By Shipi Elago
OSHAKATI – The much-anticipated Namibia Volleyball Federation (NVF) African Dream Project has finally started making inroads, after NVF President, Joel Mathews, and NVF National Director, Hillary Imbuwa, officially launched the project in Oshakati last Wednesday, at a ceremony that also marked the grand opening of a third NVF Volleyball Development Centre in the town.
The African Dream Project, which seems on course to achieve its intended objective of developing and bringing volleyball closer to the people, already launched in Kavango and Zambezi, before coming to Oshana.
The project aims to provide a structure for the development of volleyball and focus on children between the ages of 7-14 years, and to identify talented young players and provide them with a four-year plan to develop their technical and tactical skills at development centres across the country.
In his remarks, Mathews underscored the seriousness of this project to the country, saying that as a federation they will work tirelessly to make sure that the project finds its successes in Namibia.
He urged the people entrusted with the development centres across the country to work hard and ensure that equipment donated will be used for intended purposes. He said four development centres would be established in the country to facilitate volleyball development for a period of four years, starting this year.
The African Dream Project is the brainchild of the African Volleyball Confederation and is solely sponsored by the International Federation of Volleyball.
Currently, 10 African countries, including Namibia, are chief beneficiaries of this project that aims to elevate the standard of volleyball among African countries and improve performance of African teams at global level.
Representatives from the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, Far Northern Volleyball executive members and learners and teachers from surrounding towns such as Ongwediva, Ondangwa and Eenhana attended the launch in Oshakati.