Surestream Academy coach decries age-cheating
Surestream Academy head coach Andy Dell has revealed that age-cheating emerged as one of the problems in the first week of rolling out the ambitious project.
The academy, which is based at the former MDC Stadium in Malawi’s commercial city, Blantyre, held a trial episode of the league at the weekend.
Dell said the problem of age-cheating is so rampant that even some school teachers are encouraging the malpractice.
In an exclusive interview on Tuesday, Dell said: “The problem that we had this week was that we had older children trying to play in leagues that are not within their age ranges. If we have older children sneaking into an age group they do not belong to, then we are not serving the purpose of this project,†said Dell.
He said the age group that is being targeted by the academy is between eight and 16 years.
“So, we expect authorities, especially teachers and guardians, to be in the forefront in curbing this malpractice. Let us be the first African country to genuinely do this, but for this to happen, we will need the support of all stakeholders, be it the children themselves, parents and guardians,†he said.
Dell also said they have come up with strict measures to curb age-cheating.
Dell said the actual leagues in all the targeted age-ranges will start on November 3.
However, he said the academy is still in need of volunteer coaches.
Currently, apart from Dell, other technical members include the academy’s technical director Peter Mponda, Patricio Kulemeka and FAM technical director Jack Chamangwana.
