Joel Hakizimana, a former refugee from Burundi in Africa, always loved sport and began coaching handball and volleyball teams while living in a Tanzanian refugee camp in 2002.

Joel had lost both his parents and found sport gave him a positive outlet. He invited other young people to join in and found that it changed their lives for the better.

In 2005, Joel came to Australia and started the Regency Eagles Soccer Club in South Australia with his friends, also former refugees from Burundi. Joel is now the vice president of the club (on a volunteer basis), where he is making a difference to young people in his community.

‘I used to talk to them about drugs and alcohol and working in the streets for nothing. Now [since becoming part of the club] they are good boys and they make their parents happy as well as being fit and healthy,’ Joel said.

Regency Eagles Soccer Club's vision is to provide opportunities for all their members, who register with Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia, to develop a love for the game of football by teaching them skills and making the game fun.

‘We emphasize the development of self-esteem, good sportsmanship, fitness, achievement, teamwork, and skill development,’ Joel said.

‘The club has improved a lot since we first started and we now have a team in the second division of the Collegiate Development Football League.’

Joel has won first prize in the Australian Sports Commission’s All Cultures inclusive sport competition, where the ASC requested stories about how local sportspeople have overcome cultural barriers and made a difference in their sport and community. He has won Club Warehouse Sports Medical prizes pack including a $600 portable massage table and first aid medical kit for the Burundi Eagles Soccer Club.

Second and third prizes in the competition – $200 Club Warehouse Sports Medical first aid kits – were awarded to:

• Helen Turnbull from Yotala Gymnastics Incorporated, which runs an all female gymnastics class that allows girls from any religious or cultural background to participate freely
• Ron Claassens from the Institute of Modern Tae Kwon Do where Tae Kwon Do students are taught to instil respect for each other no matter what age, sex, or culture.