MYSA teams and trainers to depart for the East Africa Cup

A contingent of more than 250 Mathare Youth Sports Association volunteers, staff and players will on Tuesday the 21st of this month leave to join other teams from Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda under the spectacular, Mount Kilimanjaro in Moshi, Tanzania for the East Africa Cup which is the largest youth tournament in Africa.

In this year's tournament MYSA will be presented in all age categories, including under 13s, 14s and 16s, for both boys and girls. The group which is led by the MYSA Executive Council chairperson Daniel Mwengei, includes 12 football teams, 1 sitting volleyball team, 8 first-aiders, 20 outreach volunteers, 4 referees instructors, 8 referees and 23 staff members.

The MYSA acting Executive Director Mr. Henry Majale will also attend a high level Executive Committee meeting on Monday and an online Webcaster talk on the events history, achievements, culture, competition and education before the kick off that brings together more than 1,300 participants. This year's East Africa Cup takes place between the 20 and 25 June with the finals planned to take place on the afternoon of Saturday 25 June at the Moshi memorial stadium.

Before the start of the tournament all participants and their leaders get involved in a practical and educational programme of workshops. These include first aid, Kicking Aids Out, conflict resolution, leadership skills, and refereeing. The participating clubs must show a year-round commitment to using sports in their communities, and after each afternoon’s football there are cultural activities like dancing, signing and poetry.

The tournament is organised by four partner organizations namely; Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA), KRIK Norway, CHRISC East Africa and Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA). EAC is inspired by the Norway Cup which has had a similar event running for the last 30 years, only on a much larger scale of over 1,500 teams from all around the world.

MYSA has been in the forefront since the inception of the tournament by providing much needed technical skills on event organisation which includes: preparation of fixtures, training referees and coaches, identification of the talented players and Arts and Culture training for the participating countries.

Since the inception of the tournament, MYSA has won 14 Gold and 6 Silver medals being the only organisation that has won most awards than any other participating organisation from East Africa.