Aspire Academy heads for Sweden Vengai Tinarwo
Vengai Tinarwo

Vengai Tinarwo

Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
ASPIRE Soccer Academy from Norton, Mashonaland West, have been awarded a lifetime opportunity of competing in the Gothia Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden, next year. The Gothia Cup is the world’s largest international youth soccer tournament. Every year it attracts around 1 600 teams from 80 nations to compete in this football jamboree.

It was incepted in 1975 with 275 teams taking part in the inaugural competition and since then the event has been running for over three decades.

And Norton’s Aspire Soccer Academy have been invited to take part in this annual event that will be staged in Gothenburg from July 14 to 19 next year.

The academy, who are based at Mbuya Bona Primary School, caters for Under-10, Under-13, Under-14 and Under-17 players within Norton and the surrounding areas.

And their operations director, Vengai Tinarwo, said they have 80 children who train under their academy and they will be sending an Under-18 team to next year’s Gothia Cup in Sweden.

“We were invited for the tournament last month and we are already registered to compete. They (the organisers of the Gothia Cup) invite teams from different countries and it’s an annual event. It will be held next year from July 14 to 19.

“We have some good, talented players and it’s an opportunity for them to showcase their skills there. For our academy, it’s an opportunity to learn how other people operate or run their academies in other countries and as coaches, we also exchange ideas so that we can implement them here in Zimbabwe. I think it will help change the face of our academy here,” said Tinarwo.

Tinarwo said they are sending an Under-18 boys team and they are starting some fund-raising activities to raise US$40 000 that is needed for the trip to Sweden in July next year.

“We are sending an Under-18 team. So far we have embarked on fund-raising for the air tickets for 20 players and five officials. We need about US$40 000 for the air tickets. They (the organisers of the Gothia Cup) have said they will assist us with accommodation but we also have to raise some extra funds that will cover for our other expenses while we are there.

“We are organising a dinner dance at Pakare Paye in Norton at the end of November. Yesterday (Sunday) we had a meeting and 22 parents attended. They have shown interest in this latest  development and made some pledges.

“This is our first time to compete outside the country. We were supposed to go to Malawi in August but we failed due to lack of funding. We are currently using our personal funds to sustain the academy,” said Tinarwo.

Tinarwo, who runs the academy together with technical director Dunken Milanzi, said they formed Aspire Academy in 2011 with 40 players.
“I met Dunken Milanzi with a group of players he was working with and most of them were orphans but they were talented. We thought of doing something for the kids to play organised football and that’s how we formed the academy in 2011.

“We have three coaches — Andrew Kanonge, Tonderai Mangani and Bento Mutizwa. We started with about 40 children in the Under-13 age-group because we wanted to focus on one age-group but we realised that there were children in other age-groups coming in,” said Tinarwo.

The Aspire Soccer Academy operations manager said they are currently playing in the Harare Junior League to keep their players active since they do not have a running league in Mashonaland West.

“We are currently playing in the Harare Junior League which has 22 teams in each age-group and our Under-13 team are on top of the log standings in their section. They have played 21 games, lost one and drew twice only.”

Meanwhile, Audrey Madakiwa, a Zimbabwean who is based in Gothenburg, yesterday said he was already “sourcing for some soccer jerseys and boots” for Aspire Academy ahead of their trip to Sweden for next year’s Gothia Cup.

Speaking from Gothenburg yesterday, Madakiwa said he and other two Zimbabweans — Pedzai Muusha and Edridge Dhliwayo — who are also based in this Swedish city, have also decided to pull their resources together “so that we will make players from Aspire Academy feel at home during their one-week stay in Sweden”.

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