{"id":25736,"date":"2023-04-19T16:28:07","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T16:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?p=25736"},"modified":"2023-04-19T16:01:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T16:01:13","slug":"amai-football-trials-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend","title":{"rendered":"AMAI football trials this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>Africa Must Arise Initiative (AMAI), an organisation that uses various interventions to strengthen communities by empowering the youth, has called for support in the football trials it has planned for New Era College this weekend.<\/b><\/p>\n

AMAI and its collaborating partners have invited football scouts from Spanish La Liga, and its second and third divisions.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference in preparation for the event, Lady M Football Academy Chief Executive Officer, Ookeditse Malesu said they were expecting the scouts to land in the country on Friday, with trials slated for Saturday and Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a pool of about 500 children wishing to advance their opportunities in soccer, but most of them could not pay the required registration fee, safe for only about 75. Out of those, about 50 were assisted by our partners,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Malesu therefore called on the corporate world and individuals to come forth and pledge financial assistance for the remaining ones, something he said would help them realise the children\u2019s dream of a chance at professional football.<\/p>\n

The CEO said those who made it through the weekend trial would travel to Spain in July, an all-expenses paid trip for a second set of the trials, with those advancing getting full sponsorship and scholarships at academies in Spain.<\/p>\n

He said that as a first in the country, it was their intention to get the initiative right.<\/p>\n

Malesu said that it would also do the local football scene good to have players based at professional leagues around the world, something he said would make national teams competitive on the global stage.<\/p>\n

For her part, AMAI Director of Communications and Outreach, Tumisang Keitseng said the initiative covered the whole country, especially Gaborone and its environs keeping youngsters from the streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese youngsters are likely to go into crime because of all the idle time they have, so we want to engage them and pick those who have talent in football to try and develop them. We also work with schools to select those who are still schooling,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said the scouts they were expecting over the weekend had professional qualifications such as the UEFA Pro license.<\/p>\n

Keitseng also appreciated some of their partners such as Bokomo, CA Sales, Unik Charitable Trust Academy and South African High Commissioner to Botswana among others, for coming forth to support the initiative in either cash or in kind.<\/p>\n

AMAI Project Concept and Design Coordinator, Felix Mwanga said that the organisation went beyond just football, and said they were willing to take the organisation to the Pan African level as it was a platform with potential to help youth and communities make a living.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good thing about Botswana youth is that they have passion for making a life out of school, such as through football. It is also good that football commands about 98 per cent of global sports interest,\u201d he said. He said that the initiative was therefore a solid investment.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. Africa Must Arise Initiative (AMAI), an organisation that uses various interventions to strengthen communities by empowering the youth, has called for support in the football trials it has planned for New Era College this weekend. AMAI and its collaborating partners have invited football scouts from Spanish La Liga, and its second and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-25736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nAMAI football trials this weekend - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Africa Must Arise Initiative (AMAI), an organisation that uses various interventions to strengthen communities by emp ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AMAI football trials this weekend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa Must Arise Initiative (AMAI), an organisation that uses various interventions to strengthen communities by emp ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-19T16:28:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"AMAI football trials this weekend\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-19T16:28:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend\"},\"wordCount\":506,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend\",\"name\":\"AMAI football trials this weekend - Botswana\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-19T16:28:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Africa Must Arise Initiative (AMAI), an organisation that uses various interventions to strengthen communities by emp ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"AMAI football trials this weekend\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AMAI football trials this weekend\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/\",\"name\":\"Botswana\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"AMAI football trials this weekend - Botswana","description":"Africa Must Arise Initiative (AMAI), an organisation that uses various interventions to strengthen communities by emp ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"AMAI football trials this weekend","og_description":"Africa Must Arise Initiative (AMAI), an organisation that uses various interventions to strengthen communities by emp ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend","og_site_name":"Botswana","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-04-19T16:28:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"AMAI football trials this weekend","datePublished":"2023-04-19T16:28:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend"},"wordCount":506,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Botswana","Botswana"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend","name":"AMAI football trials this weekend - Botswana","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg","datePublished":"2023-04-19T16:28:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Africa Must Arise Initiative (AMAI), an organisation that uses various interventions to strengthen communities by emp ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/04\/postQueueImg_1681900111.88.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"AMAI football trials this weekend"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/amai-football-trials-this-weekend#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AMAI football trials this weekend"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/","name":"Botswana","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}