The Joyce Banda Foundation (JBF) International School will have three teams taking part in various football competitions this year.
According to the school’s sports teacher Robert Munthali, they are set to introduce Under-14 and Under-17 soccer teams on top of their existing Under-20 side because they were struggling to find suitable replacement for their soccer stars that graduate from the school.
“Our players need to go through the proper development stages if we are to keep a tight grip on the Airtel title. Our senior team will be competing in the Airtel competition and the FMB League.
“The other sides will respectively enter events such as the Kachere Bakery and the Presidential contests,” said Munthali.
For instance, he said five of their key players, who helped the side defend the Airtel Rising Stars Schools Tournament in the country and finished in the quarter-finals during the Africa Airtel Rising Stars contest in Nigeria last September, are now ineligible as they have completed their secondary school studies.
The five stars, namely, Wongani Kuchisanja, Trevor Kalema, Lasten Kamuyang’ana, Timothy Govati and Martin Mapinda, also played a crucial role for the school team to win the Copa Coca-Cola South West Education Division (Swed) title for the fourth consecutive time.
In spite of that, the five players also earn call-ups to the junior Flames squad on regular basis.
