Grass Roots Football Live 2008 
This year the Grass Roots Football Live will be from Birmingham’s NEC arena. The show has quadrupled in size since 2007 and is sure to be a massive weekend of football fun. With the main message being ‘learn from the pro’s’, Ball Fusion will have a large presence there featuring the coaching concept alongside workshops and other product that the UK football industry can get their hands on.
Come along for the weekend and learn from the best. Feature slots will come from Harry Redknapp, Graeme Taylor and much more.
Check out www.grassrootsfootball.co.uk for more information.
Ball Fusion Stars
14 year old sensation Oli Hayes from Macclesfield, 19 year old Mark Tiernan from Ireland and 20 year old Charlotte Lade from Norway have been representing Ball Fusion in coaching workshops over the past year receiving massive respect and appreciation for their talent! The three are set to take projects on all over Europe in the near future and spread the legacy of Ball Fusion Projects. Stay in touch with their latest moves at www.ballfusionlive.com.
Ball Fusion meets Monta
Darren joined up with the Monta team in London to celebrate the launch of the Monta hat at New Era store near Piccadilly in London. The launch saw the coming together of Edgar Davids, Jermaine Vanenberg, Orry, Billy Wingrove and Jeremy Lynch to pull a guerrilla marketing stunt in the streets of London before shooting off for the launch of the latest Pro Evolution Soccer game. Darren made a brief appearance in a street battle that saw the Dutch street legends run riot of Billy Wingrove and Jeremy Lynch in a 2v2 street battle.
Your Game 2008 kicks off in style
The BBC Your Game tour 2008 has kicked off around the UK with events taking place in 10 cities over 10 weeks. The events use the power of football and media to inspire and engage 16-25 year olds into new opportunities. Each festival consists of a 5-a-side football tournament, DJ workshops, urban music all day, photography workshops, commentary workshops and of course Ball Fusion workshops and performances.
The Project Ball Fusion team have been well received in every area with legendary performances from football freestylers and street soccer coaches. Check out the videos of the team including Darren Laver, Faisal Mali, Alec Knott, Oli Hayes, Mark Tiernan, John Farnworth, Abbas Farid, Charlotte Lade, Expansion Team, Nam The Man, Palle and many more.
Ball Fusion Workshops Hit the Premier League
Bolton Wanderers were the latest club to experience a Ball Fusion workshop as the team took to their Kickz project in central Bolton. Charlotte Lade and Oli Hayes turned up at the Castle Hill Youth Club in Bolton to give an insight into Ball Fusion Freestyle and teach some exciting skills to the group. See what happened at http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/your_game/7343493.stm.
Impact in South Africa
As part of Soccerex 2008, Darren and Dan took the Ball Fusion road show to Johannesburg to showcase the workshop at the biggest football exhibition in the world. The event was attended by many past and present greats who all descended on the city for the world cup draw and Soccerex. Liverpool and Manchester United legends all took part in the festival as local school children had the chance to learn from Darren and world class freestyler Abbas Farid.
Ball Fusion team up with LEAP Diversify
LEAP Diversify are a dynamic new charity created by ex professional Basketballer Cory McGee (www.corymcgee.com). Ball Fusion workshops now operate under the umbrella of LEAP to ensure every community group and organisation can access this unique experience. Teamed with Basketball and now media workshops too (from BBC’s LDouble), the programme offering from LEAP reaches an exciting level for schools and community groups.
Ball Fusion AC Milan Junior Camp stars of 2008
The three Street Soccer camps of 2008 have now been completed and three individuals who showed the best attitude across the camps were picked out to join Sevo in Italy (Vittorio Veneto) this summer and to take part in the official AC Milan Junior Camp. Joshua Williamson of Dorchester, Miles Fineman of Trowbridge and William Agbo of Castle Cary are the famous three to take up this opportunity in 2008.
Watch this space for news of how they get on. To find out how you can support their experience please contact Dan on 44 (0)7940 080798.
Ball Fusion on Danish TV
In February, Darren made the trip to Copenhagen to film a TV advert with Brian Laudrup and Lars Hogh for the launch of Street Soccer Skills (Ball Fusion’s DVD-Rom teaching 100 skills and tricks on the ball) in Denmark.
Brian and Lars are now full supporters of the Ball Fusion coaching philosophy and coach education package too.
Learn more about what the Danish pair are up to at www.footballeurope.com.
