By Foibe N Paavo
SWAKOPMUND, 19 May 2022 – Four players from the Teenage Football Academy in Swakopmund, who have been chosen to take part in development trials in Italy, paid a visit to the Erongo governor, Neville Andre, on Wednesday morning.
Eugene Jona, Vikapita Tjombonde, Jurgen Jona, and Dorian Junior Nanuseb will be leaving for a one-month preparatory course in South Africa on 6 July. There they will be based in Johannesburg at a facility organised by the Worldwide Scholarships Group and be prepared for the month by Uefa-licenced coaches.
After the preparatory course, the boys will fly the Namibian flag high when they arrive in Milan on 4 August in time for the trials which kick-off starts two days later on 6 August.
“Should they be lucky, then they will be taken out of the youth setup at Milan. Looking at their ages, they will definitely shift up into one of the Italian team’s youths setups. And then systematically grow into getting a place at the senior teams and ultimately become privileged professional players,” said coach Elvin Majiedt, manager at Teenage Football Club.
Coach Elvin stressed that the process might also not be that quick and will be a lengthy one.
He said sport nowadays is a direction that allows champions to make a living.
“Yes, I know football is a short-term career but if you can make it, you can flourish in it. Look at the Mboma’s, they currently have sport on the table and they use it to make living from it.”
The coach believes that, with the current academics the boys have, they should be able to use the knowledge they have somewhere, somehow in a business established by themselves and that they could also use it in sports to become directors for football.
“I don’t want to take the Namibian child away from academics, but academics is not for all of us. It should be something that one can use to open a door to a career and sports can also do the same with academics as the cover.”
Meanwhile, parents are currently going out of their way to gather the trip fees to get their children well prepared for their dream opportunity. – Namibia Daily News
