By Chris Totobela
Junior netball and women’s football teams are sweating at training, preparing for an exciting sporting weekend ahead.
The Luyanda Stwayi Foundation is hosting a Human Rights Day youth tournament that will take place from 21 to 24 March at JD Dlepu Stadium, kicking off at 9am.
Speaking to Grocott’s Mail, Luyanda Stwayi Foundation CEO, Luyanda Stwayi, was excited about the event. “We have noticed that the grassroots level sports and athletes have been neglected for a very long time and are always forgotten when it comes to these big sporting dates,” he said.
He added, “We felt that it is our duty to make sure that we focus on grassroots sports and make sure that we take development very seriously. A lot of our senior teams are struggling today because they do not have solid development structures, as they only focus on the first team. As a foundation, we want to focus more on the development.”
Boys under-15 teams will be battling it out for terrific prizes for the first time in the history of junior football in Makhanda.
The winners will walk away with R3 000, a trophy, and gold medals, while runners-up will take home R1 500 and silver medals, with the third-placed team getting the R700 consolation prize.
The prizes for women’s football will be precisely the same as the boys. Netball under-19 teams will also be competing for some big prizes as the winner also walks away with R3 000, a trophy and gold medals, with the runner-up taking home R1 500 and silver medals while the team finishing third gets R700.
This sure has the makings of a great weekend for the development teams, and football fans will be treated to a sumptuous football feast. These young sportsmen and women will enjoy massive support as JD Dlepu Stadium is always packed, and sports lovers need no invitation when games are hosted at that venue.
