The team draws players from Sport in Action, Edusport Foundation, SCORE Zambia and SOS Children’s Village. The National Organisation for Women in Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation (NOWSPAR) was commissioned and funded to coordinate the preparations for Zambia’s participation this year.
The Norway Cup is one of the largest and oldest youth tournaments in the world and brings together over 30 countries from all continents, has over 2000 matches played by hundreds of girls and boys. This year the tournament will be held on 17th July to 3rd August 2009 in Oslo.
Team Zambia’s preparations are progressing, the team are training weekly, and they underwent a course on the tournament, the country of Norway and their role as ambassadors. A parents’ day was held were the team demonstrated some of the activities they have prepared for the Norway Cup. The Team will be having lunch with the Norwegian Ambassador to Zambia before they leave for Norway.
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The tournament is an opportunity for cultural exchange and the possibility of participating is a motivating factor to many youth in our programmes.
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The team has received tremendous support through the media coverage in print, radio and television. The corporate sector has been supportive by contributing skin care products, and T-Shirts for the team, the University of Zambia also provided training facilities.
During the parents day one of the parents thanked the KAO partners for their contribution to providing opportunities for their girl children to engage in sport, she was however worried about the limited availability of sports facilities and safe spaces for sport in the residential areas. She urged the KAO partners to lobby the Ministry of Sport around this issue.
The team members described being part of the team as exciting, special, important and fun. They are looking forward to sharing information about Zambia, life skills information through KAO activities, traditional song and dance and drama performances. They are further looking forward to learning about Norway and the other countries that will be represented at the tournament.
The delegation will be led by Ms. Matilda Mwaba of NOWSPAR and leaders Mr. Frank Muchindu of SIA, Ms. Hazel Sakala of SOS, and Mr. Gregory Shikombelo of Edusport and Ms. Besa Chibwe of SCORE. The final list of 16 team members will be shared soon.