adminInstructor, and beach soccer referees’ expert Sunday Okayi of Nigeria, will run for five days at Prince Edward School.
Zifa have organised the courses through the technical director Nelson Matongorere.
Beach Soccer Zimbabwe secretary-general, Chris Nhapi, said they were expecting about 60 people from the country’s 10 provinces to attend the courses.
Nhapi said BSZ were excited with the prospect of seeing beach soccer being played in Zimbabwe, a landlocked country with no coastline, for the first time.
He said BSZ have been working for the past three years to put in place proper structures and drafting a constitution before they got the nod from Zifa to spearhead the establishment of the game.
Their efforts have got a helping hand from Fifa, who have made a commitment to promote and structure beach soccer globally, by means of competitions, courses and all forms of encouragement to the member countries.
“For the first time in Zimbabwe we will have beach football in not so distant a future. We are hoping that after these courses we will then roll out the same programme to all the country’s provinces,” said Nhapi.
The participants have been drawn mainly from schools and tertiary institutions, where BSZ hope to harness talent at a young age.
Zimbabwe are hoping to benefit a lot from the expertise and experience of Mendes, who is also the national team coach of the United Arab Emirates.
The Brazilian, who is widely regarded as one of the fathers of beach soccer, has managed to transform the UAE beach soccer team into a force to reckon with in the world.
Nhapi said Zimbabwe were eager to play beach soccer at a professional level and said they have made a lot of progress in preparing the first beach soccer pitch in Norton.
“It doesn’t always require a beach to play the game. All what is needed is a sandy pitch and the technical know-how. The Norton Town Council has offered a piece of land, which is being developed for beach soccer using river sand.
“We didn’t know much about the laws and regulations of this game and that is why it was important we have such courses.
“After this phase we want to set up structures in all the provinces because right now we only have the national executive. That is why we have invited people from all the provinces,” said Nhapi.
Beach soccer has its roots in Brazil and has witnessed phenomenal growth in the last two decades. The game, which is played bare-footed, emphasises skill, agility and shooting at goal.
Each team consists of five players, including the goalkeeper, and an unlimited amount of substitutions, from a selection of 3 to 5 players.
Online Reporter