SKW youth tournament gets bigger

A record 60 teams and 1000 players will be in action this weekend at the annual SKW Youth Tournament sponsored by the Retirement Fund Solution.
A team from Rosh Pinah will also participate in the tournament. The first division outfit Swakopmund FC and second league outfit Ojiwarongo FC will also be in action while the only two local Namibia Premier League (NPL) clubs, Ramblers and Cymot SKW, with youth structures will be joined by newcomers DTS and several Windhoek youth academies.
This year’s tournament will mark the first time that the new Namibian Football Association (NFA) youth soccer structures will be implemented. The structures comply with those played in the major football countries affecting mainly the age group U/11 and U/13.
The U/11 age group will play “7 aside” games with no off-sides. While in the U/13 age group nine  players from each team will play the new “big size field reduced” which means that all rules apply such as off-sides and the back pass rule just on a smaller-sized field. The new playing system was introduced a year ago in Germany as a demo and will be applicable as official playing form as from the 2011/2012 season.
The tournament this year falls at the same time with the WIKA Kehraus which starts Saturday at the SKW main hall. The major SKW event weekend will be rounded off with the NPL match between Cymot SKW and Orlando Pirates schedulled for 15h00 on Sunday.
The tournament will take place from Friday afternoon till Sunday. The Bambini, U/7 and U/9 will play as usual on the SKW Fistball fields while the U/11,13,15 and 17 age groups as well as the girls will entertain the crowds on the three soccer fields.
Retirement Fund Solution once again sponsored the tournament. The company has been on board since 2008 when the tournament was played for the first time.