Skrywer takes football to Dolam youth
By Michael Uugwanga
IT is rare to find a woman who never played football but passionate about the sport to start a tournament like what Renate Skrywer did this past Saturday when she hosted her first seven-a-side football tournament in Dolam location in Windhoek.
The Renate Skrywer football tournament -the first of its kind- was played at the Dolam Mall gravel field and will now become an annual event.
The tournament was contested by seven teams namely Hungry Lions, Amakroks, Seven O Seven, Black Stars, Dream Team and Rolling Stones A and B.
The tournament was won by Dream Team who defeated Rolling Stones A 2-1 in an intense final that was well attended by the residents of Dolam and from the surrounding areas.
The winning team walked away with N$500, while the second placed team received N$200 and third placed team, N$100.
Even though the prize money was not a lot, Skrywer said that the first edition was a pilot project of which next year the prize money will be increased as she will also be looking for other sponsors.
Skrywer is a sister to former Namibian defender and former player of Black Africa Football Club, the late Ringo Skrywer.
Skrywer’s house is situated opposite the Dolam mall sports field where the tournament was held.
“The idea started some few days ago and I told myself to start a seven-a-side tournament since I always see the boys in my street playing street football and I went towards the boys and asked them if they will be interested in a tournament and they all said yes. That is when I started with the seven-a-side.
“Since the tournament is still new in the near future I will look at the bigger picture like searching for sponsors. Next year there will be a floating trophy for the winning team. Next month I am also planning to host a women tournament since it will be breast cancer month.
“I am doing this for our youth as we all know that through sport we can empower the youth from engaging into illegal activities such as alcohol abuse and drugs,” said Skrywer.