1. Introduction

Dream Team Football Academy was founded in 2010 by a group of 21 former football players from the "Association des anciens footballeurs du Rwanda, " whose aim was to impart valuable life skills through football to young individuals aged 3 to 18 years.Our player development approach symbolizes Dream Team Football Academy identity, beliefs, and values. It is a reflection of our passion and our purpose. At Dream Team, it all starts with a deep understanding of who we are, why we do it, what we believe in, what our style is and what our players embody, how we coach them, and how we support them. That’s where everything starts. That’s the Heart of Dream Team Football Academy.

2. Who we are

We are a community-based youth football club that is dedicated to providing a progressive, ambitious, and comprehensive football experience. We are proud to be a coach-led organization. Our organization is founded on 11 core values: accountability, advice, empathy, enjoyment, humility, leadership, passion, respect, safety, tenacity, and unity. Since our inception in 2010, we have become the premier youth football academy in Rwanda. We have developed a reputation for excellence on and off the field, and we currently represent more than 100 players (ages 3 to 18) and 12 coaches (5 full-time and 7 part-time).

3. Why We Do It

For us, football is much more than a sport: Football is a worldwide sociological phenomenon. Through the sport of football, we see people, no matter their age or origins, channel their dreams, hopes, and a sense of pride and enjoyment. Ask around and you’ll hear everywhere stories of how footballers bring hope and pride to communities, and how teams inspired people to be better. That’s why we do it, because we have experienced it in our own lives and we want others to experience it as well. At the beginning and at the end, we are driven by Passion.

4. What we believe

We believe that the game is the teacher. It is in the complexity of the game where skills and creativity arise and develop, not in isolated, mechanized situations. These last can introduce a concept or a technique but can never be the core or the proposed channel for learning. It is in the game that the player discovers solutions and creativity arises, and it is the role of the coach to facilitate that environment and guide, when needed, through that discovery. Its participant centered, not coach centered. Stating that the game is the teacher is more than a philosophical idea. At the youth stages, we want our teams to play 60 11v11 scrimmages a year. Some will be formal and some others as part of a training session, just like some will last longer than others, but they will present the stage for learning to take place. At the grassroots level, the 60 Games Rule is expressed through the constant encouragement and club initiatives to increase the overall weekly playing time of the participant. That doesn’t mean increasing the number of training sessions (team or individual), it means providing opportunities for the players to play more time in direct confrontation. We believe that players go through two developmental stages that are ‘playing ball’ until the age of 13, in which the game teaches and the coach’s role is to create the environment for learning to take place, and a second stage of ‘playing football’, in which the coach conceptualizes to maximize the player’s ability

5.The Future Player we want -Key Characteristics

Dream Team Football Academy has a participant centered philosophy. We focus on long term player development. To think of long term development means that we need to prepare players not for today’s game but for the future game of football, the one that they will be a part of. The future Dream Team Football Academy Player represents the club’s core values in the way he/she plays, and heart fully and honestly believes in themselves, the team, and the club. The future Dream Team Football Academy Player has six marked key characteristics that are reflected in behaviors and skills along their development through each age group. These are:

• - Accountable : Takes responsibility for own development performance
• - Competitive : Looks for what is comfortable with,and enjoy competition
• - Passionate & Tenacious : Show love for the game and the sport,show emotional involvment.passion and tenacity push him/her through moments of adversity and always give his/her best.
• - Tactically smart,Insightful, purposeful : Continously asseses situations towards finding the best solution. becomes a student of the game.
• - Technical,capable of sustain technical proficiency for 90+ minutes
• - Physical : Athletically fit for 90+ minutes at optimal controlled levels of aggressiveness and intensity.

6. How we Coach

Dream Team Football Academy is a club led by coaches who are the agents of change within our organization and each coach is a reflection of their players, team, and the club overall. They foster an environment for players to learn and express themselves, with freedom and responsibility. The Dream Team F.A Coach is active, positive, and empathetic, thinks of the club over their own team, has a strong work ethic, and is a reflection of Passion. Our coaching always aims to nurture the player’s game understanding, and our environments create challenges for these players to make decisions based on these principles: The first step is to make decisions, the second is to make correct decisions, and third is to make them fast.