Catch Them Young invades Mufakose

• Published date: 12 September 2016
• Publication title: The Sunday Mail

Catch Them Young sporting program was recently held in the high density suburb of Mufakose. It ended after three days of talent searching and grooming of tomorrow's superstars. Attracting over 250 children of the ages between 9 and 13 the grassroots sports development program held its fifth edition. The youngsters had three days off the streets at a local sports field learning how to play cricket, hockey and soccer from professional coaches and current players of those respective sporting disciplines.

Catch Them Young founder and director Jeremiah Matibiri said ''We have discovered that we are losing many potential stars in sports as most talent is perishing at a tender age due to lack of exposure mostly in high density suburbs unless one has been given a scholarship at a group-A school.

''This program is here to expose and develop future exceptional sport personalities mostly those who cannot access better facilities.''

After two days of ''Skills and Drills'' sessions, coaches selected children in cricket and hockey to apply the skills they learnt in a game situation as they made up teams in preparation of a closing tournament which was held at Mufakose 1 High School.

Junior soccer clubs in the area were accommodated as most of the youngsters who attended soccer sessions are already players at their respective teams which were available. One of the notable youngsters was Rufaro Chakanetsa.

Winners of the tournament walked away with a Catch Them Young t-shirt making them ambassadors of the program in the high density suburb. Coaches acknowledged that Catch Them Young is an initiative which can highly improve the sporting industry in the country and produce great stars like Khama Billiat, a Mufakose product too, after they identified some youngsters who are passionate with their respective sports.

One Conrad Nyambabvu, a...