Scores of young football talents will have a ‘golden’ opportunity to enroll in colleges abroad and pursue their careers as well – after excelling in a youth tournament in Accra.
The tournament, to be held under the auspices of the Miracle Africa International Foundation (MAIF) and the Accra-based Diaspora African Forum (DAF), in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education and the Ghana Football Association (GFA), is tentatively fixed for Saturday, March 21, – at the El Wak Sports Stadium.
It will be held on the theme “Education through Sports.”
This was disclosed to the media in Accra on Tuesday by the Head of Mission, DAF, Ambassador Dr Erieka Bennett.
According to her, the rationale behind the tournament was to give the chance to young footballers between the ages of six to 19 to showcase their talent and also offer educational scholarships for young African soccer talents – and make them competitive on the world stage.
“We believe strongly in education whilst trying to offer the youth a future in sports.
“Indeed, combining sports in education can help young footballers to develop a self-motivating spirit to do a lot of positive things on their own,” she emphasised.
Ambassador Dr Bennett said she was thrilled to have the founder and president of MAIF, Ms Nadia Murabet, coming from Switzerland for the event, “because she has the future of the youth at heart.”
Dr Bennett asserted that MAIF has developed an initiative (Education through Sports) together with DAF to be carried out in various African villages in Ghana, aimed at creating green areas where kids can practice football and other athletic disciplines.
The project is also to supplement the teaching of the school kids with training coach through the practice of sports as an effective tool of social integration.
When she arrives in the country on Saturday March 14, the MAIF boss will be expected to visit a couple of schools days later, for a talk with the children and also hold a news conference on Monday, March 16.
MAIF is a Geneva-based foundation with the mission of offering better living conditions to African people through projects and programmes aimed at promoting stability, peace and democracy within any community – thanks to better human, economic, cultural, artistic and sports opportunities.
Project coordinator, Bright Williams – who is also CEO of BrightLinks Sports Consortium, told the Times Sports yesterday that preparations were underway to organise a “magnificent event that would draw young players from all over the country.”
He revealed that 50 players have so far found their way into colleges in the USA and France to pursue education and soccer, after benefiting from a previous event.
BY JOHN VIGAH
