Sports Reporter
Zimbabwe has been urged to take schools football seriously and endeavour to be part of the Confederation of African Football Schools Competition.
United States-based Zimbabwean philanthropist, Innocent Hadebe said it was time the country invested in junior football to give Zimbabwe a strong base for the development of the game following the lifting of the country’s suspension by Fifa.
Football – Image taken from Shutterstock
Speaking on the sidelines of a handover of football equipment and apparel sourced from Puma in the United States to schools in Bulawayo last week, Hadebe said targeting the Caf Schools competition should be one of the biggest goals for the incoming football administration as it will allow them to widen development at the grassroots.
Hadebe and Premier Soccer League chief executive officer, Kenny Ndebele on Wednesday handed over Puma merchandise worth over US$6 600 to Imbizo Primary School and Matshayiskhova Primary School both in Luveve, Bulawayo.
“I am excited that Zimbabwe’s suspension from the world football family was recently lifted and this presents a lot of opportunities ahead for young players. It is important that we hone emerging talent and fund grassroots football allowing youngsters to flourish. The Caf Schools competition presents yet the most important platform as it will give us the impetus to develop the game on a wider scale forward at grassroots level and the prize money Caf gives out is also a huge incentive and can make a big difference for the winning school. I implore the football leadership that will come in to ensure that the country fields junior national teams in all regional, continental and world junior football competitions as it guarantees our young players adopting and adapting to a competitive spirit at that level at an early age.”
Addressing pupils during the ceremony at Imbizo Primary School, where he did his education, Ndebele urged pupils at the school to take sport seriously, adding discipline is one of the key points to being successful in sport and life.
He added it is critical that young players use the correct football sizes for their ages as this will allow them to develop properly at the right pace instead of having a situation where youngsters use an adult-size ball. Ndebele applauded the Lot Water Project for drilling a borehole at Imbizo as this will enable the school to plant lawn at their grounds and thus have proper infrastructure for the emerging players. Merchandise distributed to the two schools include balls, agility ladders, cones, backpacks, caps, socks, vests, tot bags and men purses among other items. The Continental Phase of the competition has the ultimate prize money of $300 000 for the winners, with the second-placed team getting $200 000 and the school that comes third will walk away $150 000 richer.