Maqonda Ndlovu
Moses van der Byl Primary School is hosting the first of four Real Madrid football clinics, which began on Monday and are scheduled to end tomorrow.
The programme will run daily between 14h30 and 17h30 at the school’s sports ground in Katutura.
The programme is implemented by the Namibia Schools Sports Union through a cooperation agreement between the Real Madrid Foundation, the sports ministry, as well as the education minstry, the Embassy of Spain in Namibia and the international relations ministry.
Speaking to New Era Sport during a training session, sports officer Timothy Tjongarero, who is one of the local trainers, said the main aim is to bring the love for sports back to school children while instilling a culture of participation and competition.
He added that Real Madrid is known for its football and basketball teams, so they are using football to see the response from the schools and children.
“We want to create leagues to avoid the culture of just having trials when we need to select a national team. You do not see the talent in a child because sometimes the child has travelled a long distance or they are hungry. We also want to bring elite athletes together to the leagues,” said Tjongarero.
He added that they plan a three-way agreement with Madrid and they will use this project as a base for developing footballers from a younger age.
Tjongarero noted that there is the U/15 Debmarine tournament, U/17 and U/20 The Namibian Newspaper Cup, hence the partnership with Madrid caters for U/13s to develop talent as early as possible.
Namibian fishing company Cadilu Fishing (Pty) Ltd is the sponsoring partner as part of their corporate social investment policy.
The Real Madrid Foundation is a Spanish non-profit organisation linked to Real Madrid Football Club.
The football clinics programme comprises a series of four football clinics targeting pupils (girls and boys) in primary and secondary schools between the ages of 6-17.
The Khomas region is hosting the first leg of the football clinics, with the second leg planned for Walvis Bay in the Erongo region from 5 to 9 June 2023.
The third and fourth legs of the clinics will be rolled out during September and October 2023 in Otjiwarongo and Rundu, respectively.
The purpose of the football clinics is to empower Namibian school children with critical values such as motivation, equality, respect, discipline, health and well-being, teamwork and autonomy through sport.