SPORTAIDS Project has commended the Harare Province Junior Football League (HPJFL) for keeping junior football development alive following a successful two-day Under-15 boys football knock-out tournament, which was held over the weekend.
By Sports Reporter
The tournament, won by Prince Edward High School, saw over 600 Under-15 boys drawn from 24 Harare Province teams and two district teams not only battle to win the trophy but also receive basic information on HIV and Aids.
Sportaids Project is a community-based initiative which seeks to contribute to the reduction of HIV infections among young people through engagement in various sporting activities as a vehicle of social and behaviour change and peace building.
A Sportaids Project representative Martin Havatyi said the HPJFL was one of the best platforms to educate budding soccer players about the dangers posed by HIV and Aids.
Havatyi said Sportaids Project was established after the realisation that sport was one of the best platforms to use to bring awareness about HIV and Aids, Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH), Life Skills and Child Protection and Participation to young people.
“Sportaids Project is a youth development initiative which rides on various sporting disciplines and uses them as platforms through which basic HIV and Aids information will be disseminated. We could not have asked for a better platform than the world’s beautiful game which is also the country’s number one sport.”
“Sportaids Project not only lets young people know about prevention, but makes them participate in activities that promote behavioural change. Given that young people are a link to the larger community, they are expected to spearhead the level of awareness by talking to their peers and communities from which they come,” said the spokesperson.
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He said it was comforting to note that junior football development was alive and kicking despite the problems bedevilling football in the country.
HPJFL needs to be commended for putting their shoulder to the wheel in efforts to develop future football stars at a time when the future of football is gloom.
The league is made up of 26 soccer academies and football clubs drawn from the Harare Metropolitan Province. Only two teams failed to turn up.
The league has Under-13s, Under-15s and Under-17s, meaning not less than 3 000 young boys are horning their football skills, thanks to the league.
The league’s chairman Cyprian Jaji said the committee which runs the league was determined to breathe life into junior football development despite the prevailing economic environment.
“The fact that only two out of 26 teams did not participate in the tournament means that junior football development is alive and kicking. We hope to establish a long term mutually beneficial partnership with Sportaids Project which will see our junior players not only develop their skills, but become well-rounded boys who look after themselves health-wise,” Jaji said.
“Sportaids Project played a crucial role of disseminating basic information on HIV and Aids to the young players when their teams were resting, advising them that they needed to stick to playing football and not mess their lives through wayward and immoral behaviour…we cannot ask for more than that.”
