The ManicaPost
THE long-standing challenges bedevilling local football administration that have left Zimbabwe where it is today as a soccer-playing nation are well documented.
Zimbabwe was suspended from partaking in international competitions following what FIFA perceived as Government interference in the administration of the game in the country.
Without delving into the merits or demerits of Zimbabwe’s suspension from the global family of football-playing nations, one thing that will surely come to pass is that the suspension will be lifted at some point, and it is at that point that we should not find ourselves ill-prepared to compete with other countries.
One of the major initiatives that will enable us to compete favourably in international competition, when the time eventually comes, is the development of junior talent.
It is against this background that we commend initiatives such as the Mai Hondo Tournament which is now a permanent feature on the junior football calendar, not only for clubs in Manicaland, but countrywide.
Each time the tournament is played at Manicaland’s ceremonial home of football, Sakubva Stadium in the provincial capital of Mutare, one can actually notice the hunger and thirst for junior football action that exists in local communities, especially among the deprived youngsters.
The country certainly and surely needs more of this!
The deteriorating standards of the game of football in the country whereby we are witnessing an age of top-flight league football players who can hardly execute basic skills such as ball control, calls for more interventions in developing junior football.
Basic football skills such as passing and receiving, shooting, decision making, dribbling, heading, touch and ball control, skills and tricks and running off the ball are all indicators of proficiency that should be taught and mastered at an early age.
An overhaul of the domestic football systems and a bias towards a more vibrant and sustainable junior programme is certainly the solution to the declining standards of the local game and the woes that have been facing the national teams prior to the international suspension by FIFA.
Unfortunately, many people are quick to proffer the issue of funding as an excuse for not having junior football structures, but during the time when junior football structures were vibrant countrywide, they were never funded.
It only took the existence of proper and well-managed structures for them to operate efficiently.
Virtually all communities countrywide had fierce competitions for primary and secondary school sports and all the winner would get was a floating trophy that would be displayed at school assembly and kept in the headmaster’s office.
That same primary school kid would also play for his area zone team during weekends.
They were not paid.
They played in their hood.
They ate at home.
No transport costs.
At primary school, the players were released to go home at 12-noon to eat and come back to school at 1pm.
They would walk to the away venue with the whole school as fans, play the matches and go back home. Nothing in terms of money was spent.
One wonders how this is now all history!
Be that as it may, the importance of junior football must not only be understood in the context of anticipated success in a player’s career in the game, but should be appreciated in the broader context of moulding a responsible human being.
Youth football, as a team sport, teaches participating youngsters accountability, leadership, and the impact of positive sportsmanship.
Every position has a purpose and to play successfully, each individual needs to fulfil their responsibility, while working together — a skill that is valuable both on and off the field.
This also improves the physical wellbeing of junior players as well as enhance the player’s social skills.
After all, football is more than just a game.
It teaches lessons that the players carry with them long after they have hung up their cleats.
Teamwork, discipline, perseverance, goal-setting, handling success and failure, time management, and keeping fit are all valuable benefits of partaking in football and our youngsters desperately need that for the good of our communities.
