Transforming
a Girls Life through Soccer
I
am an enthusiastic, confident young woman who loves football so much! I recall
the first time I kicked a football was when I was about 10 years in primary
school, it was amazing how much joy a single ball could bring. I happen to come
from a sporty family, my older brother used to play for the Men’s National
Football team. I would often listen to matches he played in on the radio. I
wanted to be like him, and one day play for national team and my dream came
true……
I would excel in sports so much in school. I
played football and netball but football was what I loved the most. My school
team would excel so much in football that we would make it to the nationals; my
parents would try and stop me from playing football, they wanted me to focus
more on my studies.
The secondary school I was in did not excel so
much in football; we only made it to the district level. So after secondary
school, I began to play football seriously and joined a football club in
Dagoretti known as Dagoretti United Sisters. While playing for Dagoretti United,
Mohamed, Binti United Football Club coach spotted me and convinced me to join
Binti, which is sponsored by YWLI.
When
I joined Binti, I realized Binti had a lot more to offer and that’s when I
decided that was something I wanted to part of . When I was in Binti I would
play as well as coach and mentor young girls. I believe that there is a great
link between sports and leadership. Sports has a lot more to offer other than
just gaining fitness and being on the field and having fun, you gain a lot of
personal skills. When you play football you take on roles on the field for
example when you are tasked with being captain, this requires you to be
resilient, a team player and have good listening skills. These are skills and
qualities that you need to apply in your daily life.
Through
Binti I gained experience in coaching girls team, I gained managerial skills, I
gained leadership skills through attending trainings and forums organized by
YWLI that helped boost my skills as a leader. Am currently working with girls
who are much older, which is very interesting, many people have the perception that it’s difficult to work with girls, but I
have discovered a way to get them intrinsically motivated. I expose them to
what opportunities are out there for young women.
As
a football coach, I strongly believe that girls would benefit from playing
sports in their adolescent years. I believe that soccer acts as form of support
system for the girls. It offers them a space where they can interact and gain life skills. For myself, I don’t know
where I would have been without football. It has opened doors for me and
allowed to excel to great heights.
I
believe that a lot more needs to done support girls and women’s football in
Kenya. The lack of support makes many girls withdraw from football. The
governments support towards girls and women’s football is minimal. Many parents also do not support there girls
to play football as they feel that the girls should be at home assisting with
household chores.
I
encourage girls who are currently playing to continue, I have seen girls who
have been able to pursue higher education through football scholarships.
We
can all play a role to ensure that girls and women football grows, through
supporting women and girls who play football.
By
Caroline Ajowi
Young Women's Leadership Institute (YWLI) is one of the four partner institutes of the African Centers of Excellence (ACE) for Women's Leadership program run by the Institute of International Education (IIE) , Ethiopia Office.
For more on IIE , ACE or YWLI please follow the links below.
www.iie.org/
www.iie.org/en/Programs/ACE-for-Womens-Leadership,
www.ywli.org