NAIROBI, September 17- Over 2000 girls from 75 teams will take part in the Samsung NextHero Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) Inter-Provincial Girls Soccer Tournament which kicks off on this weekend in Nairobi.
Teams from Central, Nyanza, Coast and North Eastern provinces are also expected to take part in the two day competition which will be played in three different age categories namely under 13, under 16 and under 18.
Nairobi Technical Training Institute will host the final matches on Sunday afternoon with Minister of Gender and Children Esther Murugi expected to preside over the award ceremony.
Saturday’s preliminary matches will be held at Pumwani Sports grounds, Utalii field, CPA grounds, Mathare depot field, Stima Sports Grounds, MYSA Komarock, Babadogo and Huruma Dragon fields, with the knockouts scheduled for Sunday morning.
The tournament is part of the Samsung NextHero Football campaign, a partnership between Samsung Electronics and MYSA which aims to identify, inspire, mould and nurture football talent among youth from underprivileged backgrounds in Kenya.
The tournament which was launched last month by Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Kabando wa Kabando, is an initiative which uses sports as a tool to facilitate community development in curbing the youth from facing numerous challenges.
The campaign provides an opportunity for close to 10,000 boys and girls to benefit from MYSA organized football training clinics and to participate in football leagues and tournaments.
Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) which currently operates in 16 zones and has registered 968 boys and 225 girls’ teams will conduct a follow up training next month.
Sports administrators organize and coordinate football activities in the MYSA zones in tapping talent, managing and running of the MYSA leagues.
The NextHero football campaign supports the development of sports administrators working at the grass root in the MYSA system and equips them with international skills to design and implement world class football programmes that identify raw talent through sound mentorship.
A three day workshop, funded by Apex Communications which ended on Friday aimed at strengthening sports leadership, sports entrepreneurship and legal liability that is paramount in today’s sports administration.
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