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THE Young and Great initiative, a non-profit organisation has launched an anti-drug and substance abuse Under-20 football tournament targeting secondary schools.
The provincial competitions are scheduled to kickstart with the district competition on February 25 and March 8 in Harare.
The founder of the Young and Great, Tanaka Mashamhanda, announced the initiative during a media engagement in Harare yesterday
The tournament will feature 16 teams — eight male and eight female sides.
The tournament is a collaborative effort between National Association of School Heads (NASH) and Young and Great, with Mashwede Holdings coming in as principal sponsors.
“We want young people to be supported sport wise, enabling talent scouting and in the process helping them use their talents, so that they know through sport they can be occupied and be less tempted by issues like drug abuse,” Mashamhanda said.
“This year’s tournament is bit different because we are involving the girl child.”
The tournament will be a permanent feature on the high schools’ football calendar.
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Plans are in motion to make it a national schools Under-20 tournament.
“I have always been passionate about young people because of the challenges I faced at an early age, particularly mental challenges, depression, suicide and other stuff. So the idea is to make these kids realise the best versions of themselves,” Mashamhanda said.
The campaign has received support from various stakeholders, including the Sport and Recreation ministry, which has pledged to provide technical support and resources.
“Football is quite pivotal in changing the lifestyles of the young people and keeping them away from drugs and substance abuse and the fact that they are coming in at this stage of the year, where traditionally there is no football in the first term, is quiet good for us because our ministry policy has changed because of the new Heritage-Based curriculum, where the ministry is encouraging us to have to do sporting activities throughout the year,” NASH head in charge of football in Harare, Ropafadzo Matemavi, said.
He added that there will be trophies for the top three finishers and medals for the 20 participants from each team.
“So far, all secondary schools in Harare have committed themselves to participate in the district competitions, which means technically, we are going to have over 68 secondary schools and each school would be bringing two teams, one for girls, which means we are going to have over 130 teams,” Matemavi said.