09 Dec 2021

Mokhomma, a village near Jwaneng, will this weekend kick start festive season soccer tournaments targeting Under-23s from Sese, Samane, Mokhomma and Thankane.

In an interview, tournament organiser, David Kereng, said they had decided to make it an U-23 tournament to address youth behaviour.

He said the tournament was held a bit earlier since it was more than just playing football, adding that they had liaised with government departments such as District Health Management Team, police and S&CD.

“The objective of the tournament is to spread a word on positive behaviour. There is just too much delinquency in the villages, so we want to use the games to talk to the youth,” he said.

Kereng said to reach out to most of the youth in these villages, they decided not to invite individual teams, but rather required each village to make one squad.

Kereng said they were also compelled to hold the tournament earlier to be able to utilise the services of government departments before offices closed for festive season.

“Towards the festive season most officers would be on their annual leaves, so it would be difficult for them to come and help us spread the word. The other reason is that there are usually too many tournament around the festive period, so we did not want to fight for the limelight considering our objective,” he said.

He said the timing would also ensure that the youth go into the festive mood having received the message.

He said the plan was to hold the tournament for the next five successive years, and that because this was their first year, they expect to start by building a positive platform.

“We just want to make a positive impression, and concerning prize monies, teams have agreed to contribute P1 500 and we are still working on how to spread it across positions,” he said.

Kereng said leadership of the four villages have embraced the idea as they said it would go a long way in moulding the youth.

He said common felonies in these villages that they want to address include GBV, defilements, and alcohol and drug abuse among others.

He said consultations were still ongoing to seek advice on how to include the girl-child, which he said would hopefully be possible next year.

Kereng also said as a precaution, all players and committee members were expected to have vaccinated for COVID-19 before taking part. Ends