Coach Brings Sports Dreams to Lebanese Refugee Camp

The camp, first set up in 1949, and often floods due to poor drainage. Children have few places to play. (John Owens for VOA)

Gulizar Osman, who plays for the girl's basketball team. One of those helping fund it is a group from Ireland Majdi terms "the Irish delegation". (John Owens for VOA)

The youth squad is made up of two age groups, and was launched in 2009. (John Owens for VOA)

Majdi’s home acts a storage for the various sports equipment and a meeting point for the young players. (John Owens for VOA)

The girls’ basketball team, which practices in courts outside of the Shatila camp. (John Owens for VOA)

Majdi has lived in the camp all his life and dreams of launching a sports school. (John Owens for VOA)

Situated in south Beirut, Shatila is a densely populated Palestinian refugee camp which has seen a recent influx of Syrian refugees. (John Owens for VOA)

Players abandon a match before half time: The pitch, which is outside of Shatila, had become unplayable. (John Owens for VOA)

Players leaving Majdi Adam’s home. The football teams train weekly and regularly play games against other local squads. (John Owens for VOA)

The hunt for funding continues for the teams, which rely on week-by-week support. (John Owens for VOA)

As a Palestinian living in Lebanon, Majdi faces restricted employment opportunities. (John Owens for VOA)

The girls’ basketball team regularly plays games against teams of grown ups. It came from behind to win this match. (John Owens for VOA)