Olympic gold medallists Adam Peaty and Rebecca Adlington joined forces with Mel Marshall and Gareth Southgate to launch the #Zambia5050 fundraising appeal.
Marshall, who is a patron for the Perfect Day Foundation, the charity who support the initiative, will lead a group heading to Zambia in August with the aim of raising £50,000 for 50 hours of sport.
With the support of Peaty and his fellow athletes the team will undertake 10 hours of sport per day for five days at five different locations in Lusaka and the surrounding communities. They will be joined by hundreds of young Zambians from four of the most deprived communities in Lusaka, where poverty, HIV, domestic and gender based violence, teenage pregnancy and homelessness are rife.
Netball, one of the five chosen sports alongside basketball, football, triathlon and volleyball, was chosen to raise awareness of the campaign, with Loughborough Lightning’s international shooters Peace Proscovia and Vanessa Walker putting the four celebrities through their paces.
This will be the 12th year of the 'Volunteer Zambia' project, which sends out dozens of students from the seven universities each year to deliver coaching, build new sports facilities and undertake sports development capacity building programs across Zambia.
Olympic Champion and world record holder Peaty commented: “I’m not the biggest netball fan but as soon as I got playing I realised it was actually really fun. Hopefully the launch was the start of raising a lot of money to allow children to get involved in and be educated through sport.
“Hopefully then future generations in Zambia will all take up a sport and maybe some of them can even pursue it as a serious career.
“Four years ago we went out there and took on a 500km bike ride in 42 degrees. Some of the money we raised has helped build a sports facility and we will be starting our five day challenge this year from there, which is really exciting.”
Marshall who coached Peaty to gold in Rio and will be in the thick of the action in Zambia added: “On my previous visits to Zambia I have seen how valuable sport can be in enhancing the quality of life of young people who have next to nothing.
“I promised myself I would return every Olympic cycle and try to raise money to give them a chance to enjoy sport and learn valuable life skills. Every donation makes such a big difference to the lives of these young people.”
Of the initiative England manager Gareth Southgate said: “We take for granted opportunities to play sport and the facilities we have in this country.
“Even facilities that we wouldn’t deem as good in the UK would be outstanding in countries like Zambia, so it’s important we do something about that.
“For the guys to go out there and inspire people to take up sport and maybe enable them to go to the next level, with some good coaching thrown in, is really exciting.”
Of the Wallace Group’s mission in Zambia, Loughborough University Director of Sport Development Tim Garfield said: ''Zambia is a country with major challenges; HIV has devastated whole communities and poverty is everywhere. Despite this its young people are friendly, optimistic and many have incredible sporting talent.
“They love the release and joy sport provides and I am passionate about giving them better sporting opportunities. Mel's utterly selfless efforts to give sporting chances to young Zambians who have next to nothing is inspiring.''
To donate to this fantastic cause either text MELZ17 £10 to 70070 or head to www.theperfectdayfoundation.org