Football tournament gives girls a chance to shine through sports this festive season

Young female footballers on Saturday, December 21 had a chance to participate in a girls’ football tournament in Starehe Constituency, Nairobi.

The tournament, dubbed Abdi Wa Mtaa, is in its second edition, coming hot on the heels of a similar event held in Parklands on December 12.

While the Parklands tournament was exclusively for boys, the Saturday event provided girls with the opportunity to play football, exchange ideas with their peers, build friendships and learn valuable skills from experienced coaches.

The event also provided a chance for the girls to be scouted and possibly recruited into the Kenya Homeless World Cup team.

“The festive period is a very busy and challenging period; we do this to keep the girls occupied. Otherwise they will be idle and that makes them susceptible to negative things like drugs, early sex, pregnancies,” says Evelyne Anyango, one of the coaches of the Homeless National Team.

According to Anyango, the tournament gives them (coaches and scouts) a chance to scout and select raw talent from the community.

“There are many talented girls out here, but they hardly get a chance through tournaments like this to showcase their talents,” said Anyango who patroned Kenya's Homeless national team to the Arusha and Korea Homeless World Cup.

Tournament organizer Abdulaziz Mohamed, popularly known as Abdul Wa Mtaa, told Citizen Digital that the event aims to create opportunities for the girls to feel safe, respected, appreciated and cared for, particularly during this festive season.

“This is the second edition of the Abdul Wa Mtaa tournament and it was very successful. After the first edition in Parklands we thought about what we could do for the girls in Nairobi and decided to host the tournament here in Starehe ,” Mohamed said.

“There are many talented girls in the community, and all they need from leaders is an opportunity. This is what we want to give our youth. Our vision for these girls is to elevate them to the national league, as we position them for the international league."

Yvonne Akinyi, a young footballer from Kasarani explained that such tournaments offer girls a good platform to play football and explore the extents of their talents.

“I can tell girls out there who would like to play football, that they have to be dedicated to the cause, especially when they get such opportunities through tournaments,” said Akinyi who is representing pro-legends in the tournament.