Online Reporter
Tadious Manyepo
Zimpapers Sports Hub
NATIONAL Association of Secondary Heads head-in-charge for Harare province Ropafadzo Matemavi has lauded the Young and Great Under-20 football tournament for taking the girl child on board.
The competition, which was launched in 2023 with only eight schools in Harare, has grown tremendously, and this year’s edition will see girls taking part.
All the schools in Harare province, which number up to about 71, will field boys and girls’ teams at district level on March 8, with each of the winners across the seven zones progressing to the last eight, who will battle it out for the ultimate prize at Oriel Boys High on March 25.
Matemavi, who is also the Oriel Boys High head, said the organisers’ decision to have girls’ soccer as well is a positive step.
“I have witnessed this Young and Great Under-20 initiative growing from its launch in 2023 up to now. It started small, but now it has grown to include the entire Harare province.
“It is also very impressive to see them taking aboard the girl child,” said Matemavi.
“Look, girls also need to be empowered through sport, and it wasn’t really making a lot of sense not to have them in. But the organisers of this tournament are visionaries, and they have decided to address that.”
Matemavi said he was particularly impressed by the fact that football is being played during the first term, which is ordinarily reserved for track and field athletics events.
“The new educational curriculum is encouraging schools to spread sport throughout the year, not to confine certain codes to only single terms of the year.
“This allows learners to grasp the sport concepts well. We hope to see more of this happening as the NASH leadership explores how to make every sport code an all-year-round phenomenon,” added Matemavi.
“I am very happy to have this tournament as part of our activities. This year’s event is bigger and better. We are looking forward to seeing it grow even bigger.”
Tournament founder Tanaka Mashamhanda said they want to make it a national competition in the not-so-distant future.
“I am happy to launch the third edition of this tournament today,” she said.
“It is unique in the sense that we now have girls also participating. All in all, I think we will see over 130 teams taking part, and that makes me very happy given how we started.
“My vision is to see the tournament grow from being a Harare provincial championship to a national tournament. We are really ready to do that.”
The contest, which is designed to fend off drug and substance abuse in schools, will see winners getting trophies, medals, and cash prizes. Director of the tournament Martha Mashamhanda said Mashwede will continue to bankroll the competition.
“Our wish is to see these kids grow to become responsible citizens and hopefully see some of them making it at a professional level, that is in terms of playing football,” said Mashamhanda.
“We are not going to slow down but continue to look beyond now. The aim is to ensure that the tournament achieves what we set out to attain.”
