{"id":1572,"date":"2004-03-27T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2004-03-27T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2004\/03\/27\/boxing-day-sports-festival-in-mikindaniby-matt-maddocks\/"},"modified":"2023-12-10T11:34:44","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T11:34:44","slug":"boxing-day-sports-festival-in-mikindaniby-matt-maddocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/boxing-day-sports-festival-in-mikindaniby-matt-maddocks.html","title":{"rendered":"Boxing Day Sports Festival in Mikindani\nby Matt Maddocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having been nothing but impressed with the way the
\nMikindani Sports Club or ‘Klabu ya Uboreshaji’
\n(the club’s Swahili name which means improving
\noneself through sports) was been run, I wanted to reward
\nthe club’s members along with others in the village with a
\nday of competitions. Thanks to the efforts of those
\nvolunteers with me and several willing helpers on the day,
\nthe 26th<\/sup> December brought memories to a vast
\nnumber of people, both spectators and competitors alike. We
\nheld a sports day which included a Bao competition and a
\nfootball six-a-side taking place on the football ground on
\nMikindani’s biggest football team.<\/p>\n

Bao is a traditional Swahili board game played on a
\nboard on which seeds are moved around a series of carved
\nout dishes, the object of the game being to take your
\nopponents seeds achieved by finishing moves adjacent to an
\nopponents seed. Without explaining the ins and outs of the
\ngame a skilful play is made through experience, strategic
\nplay and being able to think moves ahead of the game which
\nmay be compared to chess or draughts. In Mikindani the
\nolder generation of males are the most respected group of
\nplayers so we invited three players from each of the
\nvillage wards to join up for a knock-out style competition.
\nProceedings took place under a mango tree and organisation
\ntook care of itself as there was a competitive but friendly
\natmosphere and players were self-affiliating and all joined
\ntogether, rather enjoying playing along side the best
\nplayers in the village. As the rounds went by, large crowds
\nwere drawn in and the final was quite a spectacle with two
\nplayers surrounded by a sea of onlookers, both competing
\nfor the prize money placed underneath the playing board.
\nThe champion was delighted with his title but all players
\nwere very humble and delighted with how the competition
\ntook place.<\/p>\n

While the Bao players ate complementary lunch, final
\npreparations were being made to the football pitches which
\nwere small with full sized goals promising lots of scoring
\nand the eight teams (made up from two sides from each of
\nMikindani’s four football teams) were warming up and
\nstretching off. Matches commenced and those who were not
\nplayers gathered on the sidelines with large numbers of
\nspectators to watch who was on form and for any nominations
\nfor the man of the tournament who would receive some golden
\nfootball boots! Games were fast and furious as any decent
\nsix-a-side should be but again collectiveness and good
\nspirit between teams was evident throughout.<\/p>\n

The crowds cheered as we were treated to some dazzling
\ntouches and outstanding play from all teams but the final
\nwas eventually contended (after both semi-finals going to
\npenalties, the hero goalkeepers held above heads by the
\nrest of the team and a few passionate supporters!) between
\nCigara F.C and Beach Boys who we were told were the
\nequivalent to ‘Arsenal and Manchester United’;
\nlong standing rivals keen to get one up on the other. In a
\nclosely fought final Beach Boys won by a single goal and
\ntheir followers ran on the pitch to congratulate their team
\njust as though they were professional sports men. A
\npresentation ended the day’s proceedings and a team
\nphoto of the 2003 winners.<\/p>\n

Later that day and the next, several comments from teams
\nand supporters gave their thanks for the day. I was told by
\nsome it was ‘the best public holiday ever’,
\n‘never to be beaten’ and ‘the village was
\nawoken with delight and happiness’. These are exactly
\nthe feelings I hoped to bring about and numerous groups in
\nMikindani were fulfilled, old men, young footballers and
\nfamilies of supporters all had a brilliant day.<\/p>\n

For more information about Trade Aid, volunteers and
\ntheir work, please visit their website: www.mikindani.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Discus this article and give feedback in our online forum<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having been nothing but impressed with the way the Mikindani Sports Club or ‘Klabu ya Uboreshaji’ (the club’s Swahili name which means improving oneself through sports) was been run, I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-1572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-march-2004"],"yoast_head":"\nBoxing Day Sports Festival in Mikindani by Matt Maddocks - eNewsletter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/boxing-day-sports-festival-in-mikindaniby-matt-maddocks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Boxing Day Sports Festival in Mikindani by Matt Maddocks - 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