United Soccer Training Academy

About Lusaka Kings Sports Academy

Kelvin Kalengo Nyoni founded Lusaka Kings Sports Academy in 1998 under the name Lion Hearts Academy in the Kanyama Township of Lusaka, Zambia. Mr. Nyoni founded the Academy to offer the children of Kanyama hope through sporting and educational opportunities. Because of the abject poverty in Kanyama, the region lacks educational, social and sporting opportunities for children and young adults. As such, many of the young people of Kanyama resort to engaging in unhealthy behaviors, such as, drug use, alcohol consumption and unprotected premarital sex, in an attempt to escape the hopelessness that a lack of opportunity often creates. In a region rampant with AIDS these unhealthy life choices can have life altering consequences. Mr. Nyoni founded Lusaka Kings to offer the young people of Kanyama a new hope, through a community based sporting academy that provides its members with a social support system, education and self belief.

The Academy

Kanyama Township is a high density area situated in the western part of Lusaka, Zambia. Most in the area are poor and cannot afford three meals a day. To make matters worse, parts of Kanyama are used as a garbage dump, without any thought as to the effect these dumping activities have on the health and well being of the Kanyama’s inhabitants. Diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and cholera are commonplace. Most of the boys that play for LSKA come from under privileged homes. LSKA, through the financial support of donors and Mr. Nyoni’s tireless effort, provides its players with supplemental meals, education and other basic needs.

Despite the challenges the area faces, many of LKSA’s players are able to achieve an education up and through secondary school. The Academy prides itself on its dedication to seeing its players attend school. The idea of matriculating to a university is entirely foreign. In spite of the many roadblocks LKSA’s players face, the Academy has produced multiple players that are currently playing for Premier League and Division One and Two teams in Zambia’s professional divisions. While LKSA is currently only providing soccer activities, the Academy’s overall mandate is to cater for various sports disciplines.

Mission

LKSA strives to improve the quality of life for children and young people and contribute to the betterment of the community as a whole by providing sports and recreational facilities and educational opportunities for its members. LKSA further strives to groom children of exceptional talent by exposing them to higher levels of soccer training by master coaches in a disciplined environment.

Staff

Director

Three Coaches

Teams

Boys Under 12

Boys Under 14

Boys Under 17

Boys Under 20 (Also known as the amateur team)

Partners

United Soccer Training Academy, Luzerne County, Wilkes-Barre, PA United States of America

Zambia’s Ministry of Sport, Youth and Child Development (MSYCD)

National Youth Development Council