Tournament set to help develop budding sports stars

In a bid to accelerate youth development and encourage sports building, the Ingagane Youth Forum (IYF) has launched a yearlong programme of sporting activities for the youth of the settlement.

General Secretary of the IYF, Zwanani Malinga, explained the programme aimed to create a development platform for different sport codes among the youth. “It facilitates the development of sporting teams within ward 21,” he explained.

On February 14, the first phase of the project was launched in partnership with various community members.

The administration of IYF hoped to use this initiative to identify players and teams who had the potential to perform well within the SAFA and Netball South Africa systems.

“We have started with soccer and netball because of the popularity of these codes among the community we live in, but in the second half of the year we are going to introduce another sporting code,” said Mr Malinga.

Furthermore, the organisation wished to prepare players in terms of management, coaching and forming the teams to participate in a national setting next year.

The next leg of the games will be on February 28 and March 7.

The organisation extended its thanks to Pikkie Muller and L Sithole for the sponsorship of soccer and netball balls.

One of the biggest issues faced by the organisation, concluded Mr Malinga, was the transportation of members from outlying villages and settlements.

The organisation requested any interested sponsors to contact tournament co-ordinator, Wandile on 079 680 5737 or coach JJ Khubeka on 073 190 2566, to find out how the community can help in making this initiative a success.