Project: Friendship Cup 2008
Oct 15th, 2008 by Ed de Jong
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Dear all, Kids in Akumalam village love to play football, just like you and I. But football remains a game, which you can make it to be your job and sustain your future. However, education remains the key to many aspects in life. Not everyone is born bright, same as not every one was born as a talented soccer player.
We therefore use football as a way to motivate kids in the village to know certain aspects in life, which are necessary on the soccer pitch; e.g. play together, win together, motivate your team mates, respect your opponent, determination to win, working hard…..just to name a few! These characters are also neccessary, when you are not bright and strong to study at school. Thus it bridges sports, education and friendship, reagardless of the social or financial background of the pupils. This idea is not only good for the pupils in my village but also for the parents around this area. Thus, we organized a soccer tournament (September 2008), in the Akumalam village. Four village schools participated in this “Friendship cup” tournament. This tournament should become a annual event. Here follows an impression of this wonderful activity.
All the teams received football kits (13 shirts, 13 pants and shoes). The shirts and pants were donated by Specki (TSG Bretzenheim, Anye’s former soccer team), and Riko Stärz organized the shoes from TSG E-Jugend!
The tournament was a big success ad the children have enjoyed this day incredibly, imagining themselves being small soccer stars in their new outfits!
The participating schools were PC Akumalam, PC Ntaturu, PS Alabukam and SbS Ntarinkon. The poorest school amongst the competitors, Alabukam, booked the first place in the Friendship Cup finals with a 1-0 victory over Akumalam, which created some pressure on Akumalam’s team manager Anye Chifen. Nde Martin’s 18th-minute opener saw the Alabukam’s striker run almost the length of the pitch to put the finishing touch to a swift counter-attack.
A Thank You for the village coordinators, Pa Fru Henry and Pa Akenji, for their local supervision of all projects.
If you are interested in sponsoring this particular event, please contact us.