BRAZILIANS INSPIRE | Paulo Sergio recaps magnificent open women's clinic with Essendon Royals

Paulo Sergio shows the kids how it’s done.

Essendon Royals and Tour of Hope worked hand-in-hand to deliver a fantastic free football clinic for the community’s female players on Saturday, 2 November 2019.

Cross Keys Reserve hosted a range of Brazilian stars, who were in Melbourne as part of the Tour of Hope, to run an engaging, educational and fun football session for female footballers.

Not even a downpour prior to the clinic could turn away some of Essendon’s most determined girls with players from the Royals’ junior ranks, senior teams and visitors from neighbouring clubs and communities attending the clinic to learn from some of the best.

Amongst the Brazilian tutors was World Cup winner and former Bayern Munich midfielder Paulo Sergio, who bought great skill and humour to the day, alongside former Chelsea player Mineiro and former Brazil international Silas Pereira.

Sergio said he thoroughly enjoyed his time in Australia and was delighted to be able to bring some of his skills and insights to Essendon Royals as a part of the Tour of Hope.

“It’s a great place to bring some of our skills and teach some of the things we achieved in our career,” he told Essendon Royals club media.

“Since 2008 we’ve had the Tour of Hope project and it was great to come out to Australia as part of the Tour.”

When he’s not supporting Tour of Hope, Sergio works as an ambassador for the Bundesliga - Germany’s top-flight football league - and his former club, Bayern Munich.

Speaking about his former club, Bayern, Sergio said whilst the German giants aren’t enjoying their best season, the emergence of clubs as new challengers to Bayern was a positive thing for German football.

Bayern currently sit third on the Bundesliga table, trailing leaders Monchengladbach by four points.

“This change of who is first in the league is very important for the Bundesliga,” he said.

“It’s normally always Bayern Munich [in first place] so when someone else comes and takes the top spot it’s important and it’s good for the league.”

About Tour of Hope

Tour of Hope soccer players has been coming to Melbourne from Brazil and Germany every year since 2015 conducting talks, soccer clinics and playing friendly matches with the aim of inspiring young people to reach for their goals whilst staying true to family and spiritual values as they navigate life.

Many of these players know what it’s like to grow up in poor families and work through difficult challenges, including issues faced by migrants. Tour of Hope is one way they are giving back to the community.

The annual event has a history dating back to 2008 when TOH played friendly matches in countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam to raise funds and build two schools in Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. In 2014, Indonesia’s Aceh province marked the 10th year anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami with the Tour of Hope Charity Cup in honour of the 200,000 victims.

In Melbourne, government funding has now made it possible for young people to have continued training and mentoring from Tour of Hope coaches through Hope Australia Soccer Academy (HASA).