This article by Beth McCowen is part of the 'ConnectSport Local' project with Reach Plc, the UK's largest commercial, national and regional news publisher, and was originally published in the Birmingham Mail. To find out more and how your organisation can benefit, please contact hello@connectsport.co.uk

After injury cut his footballing career short, one Birmingham coach turned heartbreak into hope. Anwar Khattak established a grassroots academy that has changed thousands of lives across some of the city's overlooked areas.

It started with just seven kids, a football, and a patch of grass.

Now, more than two decades later, the Birmingham Youth Sports Academy (BYSA) Foundation has become a lifeline for young people across the city. The Foundation has helped them find purpose, confidence and community at a time when many feel forgotten.

SUPPORT

Anwar, founder of BYSA, is a former semi-professional footballer who turned a personal setback into a community-based initiative.

“I had a lovely football career,” he says. “I played at semi-pro level, had great support including from my brother and my peers. But when I got injured, it didn’t work out. So I took a step back and did all my coaching badges. That’s how it started.”

What began with a handful of young people in a park has grown into a six-day-a-week operation, supported by more than 40 volunteers. BYSA now offers football training, mentoring, emotional support, and a sense of belonging. These vital services and this crucial space are all delivered on a voluntary basis.

“We formed it to empower the youth and the community in our local areas,” Anwar explains. “BYSA changes lives, it saves lives. It’s there trying to make Birmingham better.”

For many of the young people who pass through BYSA’s doors, this is their first experience of being seen and supported. The support of the Foundation is a much-needed lifeline for some.

“One young lad was getting bullied in school, on the street and in the parks,” Anwar recalls. “We gave him a platform where he felt part of something. Now he’s grown, going to the gym, more confident.”

CHALLENGES

There are stories of kids caught up in crime, others facing challenges beyond their years at home or school. BYSA steps in where others don't. 

“Sometimes you’ll have kids who are emotionally wrecked, spiritually wrecked,” Anwar speaks candidly. “So what we do is we try to help them, heal them, and put them into positive atmospheres and environments.”

Another young man, Anwar remembers, was being manipulated and taken advantage of by an employer. “We told him 'that’s not your guy anymore'. We got him out of that bad circle.”

Many young people see Anwar and his team as more than just football coaches, and more than just mentors. Volunteers like Anwar become role models, father figures, and constants for those who may be deprived of such interactions elsewhere. 

“If you give a child time, you’re mentoring them, you’re guiding them,” Anwar reveals. “The generation now needs motivation. Kids need direction, they need guidance.”.

Ahmed joined BYSA when he was just eight years old, and he speaks passionately about the club's positive impact on his adolescence. “As a young child you just want a place to play," he emphasises. "So, it gave me that platform to be able to express myself on the football field. If I wasn’t at home, I’d be at BYSA. If I wasn’t at BYSA, I’d be at Mosque. That was literally my life growing up.”

COMMUNITY

Ahmed adds: “Growing up in the area I grew up, you can very easily be led down a wrong path. So having a sense of community and someone that looks over you and cares for you was very important.”

Today, Anwar finds himself coaching the children of those he once trained as teenagers. “I’m a granddad now,” he smiles, "and I feel like a granddad to a lot of these kids. The kids I used to train 24 or 25 years ago have now had kids, and I bring in their kids. The train will always continue.”

Ahmed speaks to the profound impact BYSA had on his youth both on and off the pitch. “Funnily enough it was Anwar and a few others that used to sit down with me and help me with maths tutoring outside of BYSA hours," he recalls. 

"My first coach was Anwar. I’m still very closely in contact with him… I saw him today. He remembers what I was like when I was young and says, ‘This is what you’ve become now’. It’s a proud moment for him as well.”

Another of BYSA’s achievements is its thriving girls' football programme. A project that once seemed unlikely has now become a flourishing reality. 

“Asian girls can’t play football, that’s what people used to say,” smiles Anwar. “Girls can’t play football… but, we’ve broken that barrier now.”

FLOURISHED

What was initially a recreational session for young female players, has now flourished into a full league team. “It was formed of [only] Asian girls at the start," Anwar describes. "Now we’ve got white girls, Somalians, everyone joining the team.”

Saima had never played football until she joined BYSA. "I love how there is a safe space for girls to play and make friends," she says. "Once you’re there, you can never leave because it’s just such a great community. Especially being part of the Asian girls’ [football] is absolutely amazing.”

Saima continues thoughtfully: “When it comes to Asian girls [football], it’s kind of degraded. And I feel that we should be as equal as well." 

The benefits of BYSA go a long way beyond just health and fitness for young women like Saima. "Playing football has definitely opened a lot of doors for me," she adds. "It just shows what a sport can do for you as a person and boosts your confidence levels.”

The Foundation provides multi-sports sessions and a centre of excellence player development programme, while away from the pitch there is mentoring and tutoring, support with employment and further education, apprenticeships and work experience placements, and trips and experiences.

However while it continues to impress, Anwar feels a lot more could be done by local authorities to help grassroots and community organisations like BYSA. He believes they “haven’t examined what the community needs”, while too often businesses just try to tick a box with corporate social responsibility schemes. “They think, as long as we’re making money, that’s the end of it.”

And thus, it is left to charitable organisations like BYSA to pick up the pieces, and offer hope to those who have been let down by the system.

“If a community has been failed for so many years, and you’re trying to make a difference, first you have to go out there and work with the community. Then you have to build trust.”

BYSA’s growth tells its own story. “We’ve gone from one to three volunteers, to now having 40 volunteers.

IMPACT

“We’ve gone from one day a week to six days a week. We’ve offered over 95,000 hours, all voluntarily.”

For Anwar, though, BYSA has never been about the numbers. It’s about the impact.

“It's a movement. It’s about creating safe spaces, building trust, breaking cycles. We’re not just playing football, we’re saving lives.”

Find out more about the BYSA Foundation

The BYSA Foundation is a member of Sported, which supports a network of 5,000 grassroots sports clubs and community groups across the UK to positively impact their communities through sport and physical activity. It provides funding opportunities, guidance, resources and support from local staff and expert Volunteer Consultants for free. Read more at sported.org.uk

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