Grootfontein hosts u-15 tourney

THE Omulunga Stadium at Grootfontein will host an under-15 youth development soccer tournament next weekend, the technical director of the Namibia Football Association, Seth Boois, told The Namibian Sport yesterday.

The event, which will see some of the country’s most talented young players in action, will be hosted by the Grootfontein Municipality, in the Otjozondjupa Region, from January 12 to 14. The towns of Tsumeb, Otavi, Ondangwa, Otjiwarongo, Keetmanshoop, Gobabis, Okahandja, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, Khorixas, Windhoek and Grootfontein have all confirmed their participation.”This is a very historical event because the NFA has called upon the Village Councils and Town Councils from the various regions to pay for the transport and accommodation of their teams, a request which was accepted with open arms.”The tournament is just the first of its kind from other more to come because the NFA, as the custodians of football, has embarked upon a very serious drive to develop football at all levels in all the corners of the country,” Boois said.The football development chief pointed out that the controlling body relied heavily on the role that the Namibia Schools Sport Union (NSSU) played towards the development of the sport at school level in the past.”The role that the NSSU played can not be overemphasised.Football development proved very successful but it was only confined to youths who were still attending school, but the out-of-school players were heavily neglected.”The last time Namibia put heavy emphasised on youth football development was in the early ’90s, shortly before Independence, when Peter Ueberjahn and Rusten Mogane were in charge of the junior teams,” said Boois.The former Black Africa FC player and coach, who also had an opportunity to coach the Namibian senior national team, said that Namibia’s qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in 1998 was a direct result of youth development.He added that the upcoming tournament was not just one of those one-off events which take place only to become history afterwards, pointing out that youth development topped the NFA’s priority list for this year.”The Grootfontein tournament will set the tone for a variety of youth development tournaments to take place for men’s as well as women’s football.Junior football has been neglected for too long, hence the lack of progress in our domestic game.”We need to mould our junior teams in the right way, which is the professional way, if we want to succeed against the giants of the continent.There is no two ways about that.Success comes with hard work and that is what we want to achieve,” he said.Boois said that a shadow national team, which will tour around the country for matches in order to identify talent from the towns which will not participate in next weekend’s tournament, will be selected from the Grootfontein event.He said that friendly matches around the country for all the junior national teams (under-13, -15, -17 and -20) will become a permanent fixture on the local football calendar.Former University of Namibia soccer team coach Willem Kapukare is the current national under-15 soccer team coach.* Meanwhile, development coach Max ‘Zoda 5’ Johnson has announced the squad to represent Tsumeb at the Grootfontein tournament.The team is as follows – Kaloosh Shikewa, Andy Aoseb, Baggio Amwenye, Augustine Sinvula (all Tsumeb Secondary School), John Ashipala, Manfred Daoxab, Leonard Matheus (Nomtsoub Primary), Tatee Kavindjima, Martinus Nekaro, Hosea Mupopiwa, Jeffrey Mbwale (Etosha Secondary), Edmund Kambanda, Olaff Gaeseb, Hans Haneb (St Francis Primary), Conrad Shikongo, Hilarius Shimbalula, Alex Gariseb (Oshikoto Secondary), Kemuu Katjimune, Obed Iipinge (Opawa Junior Secondary), Ignad Tsowaseb, Herman Nakambe (Ondundu Primary) and Manfred Gamiseb (Tsumeb English Primary).The towns of Tsumeb, Otavi, Ondangwa, Otjiwarongo, Keetmanshoop, Gobabis, Okahandja, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, Khorixas, Windhoek and Grootfontein have all confirmed their participation.”This is a very historical event because the NFA has called upon the Village Councils and Town Councils from the various regions to pay for the transport and accommodation of their teams, a request which was accepted with open arms.”The tournament is just the first of its kind from other more to come because the NFA, as the custodians of football, has embarked upon a very serious drive to develop football at all levels in all the corners of the country,” Boois said.The football development chief pointed out that the controlling body relied heavily on the role that the Namibia Schools Sport Union (NSSU) played towards the development of the sport at school level in the past.”The role that the NSSU played can not be overemphasised.Football development proved very successful but it was only confined to youths who were still attending school, but the out-of-school players were heavily neglected.”The last time Namibia put heavy emphasised on youth football development was in the early ’90s, shortly before Independence, when Peter Ueberjahn and Rusten Mogane were in charge of the junior teams,” said Boois.The former Black Africa FC player and coach, who also had an opportunity to coach the Namibian senior national team, said that Namibia’s qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations finals in 1998 was a direct result of youth development.He added that the upcoming tournament was not just one of those one-off events which take place only to become history afterwards, pointing out that youth development topped the NFA’s priority list for this year.”The Grootfontein tournament will set the tone for a variety of youth development tournaments to take place for men’s as well as women’s football.Junior football has been neglected for too long, hence the lack of progress in our domestic game.”We need to mould our junior teams in the right way, which is the professional way, if we want to succeed against the giants of the continent.There is no two ways about that.Success comes with hard work and that is what we want to achieve,” he said.Boois said that a shadow national team, which will tour around the country for matches in order to identify talent from the towns which will not participate in next weekend’s tournament, will be selected from the Grootfontein event.He said that friendly matches around the country for all the junior national teams (under-13, -15, -17 and -20) will become a permanent fixture on the local football calendar.Former University of Namibia soccer team coach Willem Kapukare is the current national under-15 soccer team coach.* Meanwhile, development coach Max ‘Zoda 5’ Johnson has announced the squad to represent Tsumeb at the Grootfontein tournament.The team is as follows – Kaloosh Shikewa, Andy Aoseb, Baggio Amwenye, Augustine Sinvula (all Tsumeb Secondary School), John Ashipala, Manfred Daoxab, Leonard Matheus (Nomtsoub Primary), Tatee Kavindjima, Martinus Nekaro, Hosea Mupopiwa, Jeffrey Mbwale (Etosha Secondary), Edmund Kambanda, Olaff Gaeseb, Hans Haneb (St Francis Primary), Conrad Shikongo, Hilarius Shimbalula, Alex Gariseb (Oshikoto Secondary), Kemuu Katjimune, Obed Iipinge (Opawa Junior Secondary), Ignad Tsowaseb, Herman Nakambe (Ondundu Primary) and Manfred Gamiseb (Tsumeb English Primary).