A football academy reaching for the stars
On any given Saturday morning, the football fields at Generation School come alive. Coaches call instructions from the sidelines, families gather to cheer on their children and young players throw themselves into every tackle and pass with infectious enthusiasm. Throughout the week, those same fields host training sessions that draw children from across the Deep South and beyond.
It’s an impressive sight, but it tells only part of the story.
Behind the matches is Rising Stars, a rapidly growing youth development programme that is using football to create opportunities for talented young people from across South Africa and further afield. While elite coaching sits at its heart, the organisation’s vision reaches far beyond the pitch, combining education, mentorship and personal development with pathways into professional sport.
The idea has its roots in founder Richard’s lifelong passion for football. Having grown up in Spain, he played throughout his childhood before moving to England in pursuit of a professional career. Although football ultimately gave way to a career in the Royal Marines, the dream of working in the sport never disappeared. Alongside that passion was another influence – growing up around the humanitarian projects started by his mother in Spain, where helping others was simply part of daily life.
Years later, those two threads came together.
An idea takes shape down south
After relocating from abroad to Kommetjie in 2023, Richard focused on growing one of his existing South African businesses, 30 South Eyewear, a sustainable sunglasses brand that manufactures eyewear from recycled plastic and discarded ocean fishing nets.
Setting up shop at Imhoff Farm introduced them to landowner Gerard van der Horst and the wider community. During conversations about how an unused piece of land could be better utilised, Richard suggested creating a sports destination inspired by the padel phenomenon so popular in Spain.
The result was Volea Sports City.
Padel courts came first, along with putt-putt, then football facilities with five-a-side AstroTurf. But something unexpected began to happen alongside the physical development.
Many of the people employed to work at the new sports facilities came from local communities including Masiphumelele and Ocean View. Several had grown up playing competitive football, some had represented clubs at a high level and one had even travelled to the United States through football opportunities. They had been hired to run padel – but soon found themselves coaching football too.
“If you build it, they’ll come,” Lauren recalls with a smile.
And they did.
Children arrived to train. Local coaches became involved. Relationships formed with existing football clubs in surrounding communities. What started as sports facilities quickly evolved into something much bigger.
And so Rising Stars was born.
Building pathways
Today, Rising Stars is not simply a football academy.
The foundation now supports players from under-7 through under-18 level, combining community coaching with elite league teams. While many children come from Kommetjie, Ocean View and Masiphumelele, others have been scouted from across the Western Cape, Johannesburg, the Eastern Cape, Nigeria and Ghana.
Many of the kids are transported every day from over the mountain as far as Mitchells Plain to and from practice.
Others now live within the programme.
The younger bursary students board at Generation School, while older players are accommodated in homes of the foundation in Ocean View under the care of coaches and staff.
But football is only one part of what Rising Stars offers.
Education sits alongside sport from the outset. Bursary students attend Generation School, while older players complete additional qualifications through the ETA online education programme, ensuring they develop skills beyond football.
Lauren is refreshingly honest about the reality facing aspiring professionals.
“Ninety per cent of them won’t make it professionally,” she says. “Our aim is to educate these boys and prepare them for work one day so that if they don’t make it professionally, they have something to fall back on. Not a lot of clubs can offer that.”
That philosophy influences every decision the academy makes.
Rather than holding onto talented players, Rising Stars aims to guide them towards the opportunities best suited to their future, whether that’s joining established South African clubs or pursuing careers overseas.
Already, younger squads have travelled to Spain, while partnerships with clubs including CA Osasuna are creating opportunities for both players and coaches. The academy hopes to send coaches to Pamplona to learn more about European coaching methodology before bringing that knowledge back to South Africa.
Richard sees this as only the beginning.
“The long-term big vision for Rising Stars Foundation is to give as many bursaries and scholarships for education here at Generation School, but also outside of South Africa. From a sports side, it’s to become a multi-sports academy, giving elite athletes in Africa a platform in football, basketball and eventually a third sport.” – Richard McEnery
A community effort
While football may attract the headlines, it is the support network behind the scenes that has enabled Rising Stars to grow so quickly.
In the early days, some of the academy’s youngest players lived with Richard and Lauren’s family in their Kommetjie home while they settled into a new environment, before later moving into dedicated accommodation at Generation School.
Lauren laughs when she remembers that period.
“It was fun,” she says. “We looked after up to four kids at a time.”
Today, her role has evolved into what she describes as emotional wellbeing director. She helps oversee the boys’ welfare, monitors how they’re settling into school and coordinates support when they need extra tutoring or guidance.
A local couple from Ocean View, Andrew and Fhurina Williams, have since become what Lauren affectionately calls the academy’s “Rising Stars mum and dad”, providing daily care and stability for many of the residential players.
Generation School has also become a vital partner.
Many bursary students arrive from very different backgrounds, and Lauren credits the school with embracing the opportunity to create a more diverse learning environment while supporting each child’s transition through wellness mentors and dedicated staff.
“I really think the heads of the school and all the teachers have the community at heart,” she says. “Perhaps they never had a pathway to do so, but now they do.”
Beyond the school gates, the programme has been strengthened by local football clubs, businesses and sponsors who have helped provide accommodation, transport, meals and equipment.
It is this network of relationships, rather than any one individual, that has allowed Rising Stars to develop so rapidly.
One player’s journey
Every young person at Rising Stars has their own story.
One that particularly stands out for Richard is Tyler, a young footballer from Ocean View who attended Rising Stars trials before earning a place in the academy’s under-10 team.
Halfway through last year, Tyler was awarded a full scholarship to Generation School.
“He’s now in Generation School thriving with his new friends,” Richard says.
It’s exactly the kind of opportunity Rising Stars hopes to create – where football opens the door to education, confidence and a future that extends well beyond the game itself.
Looking ahead
Although football remains at the heart of Rising Stars, the organisation is already looking beyond a single sport.
Basketball has recently been introduced, with research highlighting the benefits of cross-training for young athletes. What began as an additional weekly activity has grown into plans for a dedicated basketball academy, with further sporting codes expected to follow in the years ahead.
Lauren also hopes to see girls’ football become a much bigger part of the organisation’s future.
“I think my five-year goal would be to grow women’s soccer,” she says. “There’s so much talent. We currently have two girls and they play so well.”
Richard’s ambitions extend beyond the academy itself.
Future plans include employing football and sports teachers in schools across Masiphumelele and Ocean View, helping improve coaching at grassroots level while supporting the development of small Astro fields that will make quality facilities more accessible to young players.
For now, though, Lauren’s wish is much simpler.
She wants more local people to know Rising Stars exists.
She wants families to come and watch.
She wants children to see what’s possible.
“I just want to grow our fans,” she says. “I’d love the community to come and support our kids on the sidelines. It’s local children playing really good football.”
Spend a Saturday morning watching Rising Stars in action and it’s easy to understand why.
Yes, there are goals to celebrate, trophies to chase and talented young footballers dreaming of professional careers.
But perhaps the academy’s greatest success isn’t measured on the scoreboard at all.
It’s found in the confidence of a child settling into a new school, the coach who once worked on the padel courts and now mentors young players, the scholarship that changes a family’s future, or the community that gathers every weekend to support something that is steadily becoming far more than a football club.
It’s becoming a place where opportunity starts.
