HARARE - Hexagon Sports Management’s partnership with local sports continues to grow and at the weekend they donated football equipment to the Eastlea Soccer Academy.

It was not the first time that Hexagon donated to the academy after a similar gesture last year and on Saturday they donated 30 balls and 60 bibs.

Hexagon’s marketing executive, Fungai Zinatsi said they want to make a difference by providing necessary resources for the nurturing of young talent.

“This is our blue-print academy that we are using first so we are working with one for starters and if we are done we move to the other academy,” Zinatsi said during the handover ceremony at academy’s Churchill grounds.

“We are donating to Eastlea for now but we are also going to donate to other academies as well. So definitely you will see more donations that are going to come in the future.

“We realised soccer is one of our big brands at Hexagon so we discovered we have so much talent in Zimbabwe and we decided to support the kids.

“Most of the problem that these academies suffer is that they don’t have resources and we are saying we have the resources so let’s make the best out of it.”  

The technical director at the academy, Gorge Jojo, who established the project three years ago with kids drawn from the Eastlea neighbourhood and Harare Children’s Home, expressed gratitude for the gesture.

“This is a very noble gesture from Hexagon and I really appreciate when the corporate world comes in to support us in our endeavour to develop grassroots football,” Jojo said.

“I am very much blessed to receive such a gesture because for me football is a calling and when I get such kind of gestures from the community I say thank you God for the gift of life and gift of football talent.

“From the look of things this academy is set to grow bigger especially now that the corporate world started to recognise us and I would love to urge other stakeholders to follow suit not only to Eastlea Academy but to other football academies as well.”     

The passionate coach, who funds the academy from his own finances, hopes to have fully transformed it into a national success within the next few years.

He draws inspiration from successful academy owners and renowned junior development masters, Wieslaw Grabowski and Marc Duvillard.

The academy which he solely sponsors as well as coach is run on Christian values which involve teachings on health, hygiene and nutrition as the fundamentals for a total player. - Sports Writer