Academy attracts a thousand

THE Katutura Youth Complex football pitch was transformed into a human sea when at least 1 000 children turned up in an attempt to get entry into the Collin Benjamin Soccer Academy on Saturday.

The children, who mostly came from Katutura but also from towns such as Okahandja, Rehoboth and Gobabis, arrived at the field as early as 07h00 as they were eager to show their skills to the coaches of the newly formed academy. After the children got the chance to show off their skills, the organisers of the academy selected only 200 of them.In fact, the organisers had planned to pick only 50 children to be coached at the academy on a full-time basis, but this number was raised to 200 because there was so much interest.The co-ordinator of the academy, Jakes Amaning, told The Namibian Sport that they were shocked by the high turnout and had to make the trials run for two days to give each child a chance.He said yesterday, at least 300 children turned up for the trials.Amaning said the academy would further reduce the 200 selected children to 75 when they have their next trials next weekend.”The turnout shows that the kids want to play football, but we cannot take up all of them.We will cut the figure to 75 next weekend,” he said.He said they could accommodate 25 children each in the under-13 and 14 age group, the under-14 and 15 age group and the under-16 and 17 age group.The Collin Benjamin Soccer Academy was launched in the capital last month and will be run in conjunction with Old Mutual.Old Mutual will be the main financial contributor until the academy is up and running, while Benjamin, a Namibian professional footballer in Germany, will also be required to solicit funds to sustain it.Benjamin plays for Bundesliga side Hamburg SV in Germany and is one of two professional footballers who have initiated a football academy.The other professional is Mohamed Ouseb, who plays for South African premiership side Moroka Swallows.He recently opened his academy at Tsumeb and also targets children from as young as 13 years.Amaning said they intended to hold coaching clinics at least three times a week, and they are also looking at compensating the coaches who will be involved.”We need to compensate the coaches, but we are looking at people who have time and are committed to coaching these children,” he said.He said they aimed to have motivational talks from former Namibian football greats, and would emphasise the importance of education to the children while practising football.After the children got the chance to show off their skills, the organisers of the academy selected only 200 of them.In fact, the organisers had planned to pick only 50 children to be coached at the academy on a full-time basis, but this number was raised to 200 because there was so much interest.The co-ordinator of the academy, Jakes Amaning, told The Namibian Sport that they were shocked by the high turnout and had to make the trials run for two days to give each child a chance.He said yesterday, at least 300 children turned up for the trials.Amaning said the academy would further reduce the 200 selected children to 75 when they have their next trials next weekend.”The turnout shows that the kids want to play football, but we cannot take up all of them.We will cut the figure to 75 next weekend,” he said.He said they could accommodate 25 children each in the under-13 and 14 age group, the under-14 and 15 age group and the under-16 and 17 age group.The Collin Benjamin Soccer Academy was launched in the capital last month and will be run in conjunction with Old Mutual.Old Mutual will be the main financial contributor until the academy is up and running, while Benjamin, a Namibian professional footballer in Germany, will also be required to solicit funds to sustain it.Benjamin plays for Bundesliga side Hamburg SV in Germany and is one of two professional footballers who have initiated a football academy.The other professional is Mohamed Ouseb, who plays for South African premiership side Moroka Swallows.He recently opened his academy at Tsumeb and also targets children from as young as 13 years.Amaning said they intended to hold coaching clinics at least three times a week, and they are also looking at compensating the coaches who will be involved.”We need to compensate the coaches, but we are looking at people who have time and are committed to coaching these children,” he said.He said they aimed to have motivational talks from former Namibian football greats, and would emphasise the importance of education to the children while practising football.