Touch footy for children into finals

Normal, Sports

A BACK-to-school touch footy competition that has been taking place in Sabama for the past three weeks will now see its finals. The finals are set for this weekend.
The suburb of Sabama has had a long history with the sport and the tradition is being kept alive by the local ward councillor Medline Po’o who has brought on an initiative during her first term.
“We are all products of a rugby touch competition that goes a long way back and we all started playing while we were very young. Everyone who grew up around here played touch. It was contagious and caught on,” she said.
Po’o believes sports did have the ability to unite people and cultures and keep the young people in her ward area from crime.
She took the lead in arranging a Back-to-School competition which had been running for the last three weeks.
Coordinated by volunteers, eight clubs, fielded three male and three female teams in the U10, U15 and U17 divisions.
Games are played throughout the day along with relays which are also scheduled for three to six-year-old children.
“The children have shown commitment which is very exciting and the competition has proven to be very successful,” Po’o said.
She noted that the rate of crime and unruly behaviour, prevalent in the past, had dropped drastically.
She added that the competition ends this weekend and while there may not be a cash prizes for the winning teams and a trophy for the best player, the fact that everyone enjoyed themselves is immeasurable.
“We do not have the funds to host anything fancy so I have organised the mothers who have children playing to bring along food to share on Sunday when we end the competition and wish our children the best for the year.”