Youngsters play in an Easter soccer tournament.
The past few days saw several teams play in an Easter Soccer tournament at Kgotso Hall in eMbalenhle.
Youngsters, aged around 11, played for their various teams on Friday and Saturday. An Easter team would also be picked from the youngsters.
Southey Contracting sponsored medals and trophies for the day. They also sponsored kits and balls. Thank you to Southey for their contribution to the tournament and in supporting the children.
Rose Serumula, Client relationship manager – Southey Contracting, drove from Johannesburg to hand over the sponsored kit and to enjoy the day with the youngsters. She encouraged the children to keep playing soccer. She also reminded them about the covid situation and told them all to remember to keep wearing masks and adhere to social distancing.
Jacob Ntakwende, the organiser of the tournament, was very excited about the young teams playing in the tournament. Jacob is sponsored by Lake Umuzi and also organises the Lake Umuzi Soccer Challenge.
Some of the kids played barefooted on the field that had only some areas covered in grass. This grass is also not normal grass but wild grass that grew after the recent rains. There are also no lines on the fields and players have to use their imagination to know if the ball is out of bounds etc.
All of this did not damp the enthusiasm that the youngsters showed as they sat waiting for the tournament to start. They took the games quite seriously.
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“I saw that children were vulnerable doing nothing and just walking around in the streets. So, I started this to keep kids off the streets and through soccer teach the children discipline, respect and also educate the children on matters like HIV/AIDS, alcohol and drugs,” said Jacob in an earlier interview with the Bulletin.
Jacob’s dreams are to see more players playing at the professional level and to support these players in their achievements.
