We had a successful two weeks tournament whereby a total of twenty four teams took part in the U10 & U12 category. Flames Sportive won 1-0 against Mathare Cranes U10 and for the U12 category Mathare North Rangers won 3-0 against Mathare Cranes.
Congratulations to the finalist and all the teams that took part in the tournament.
Statistics;
- 16 teams participated under the U12 category
- 8 teams participants under the U10 category12 coaches whereby others had more than one team
- 8 community volunteers as referees
- Approximately 150 spectators per day watching the match.
- Winners awarded balls and branded Wilsen Initiative jerseys.
- More than 200+ kids took part as players
The MNFSST Tournament
Mathare North Festive Season Soccer Tournaments (MNFSST) brings together the community and coaches in designing safe spaces for children to be positively engaged, especially during the festive season when schools are closed.
We organize a soccer tournament for the teams with the main objective of keeping the kids out of bad influence highly witnessed during school holiday. The tournament creates safe spaces for kids to be trained by the coaches, mentored through the tournament , get encouraged and awarded with the most valuable resource the teams needs for example soccer balls and uniforms.
How Our Initiative is Similar to Others
There are many soccer initiatives in the Nairobi running soccer tournaments and soccer training clinics. The majority of teams, especially from the informal settlement lack the necessary resources and support to make the soccer journey of a young star painless.
The pain is evident from;
- Lack of transport to and from tournaments
- No uniform for the team and if they have, it’s either one set and worn out.
- Quite a number play barefoot on gravel and bumpy fields prone to injuries
- In case of injury, lack of necessary medical attention and lack of basic first aid.
- Majority of the coaches lack the necessary on and off the pitch technical and soft skills.
- Lack of dedicated space for kids to play.
- Lack of enough exposure locally, regionally and internationally.
- Lack of planned and timed transition from one age group to the next one and still maintain high standards and interest to play even at the professional levels.
How Our Initiative is Different from Others
Our tournament runs especially during the school holiday or breaks. This is the time most kids would get extra free time with no plans to do with ‘free’ time while their parents and guardians are busy looking for the family daily bread in a tough economy where both parents are engaged in a mission to keep the family financially stable.
We have designed the tournament is a way everyone who takes part either as a player, volunteer or coach learns something new and challenged to do more in making their situation better using the available resources
What is Unique about the Idea?
We don’t only focus on playing, but more important we encourage the kids to follow up on their education and also learn to be good ambassadors through what they do. Our model based on (PL) Play and Learn as they transit into different age groups.
We mobilize for resources for the teams before the tournament, we run
an ongoing Soccer Boots (shoes) campaign for the young-stars to
address one of their pains.
So far since inception in 2011 we have reached more than 300+ kids with playing shoes boosting their esteem of becoming the next star. As much as we have been able to reach many we haven’t been able to assure the teams how many we are going to reach
every year because our support comes from individual contributions and friends support which sometimes is not certain. We encourage partnerships with other like minded individuals and organizations in addressing the pains while also working on a model that will encourage play and learning.
We have been successful in meeting our promises during the tournament, especially awarding the winners with our branded jerseys and balls. We would wish to donate to all the teams at least with soccer jerseys and balls, but currently we don’t have funds to support the idea.
Our bigger vision come 2030
We envisage to have a resource centre in the neighborhood where the kids would also have space to learn, especially in a library and the digital space. By the way it doesn’t have to wait until 2030, our only hindrance is the funds to support the idea fully from set-up to sustainability levels.
Lastly, we thank everyone who has supported us in funds and in kind, we encourage not to give up and soon we will reach our 2030 vision.
Please get in touch if you can support us in any ways.
The finals in pictures
More pictures on www.facebook.com/matharenorthsoccer
Wilsen Initiative 