Akua Adofoa Youth Development Foundation, an organisation committed to youth development in the Asante Akyem enclave, has organised a three-day invitational football tournament at Morso in the Asante-Akim South Municipality.
Twenty-eight teams drawn from primary, junior high and senior high schools as well as town teams from Morso, Kurofa, Asankare, Adomfe, Kyekyebiase, Aboaboso and Juaso participated in the annual event.
Adomfe Presby Primary and their Junior High School (JHS) counterparts won both the primary and JHS categories, beating Kyekyebiase Methodist Primary and Juaso Methodist Junior High School respectively in the finals.
In the Senior High School category, Kurofa Methodist Senior High School emerged winners followed by Morso Senior High School and Oweriman Senior High School.
The winners, first and second runner-ups received various prizes including cash as well as teaching and learning materials.
All participating schools were also given a set of jersey each as part of the appearance package.
Also part of the event which sought to promote academic excellence and entrepreneurial skills of participants were quiz and cooking competitions.
Dr. Kwaku Owusu-Abrokwah, Founder and President of the Foundation told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the idea behind the annual tournament was influenced by the selflessness of the late Akua Adofoa, an industrious woman who was passionate about the welfare of children.
He said for some time he noticed that a lot of children were not attending school and decided to put together the various competitions for only children in school as a way to attract the truant ones to school.
“In Ghana, a lot of people love football including children so I thought of a way of getting them in school through football and other exciting activities,” he explained.
The competition also enables the children socialise with people from other communities, build their confidence and learn new things from their peers, he noted.
Dr. Owusu Abrokwah spoke about how the tournament had been unearthing talents over the last four years when the competition was introduced, citing an example of a boy who was identified and nurtured through the competition and currently a member of the National under 17 team.
