The Right To Dream

ESPN’s Outside the Lines provides an in-depth look at “The Right To Dream”, a Soccer Academy in Ghana.

Andy Farrant, a 23-year-old from England, surveys the damage. He hardly looks mystic. More like a first-year law student, with a lean build, a friendly, boyish face and a mother who worries about him in Africa, so far away from home. This is his show — he’s head scout, a volunteer, for the Right to Dream Academy. He will decide which boys come to the capital city of Accra and which stay behind. Playing God makes him uncomfortable. He’s not blind. He sees the desperation. This is one of the poorest places in the world. He sees that the 20 coaches the academy invited have shown up with more than the allotted 10 players each — one coach, who was not invited, has brought his team anyway. “Those boys who come from the North,” Farrant says, “you’re their chance in life.”

A view to the importance of the game (not winning, not losing) in Ghana. Hat tip to TIAS