Meet the former Brighton prospect using sport to help disadvantaged kids in Nepal

Former Brighton and Hove Albion apprentice Lee Williams became a tennis coach to the rich and famous in Spain, but now enjoys his highest calling by feeding disadvantaged children in Nepal.

Lee Williams

Source: Supplied

Williams once played football for Brighton, well before the glitz and glamour of the premiership when the club was languishing in the third tier of English football.

Signed as a 16 year-old apprentice in 1974 he remembers being an ambitious playmaker who was terrified of legendary manager Brian Clough in his one and only year with the Seagulls.

“I remember in the first 3 days he turned up at the club, we weren’t even allowed to have a football, it was just fitness and running, shouting as loud as he could and embarrassing the apprentices but for me he was very motivating," Williams said. 

“The senior players used to smoke at half time, swear like troopers and treat the apprentices pretty bad to be honest but that was English football. I’m glad times have changed” 

Playing a Sunday morning game with his mates outside his professional agreement, Lee suffered a career ending knee injury.

“Brighton literally tore up my contract when I came in on crutches on the Monday. My life was turned upside down, football was everything to me, my career was over before it began," he said.
Lee Williams
Filling the void he threw himself into his second sporting love.

“I really liked tennis as well, played at county level and started coaching with 1975 Wimbledon champion Virginia Wade at the Preston lawn tennis club in Brighton," Williams said. 

Lee’s tennis chapter blossomed when he moved to Spain in 1986 with his then wife who was working on the BBC series El Dorado.

It was in the Malaga province he became good friends with Australian tennis great Lew Hoad, a former world number one and four time grand slam champion

“I managed him and was head coach at his famous club for four years in Mijas. I then developed my own tennis academy in Marbella. Lew & Jenny Hoad (herself an Australian open finalist) were so special to me. I worked with Paul McNamee through them and the legendary Spaniard Manolo Santana,” he said. 

You couldn’t get two greater opposites than the wealth of the Spanish Costa de Sol and the poverty of Nepal.

That contrast has partly driven Lee Williams to not only feed children in remote schools but also provide opportunity for youngsters through tennis. But there was nothing planned about his introduction to Nepal. 

“Two years ago at the last minute I went on a Himalayan motorcycle trip with my eldest son. it was just another adventure to tick off the bucket list, I didn’t know then it would become life changing," Williams said. 

“After seeing this beautiful town Pokhara damaged by the 2015 earthquakes I wanted to work with an orphanage and help out the children. But there were complications. I ended up buying a place to become a rehab center for kids addicted to glue sniffing but the government put a stop to that by locking up the children.” 

Lee was then invited to a school in the remote town of Lamjung.

It was at lunch with the principal where the reality of remote areas of Nepal hit home.

“I asked where are the children all eating? and the principal said the children don’t eat, we are a government school and we don’t feed them here," he said.

"I said it takes them 90 minutes to get to school and 90 minutes to go home plus 7 hours of school, what the kids don’t eat anything for 10 hours? and they answered, yes that’s right.” 

“I didn’t finish my meal and I knew exactly what I was going to do, we quickly set up a kitchen with pots and pans and bought enough rice, dahl and soyabean to feed that one school. Now it’s progressed to 3 remote schools in Nepal and 155 children that we provide food for every month, literally buy the food in a truck and deliver it” 

“I’ve been funding it, what I ask people if they have the chance is to see these remote schools volunteer and spend some time with the children. I’m asking if they can afford it, for people to fund a bag of rice. If I can get 6 sponsors to fund a bag of rice, 15 US dollars each, that takes a huge weight off me. It means I can start sponsoring more schools because there’s a lot of them and a lot of kids that are going hungry” 

Through tennis, Williams has also created a pathway for disadvantaged children. 

“When I found this tennis club in Pokhara it was a little bit in the dark ages with ball boys who in many cases were orphans running around getting drinks and cups of tea, I don’t come from that culture," he said.

"I started coaching the boys and helped with getting them basics, rackets, clothing, shoes and from there a development program that’s been going now for 18 months.” 

“My first player was Pradip Kahdka, when I first met him he literally couldn’t serve, we then worked and worked on that. Six months ago he was ranked about 18 and now he’s the number one player in the country and he’s representing Nepal at the SEA games in December, I’m so proud of him” 

With Pradip’s success and giving nature he’s become a mentor and brother to the other players like Saugat from an impoverished Pokhara family, who recently won the ATF junior title in Kathmandu. 

“All Pradip needed were rackets, shoes and some financial assistance and he’s helping others now it’s a tight knit group, they love and support each other," he said.

"10 ball boys are part of the development squad. I started running local tournaments giving them certificates it’s motivated them enormously to play tennis, they don’t feel like used ball boys anymore.” 

Lee has set up a foundation for young players and is looking to further develop youth programs moving forward.

“The members at Pokhara club are quite a wealthy lot and I’ve encouraged them to start providing equipment and clothing and give more kids opportunity to play," Williams said.

"I want more programs for the children, better training facilities, coaches from overseas to volunteer and run some coaching courses so the locals can learn to coach themselves.” 

Tennis is very much a rich kids sport in Nepal but Lee Williams is agitating to create a level playing field to give youngsters of all backgrounds the chance to compete. If he’s produced a vinyl record in Nepal, there’s no doubt what’s on the “A” side. 

“The Food program is the “A” side of this record for me, the children in tennis clubs are blessed to be on the court but the kids in the remote schools of Nepal have nothing, completely poverty stricken the priority has to be feeding these children when they are at school,” he said. 

“A lot of the children from remote areas are not orphans but they just run away from home because there’s no food on the table, so if I can make a difference in these areas as opposed to the richer areas of Pokhara and Kathmandu then it will be so important.” 

Football and Tennis have provided Lee Williams with privilege and rich experiences in his journeyman life, a life that continues to fuel his ambition to provide for others. 

“In my current project I’ve partnered with the local school in Lamjung and we are renovating one of the buildings to become an orphanage for 12 primary school children. This will take me away from tennis a little but that’s a project I dearly want to complete," Williams said. 

From Brighton to the Costa de Sol and now the foot of the Himalayas, it’s been quite a sporting and humanitarian journey for Lee Williams and he’s showing no signs of stopping anytime soon. 

To support feeding children in remote schools in Nepal please donate to Unitenepal.co.uk

Unitenepal is a not for profit organization


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8 min read
Published 19 November 2019 1:55pm
By David Basheer

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