At the end of Seed of Hope sports day in July 2008, a football match took place that was the start of something new and exciting for the Nairobi centre. Every girl in the school took to the field as a coach and an official from Vision Africa’s Kibera Mpira Mtaani refereed and watched to see how the girls played.
Regardless of shape, size or ability every girl participated and the energy levels were high. It was decided that the coach, Joseph, would start training the girls twice a week in their lunch hour and bring together a team that could start to play matches against outside teams.
The enthusiasm of the girls has been inspiring and, supported by teacher Maureen, they have now played two friendly matches and are competing in Mpira Mtaani’s John Packard Family Cup tournament. The team has to borrow strips from another team and not all girls have trainers, never mind football boots, but when they get on the pitch they play their hearts out and enjoy the game.
Below are the reports from 2 first years on their experience of the very first game.
“My name is Rosemary Atieno. It was a Saturday afternoon when my friend came over to our place and asked me if I could accompany her to a match that they were playing. I immediately agreed because our school team was playing against another team. I was so happy because I didn’t have any plans for that afternoon so I took a quick bath as my friend waited for me. When I was finished I put on my nice outfit and we started walking to the bus stop.
At the Dagoretti grounds where the match was supposed to take place, we found a large crowd of people all trying to bet which team would win the match. We went straight to where our team was dressing in to their sports outfits. My friend joined the team and I went and found myself a safe place to watch the game from. After a few minutes I saw the yellow team which was known as Jamii enter the field and every player took his position and our team took their position too. Then the game started.
The Jamii team were playing a very rough game and by halftime they had scored two goals. They went for half time and then came back ready for the last half. Our team still did not manage to score because the Jamii team were very strong and they ended up scoring another goal and now they had three goals against our nothing.
After the match our team complained that the referee was favouring the Jamii side. We went back to our school compound and we took juice and biscuits which were very sweet. The team members then prepared themselves to go back home. We did not feel bad about our losing as it was the first time to play a match.”
“Am Agnes Aloo and I’m a first year student at seed of hope Nairobi. It was on a Saturday afternoon when I arrived at the Dagoretti field where we had a football match. When I arrived there were very many people waiting to watch our team and I felt scared. Then when I saw my colleagues my fear disappeared.
We went to change into our sports clothes. First we did little practice to warm ourselves up and shake off the fear. Then we went to meet our opponents and exchanged greetings, and then the game started. The game started well and the other team scored first but we didn’t lose hope because the crowd was encouraging and supporting us. We continued with the game but after 20 minutes they scored again. We continued playing the game and just at the last minute they scored again.
When the match was over we were sad and at the same time happy because it was our first match with another team. Our coach was not angry with us but he congratulated us for what we had done. After that our beautiful lady teacher Maureen congratulated us and bought for us juice and biscuits. After eating we felt great because and then teacher Maureen gave us bus fare and we all went home. In my heart I really love football. It brightens me and makes me lose extra fat in my body. It’s a very good exercise for me and I encourage other girls to do the same.”
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