ELOMBE – Located in close proximity of Onayena Constituency in the Oshikoto Region, Elombe village promises to spring to life when the local community host a mega multi sports competition on the 28th of next month during the festive season.
A first of its kind in that neck of the woods, the three-day multi sport tourney is featuring the beautiful game of football, netball, volleyball and chess, it is sponsored to the tune of N$ 10,000.
The gathering is a non-profit cause that seeks to invest in education and event organizers have resolved to donate all money generated through registration fee to the Elombe Combined School top performing grade 10 learners in the next academic year (2019), reads a statement from the tournament’s organizers.
“In the long run, we hope to extend this initiative to different schools in other adjacent locations such as Iikokola, Onamutene, Oniihwa and Onayena just to name but a few. Registration fee for participating teams has been set at N$ 300,00 per entrant.”
The idea to host this particular competition is in fact a collective initiative from the local community who have resolved to solicit funding from community members, sports fanatics, Elombe Combined School Alumni and beyond.
“We encouraged the local community to come up with this great multi sports event in the sincere that it would be able to attract various sporting disciplines together to compete for the prizes whilst in the same mode helping to identify raw talent from participants. It also seeks to promote entrepreneurship at grassroots level whilst investing in education,” enthusiast and one of the organizers Mike Ashipala said.
Elombe Youth aims to provide a place where members of local community can get together and play football in a fun and supportive environment whilst striving to identify talent and potential to develop and help young athletes to fulfill their potential.
“It’s our collective responsibility to promote sports, education and entrepreneurship at the grassroots level that sees small and medium entrepreneurs afforded an opportunity to display their products offering their services for free to more than 5000 sports fanatics and socialites.”
The idea for the hosting of the event was triggered by public demand from community members as the majority of the village’s inhabitants felt left out in the area of sporting activities.
The fact that most sporting activities taking place at grassroots level is mostly football, was another key factor that motivated the community to bridge that gap and introduce more inclusive sporting disciplines that seeks to cater for all codes whilst ensuring gender inclusive participation in sports and diverse sports interest at grassroots level is encouraged.
Kandy Abner, a school teacher at Elombe Combined and also doubling up as coach of the school football team said: “We welcome the initiative as it will help motivate learners to do well in their studies and most importantly, expose some of our players participating in the tourney to improve their playing skills.
“We want them to become better athletes while adding value to the school team.”
One of the events co-sponsors, Paulus Negongo believes that when all members from the same community pull their weight together for a united cause, the power becomes unlimited.
“The change or transformation that occurs from the entire community is something greater than just what a small group of the community or an individual can achieve.”
This sporting event is going to be one of the biggest and yet exciting that one can’t afford to miss. “We are therefore inviting all sports teams in Namibia to participate and compete for the prizes,” delighted Negongo.