The JEWELS Football Training exercise took place on Saturday, June 9th at the Middle Pitch. The activity started at approximately 9:30am amidst a gray overcast and drizzling rain. However, this did not deter the ladies from coming out.

The training began with a gentle instruction of “One lap. Run.” by OEC Coach extraordinair Kizo. This was followed by more warm ups. Trainer Chichi then took over with a series of leg and arm exercises. Panting but excited , the ladies willingly complied with the directions given. Dr. Ade joined in to offer support and encouragement to the ladies. In the end they all had a thorough full body warm up.

Then came the tricky part of the ladies trying to manipulate their feet and the ball at the same time while running.They were placed into two groups (headed by Kizo and Chichi) and directed to “dribble” the ball in a race to give them a taste of competition. The losing team had to run one lap around the pitch. Sadly for them Chichi’s team lost.

The ladies were then directed to practice passing the ball and scoring. Some couldn’t wait to smash it but Kizo instructed them they must first stop the ball, think and redirect it. They also practiced cross passing to prepare them for the event that an opponent may be in between them and their team mate. This was followed by scoring practice with none other than Dr Ade as the goal keeper. They formed a line and one by one attempted to make a goal. Some ladies managed to make a goal.

It was now time for the ladies to put all their training to the test. The two teams arranged themselves on opposing sides of the pitch and a mad scramble for the ball ensued following the whistle with Chichi’s team forced to defend their keep. After a while the score was 1-0 in favor of Kizo’s team. Striker Tariro valiantly tried to even the score but was denied by Alyc. Power player Debbie also tried to score but was denied. All in all the game was a fun flurry of laughs, screams, shouts and even head butts with the ladies clapping and encouraging each other throughout.