Holiday Classic

The Suba Lakers Hosted their first ever regional girls football tournament.  We had strong teams from all over the western part of Kenya including Kendu Bay, Kisumu and Rongo.  The people of Mbita finally were able to see how fun and entertaining it can be to watch ladies football.  In fact there were several players that had just flown back into Kenya from Lesotho where they had been playing for the Kenya National Team.  The true football fans around here were given a big treat. 

Rongo ended up winning the tournament, defeating Victoria 1-0 in the finals.  In the third place match the Suba Lakers were defeated by Kisumu Leeds United.  The Lakers played so well in the semifinals before losing a close one 2-1 to the chamions.  The third place match was also a narrow 1-0 defeat.  Our Junior tea, comprised of all primary school girls, also competed in the tournament against the old women.  They did a great job and gained a lot of valuable experience and confidence.  They drew two matches and lost the other one 2-1.  They almost qualified for the semifinals. 

I was happy because the tournament was very well run.  All of the matches started on time, the refereeing was very good and there was no problem with the schedule, fixtures, brackets, prizes, meals, etc.  It is very rare to get a tournament in Kenya without having big arguments and lots of drama, but God enabled us to do it.  All of the teams were very complementary towards the organization and running of the tournament. 

The best part of the tournament is that it was more than just football.  Before the first match we had Lillian Ombori share with the girls for a time about relationships and peer pressure, giving some great demonstrations about how a small drop can pollute a glass of water.  She really had the girls attention.

In the evening on Thursday, we showed all of the teams a video with different international athletes giving their testimonies and then had Pastor Amos share a short message with them, encouraging them to seek God first in their lives and to follow his ways. 

It was a lot of work and ended up costing much more than we had budgeted for, but we were thankful for the sucess of the 2 day tournament.  For more detailed information, you can check out http://www.subalakers.com/