow in confidence as they learn new skills, face challenges and see what they can achieve.
Teamwork and Leadership
Playing as a team teaches children to communicate, support each other and step up as leaders.
Fair Play
Fair play, sportsmanship and self-improvement are the key values behind every session we run.
Speaking Up
Children learn to assert their rights and voice their opinions, and they help shape the programme with their own ideas.
Where Our Champions Grow
Each part of the programme helps children learn, play and grow through sport in Siem Reap:
Lessons on warm-ups, stretching, how the body works and how to handle injuries and bruises.
Our coaches travel to villages and partner schools across Siem Reap province, bringing equipment and weekly sessions.
Special sessions on children’s rights, the environment, gender equality and fair play that children take home to their families.
A space for around 25 young women to play, lead and run the Globalteer Games.
Festivals where around 1,000 children from eight centres and schools come together to compete and have fun.
Girls Becoming Champions
Sports are out of reach for most Cambodian women. A woman’s role is traditionally seen to be in the home, and most girls stop playing sport when they reach adolescence.
Our Goals for Girls team is changing that. The girls train with our professional coaches, building fitness and skills, and every session also focuses on a life skill such as teamwork, leadership, self-esteem or assertiveness.
At the end of the year, the girls help organise and run the annual Globalteer Games, a sports festival for the whole community. Each girl runs her own event on the day, putting her confidence and her voice to use.
A Coach Who Champions His Village
Behind every young champion is a coach who believes in them. Our Head Sports Coach, Kong Lak, worked as a cook for two years and then spent seven years as a housekeeper at Angkor Hospital for Children. When he was ready for a more challenging job, he joined the sports programme.
Today he teaches not only the children but also aspiring coaches, helping to spread our work to other schools. His motivation is seeing the kids in his village get a real chance to show their talents.
Help Create More Champions
Every champion starts with a chance to play. You can help more children in rural Cambodia get that chance:
- Donate one-off or monthly to pay for coaches, equipment and weekly sessions.
- Volunteer alongside our local coaches in Siem Reap. No coaching qualification is needed.
- Fundraise with a sponsored challenge, or join the Temple Run.
- Sponsor team shirts: £250 / US$300 covers 15 shirts with your logo.
Even a small amount goes a long way in Cambodia.
Help a Child Become a Champion
Your support gives children in rural Siem Reap a coach, a team and a safe place to play. Donate today and help the next champion find their confidence, their voice and their dreams.