Mataranyika sports festival launched

13 Apr, 2018 - 00:04 0 Views
Mataranyika sports festival launched

The ManicaPost

Lovemore Kadzura Rusape Correspondent
GOOD and exciting times are in the offing for sport enthusiasts in the orphaned Makoni South following the launch of the ambitious Mataranyika Sports Festival in which thousands of dollars have been injected to identify and develop sporting talent in rural areas.

The sporting extravaganza is being bankrolled by businessman and corporate lawyer Misheck Mataranyika.

The inaugural edition of the tournament was held last week at Mavhudzi High School in Nyazura involving 16 soccer and eight netball teams from all corners of the constituency.

About 400 soccer and netball players participated in the inaugural event where winners walked away various prizes such as brand new sets of sporting uniforms, balls and cash.

Mataranyika said the festival will be held annually and will incoperate an assortment of other sporting disciplines like athletics, chess, football, and netball and targets learners and out of school youth throughout the constituency to make sure that no talented sportspersons are left behind. He said the main objective of the festival is unravel raw and fresh talent that could be hidden in rural areas and expose it to the modern world of sporting.

“We are proud to launch this festival which is a platform to identify untapped talent and market sportspersons from this area. There are a lot of talented youngsters in this area but they are not exposed to the nation and the main thrust and purpose of this tournament to unravel and give such talent exposure.

“This is just the beginning, and we started with popular disciplines of soccer and netball. These are for now the main sports, but next year the scope will be widened to include all other sporting disciplines. We want to give everyone an opportunity to market themselves.

“Generally there are no sporting activities and facilities to talk about in the in this area and we are here to revive both. A lot of talent is going to waste after high school due to lack of exposure and scouting.

There are no clubs and festivals to talk about in this community. Our youth end up indulging in drug and substance abuse as well as other dangerous activities due to the non-availability of recreational activities and sport.

“Next year going forward we are going to invite top scouts to grace our festival so that they can select some of our athletes into their clubs,” said Mataranyika.

Various athletes who spoke to Post Sport hailed Mataranyika’s initiative saying it was long overdue in the area. The athletes said Mataranyika’s efforts must be both commended and emulated by the community as sports brings people of different backgrounds together in a relaxed and friendly environment.

They said regular involvement in sport can benefit them and contribute to a range of positive outcomes including participating as volunteers in community life, having a greater voice and influence over decision-making, increased capacity to own community assets, manage and deliver services, more cohesive, tolerant, inclusive and value diversity, reduction in youth offending and anti-social behaviour, an increase in culture of respect and tolerance among young people, reduction in crime, alcohol and drug misuse.

The tourney delivers multiple benefits – communities gain lasting benefits from access to the infrastructure that Mataranyika will help rehabilitate at the schools and from having qualified coaches better equipped to develop community teams. During the tournament, community businesses prosper as Mataranyika utilises them for catering, accommodation, security, and various other elements.

For rural youths, the programme provides new educational opportunities and contributes to improved class attendance rates, increased pass rates and improved physical fitness with an associated reduction in common illness.

Rural youths kept active by the programme are also less likely to become involved in destructive or antisocial behaviour, thanks to their participation in sports.

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