The Karasburg Galz and Goals on Saturday held the FIFA Grassroots Galz and Goals Festival for girls under the age of 13.
About 140 girls from Gabis, Ariamsvlei, Warmbad and Karasburg participated in the one-day event held under the theme ‘Young girls can change lives’.
Speaking to this news agency, Karasburg Galz and Goals coordinator Sophie Simbayia said the festival aims to expose the participants to football and start the process of grooming them for the women’s senior team.
‘We want to keep young girls off the streets, we educate them on the importance of sports, promotion of healthy lifestyles and on ways to change their livelihood through sports. Such activities also keep them not just physically fit but mentally healthy,’ said Simbayia.
One of the participants Roxandre Mutero said football has taught her to have respect, be motivated and and optimistic in achieving her goals.
‘One day one can go far with football, even if you are not good in school football can do it for you, you can even travel
the world,’ she said.
Mutero who dreams to play for the women national team added: ‘We thank the organisers of this event, it is really a needed event for us because it exposes us the players, and coaches can scout for players and we can learn from other players also and coaches. It is good that importance is given to the grassroots level because everyone starts here before they go up as for me personally, I dream to play for the national team.’
National women’s team player, Joana-lee Simboyia who grew up in the dusty town of ‘Dakaza’ (Karasburg) urged the girls to take football seriously, citing that they can make a career out of this and improve their lives.
‘We all started here, you cannot reach the top of the ladder without starting at the bottom, I started playing football at the age of seven and I realised that it was who I was and I took it very seriously and it built me up and now I am at the national level, and you can all do that. This is not just a festival; use it as a platform to discover your
self, your skills and talent,’ she said.
Other activities of the event included a healthy lifestyle boot camp and fun games for the participants.
Source: NAMPA
