Windhoek
Defending champions Mariental were dethroned by Windhoek in the prestigious NFA Galz & Goals Under-17 Healthy Lifestyle Championship football tourney last weekend.
The team from the city of lights defeated their opponents from the Hardap Region 4-0 in a one-sided final, while Rundu walked away with the healthy lifestyle prize for participating in all the health booths and educational activities provided by UNICEF, UNAIDS, City of Windhoek, NAPPA, PAY, Friendly Haven and Kicking AIDS Out activities, facilitated by SCORE Namibia.
Agnes Tjongarero, Deputy Minister of Sport Youth and National Service, urged the 160 girls from the ten participating teams to enjoy the games in the most dignified spirit of fair play. She further encouraged the girls to concentrate on the right things on the field and in life and to stay away from the bad things, while taking care of themselves.
The message chimed well with the spirit of the championship, which combined football with healthy lifestyle activities, with the ultimate aim of empowering the girls with skills and knowledge to make healthy choices on and off the football field.
“The championship is fun and interesting. I like the way the girls were playing. They were playing so nicely.
“They were showing their talent and their spirit. The activity I liked most was going around to the booths, like the City Police booth where we were told not to use drugs,” said Elli Cloete, a player from the Otjiwarongo team.
Head coach of the Namibian women’s football team, Jacqui Shipanga, used the opportunity to scout for talented players in her effort to strengthen the under-17 national side, ahead of the upcoming under-17 world cup qualifiers.
“I was impressed with the talent displayed during the tourney. More importantly, the competition among the regions was very tough, because the quality of the regions has improved,” Shipanga said.
The Player of Tournament award went to under-17 national player Memory Ngonda from Windhoek.
Memory was also awarded the Albertha Chicken Dawes Galz & Goals Player of the Year Award for portraying astute leadership skills, fair play, social responsibility, personality and technical and tactical excellence, which the late Albertha Dawes was known for.
“We are grateful to our partners UNICEF, GIZ and SPAR for making sure we could host this very important and spectacular championship for the young girls.
Thanks to our committed healthy lifestyle partners SCORE Namibia, and to the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service that provided transport for all the teams, some travelling as far as from Karasburg and Eenhana”, enthusiasts Jacky Gertze, national manager of NFA Galz & Goals.