December | 2019 | Wilsen Initiative

It’s now 8 years since I initiated the Mathare North Festive Season Soccer Tournament. The main purpose of the tournament is to engage the youth in meaningful activity, especially during the long festive season in December. We believe the tournament will create an avenue for the youth to interact among themselves and the wider community.
Lastly, through soccer we get a platform to advise the youths to stay out of drugs, crime and alcohol.

There are a lot of milestones to celebrate and in equal measure there are a lot lessons, and challenges we have to deal with each year.

Below are 10 important things to consider when organizing a community grassroots Soccer especially with limited resources.

1. The teams
Map the teams and explain the concept of the tournament. Determine if the teams will have to pay registration fee or not.

2. The pitch:
Do you have full access to a field or will you have to hire one?

3. The organizing committee and Support group
Who else is involved in the logistic and all planning? And are they available to volunteer? Do they understand how their role will create value and add to the tournament success. Who among your friends (network) is willing to walk with you through the journey?

4. The purpose
Explain the main purpose / objective of the tournament. Is it for social gain or political gain? Defining the WHY.

5. The communication plan
Ensure you arrange in person meetings with the teams, follow up calls, poster, SMS and social media. There should be only one person handling the communication.

6. The awards
Who is sponsoring the tournament? Is it from team’s contribution or 3rd party? Let the team know what they are playing for at the appropriate time.

7. The security and community.
How will security be arranged? How will the community be involved and will it be directly or indirectly?

8. The tournament rules
What are the rules of the tournament? Share with the teams before the start of the tournament.

9. The documentation.
How are you going to document the tournament? Think of videos, pictures and blogs.

This year’s tournament will run from 1st December 2019 to 1st January 2020. A total of 10 teams, more than 300 players will be featured during the tournament. The main aim of the tournament is to create safe space through soccer, especially during the festive season.

During the festive season schools are closed and majority of young people idle around spending time in anything they think is necessary without a second thought and to their detriment during this period youth indulge in vices such as crime, drug abuse, endless parties just to mention but a few. The foundation of the tournament is to create a platform where youth can spend their energy and time in playing or watching grassroots soccer where they connect with each other while they get life-skills from their coaches and community leaders.