Ten thousand balls for schools

Fifa Forward project country manager, Kudzai Chitima, announced that the football governing body will this week unveil a Football for Schools mobile application and distribute over 10,000 balls to all the provinces to foster grassroots development.

The mobile application, created by the Fifa Foundation and United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), aims to assist teachers and coaches globally in introducing the sport of football to children between the ages of four and 14.

Additionally, it seeks to empower these young learners by fostering essential life skills and delivering important educational content.

Chitima, said the distribution of the balls will take place once the Fifa Football for Schools workshop, which commenced yesterday and is scheduled to conclude on Thursday in Harare, comes to an end.

The workshop has drawn over 50 participants from every province.

In an interview with Zimpapers Sports Hub, Chitima said community teams will also stand to benefit from the programme.

“There is going to be mobile data application that will be used for monitoring and evaluation. This is called the Football for Schools mobile App, which is more like a data application. So, when our participants return to their respective provinces and train players and community team coaches, we will be able to know how this is impacting on football development,” said Chitima.

On the distribution of balls, the Fifa Forward country manager stated that about 1 000 schools will benefit as well.

“Fifa is bringing more than 10 000 balls which will be given to provinces. We are targeting teams in communities and I am excited to reveal that about 1 000 schools will also be in line to get the balls.”

Meantime, former players from various provinces are part of the ongoing workshop. Chitima said that their presence was sought in order to contribute towards enhancing the football development initiative in their respective regions.

He said this was a way of capacitating the former stars and also raising their profile.

“We have former football players from each province, some of which are well known and still idolised by many. There is Collen Nyambiya, Dickson Choto, Max Ruza and a whole lot of other yesteryear greats,” he said.

The distribution of soccer balls through the Fifa Forward initiative coincides with the launch of the Fifa development project in Matabeleland North, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Football Association’s Normalisation Committee.–@NkosieLegend.