The ManicaPost
Blessing Gondokondo Sports Reporter—
THE 17th edition of the Sports and Recreation Commission’s Youth Education Through Sport Games will roll to life tomorrow (Saturday) in Hwange, while Team Manicaland was expected to leave for the Matebeleland North town today (Friday).Team Manicaland general manager, Masimba Chihowa, confirmed that preparations went on well.
“We are leaving for Hwange on Friday and preparations for the games went on well. Issues to do with the upkeep and safety of the athletes are all in place.
“Our team is strong like the one we had last year. We made a thorough selection of our teams since we started looking at their performances at zonal, district and provincial levels. We are having our one-day camp at Chancellor Primary School on Thursday (yesterday) and during the day athletes will get a time to train under the watchful eye of their respective coaches,” said Chihowa.
Incepted in 1999, the YES Games’ major mandate is to impart life skills to the youthful athletes using sport as a platform.
Team Manicaland Under-14 boys and girls are the ones who participate at these annual games. The four-day tournament will end on December 13 and will have three sporting disciplines which include soccer, volleyball and netball.
The YES programme is also anchored on three components, namely sport, peer education and community service.
Teams from all the country’s 10 provinces participate in YES Games.
In an interview, Manicaland Sports and Recreation Commission officer, Shupikai Berejena, said 68 athletes were selected to form the provincial team.
“We have 68 athletes and 15 officials selected to partake at the National YES Games. Five teams have already been formed and these include two teams for soccer (boys and girls team), volleyball (boys and girls) and one team for netball team,” said Berejena.
He added that Team Manicaland last year was awarded a trophy for being the best organised.
Another important component of the YES Games is the tree-planting as the national finals are always on the first week of December which is also the weekend of the National Tree Planting Day.
“As usual, this year’s YES programme will take time to commemorate the International Tree Planting Day and as Manicaland we have managed to plant over 200 trees throughout the province,” said Berejena.
