adminLukosi was chosen because of its vast deposits of sands from the Lukosi River. Beach Soccer Zimbabwe secretary general Chris Nhari will be the course instructor.
The course is part of efforts by the Charles Nyala-led beach soccer interim committee to set up an inaugural league in the province before the end of the year.
Secretary general of the committee and a qualified conventional soccer coach, Weekly Mwale, said they met as a committee on Monday and agreed on the dates.
He said they would have wanted the clinic to be held sooner but the congestion of activities in the province forced them to push the dates a bit further.
“We will have the clinic from 25-28 May. Matabeleland North is playing host to the Zimbabwe National Paralympic Games in April as well as two conventional soccer coaching clinics and most of our interested parties will take part in the games and the courses,” said Mwale.
The Matabeleland North interim beach soccer committee has Binga-based lady Christina Sibanda as the vice chairperson with Hwange Local Board executive Mafa Ngwenya being the treasurer.
The fixtures secretary post was taken up by another lady, Charity Lingani Nkomo. The appointment of the two ladies to the provincial committee was in line with creating an interest in the sport from women.
As part of efforts to also develop interest in the sport from schools, National Association of Secondary Heads (Nash) will be represented by Lunguza Ndlovu with Enock Ngwenya taking the board member development post.
Hwange, Binga and Tsholotsho districts are likely to have the sport grow faster because of huge sand deposits from the Lukosi and Gwayi rivers.
Beach soccer started in Brazil and has grown to be an international game.
The participation of internationally renowned players such as flamboyant Frenchman and former Manchester United player Eric Cantona, legendary Spanish strikers Michel and
Julio Salinas and Brazilian stars such as Romario, Junior and Zico has helped to expand television coverage to large audiences in over 170 countries worldwide, making beach soccer one of the fastest growing professional sports in the world and converting it to a major showcase for international commercial opportunity.
It is recognised by Fifa with the biggest tournament being the World Cup, played after every two years. Pioneers of the football version, Brazil, won the cup two times in the last three tournaments before losing it to Russia in Italy last year.
From 1995 to 2005 inclusive, teams were selected for the World Cup. They did not have to qualify. However, with interest from so many countries, Fifa decided to standardise the format for the World Cup in 2006.
Fifa agreed that countries from each confederation will play in Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup qualifiers, with 16 teams eventually qualifying for the finals. The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has two slots while Uefa has five, the highest number of entrants.
Online Reporter