Afrocat wraps up sports camp in Keetmans
Afrocat Sports Club wrapped up its beach volleyball clinic and tournament at Southside Oasis Entertainment Park in Keetmanshoop’s Noordhoek last weekend.
The sports camp forms part of the club’s rollout of its National Youth and Sports Development Programme, which is being implemented under its Unified Sports Programme.
The programme includes volleyball, netball and football, adopting a development-focused and capacity-building approach aimed at ensuring long-term impact in participating regions.
Afrocat’s national footprint expansion will cover several regions, including Erongo, Omusati, Kavango, Otjozondjupa, ||Kharas, Hardap and Zambezi.
In these regions, the club will host coaching clinics, community training sessions, and tournaments, while also offering administrative and structural support. This includes the provision of a minimum of two balls, ten training cones, and one whistle per region.
The initiative aims to strengthen grassroots sport, identify talent, and enable sustainable regional sport structures across the country.
Each outreach is conducted by a structured delegation comprising two qualified coaches, one talent scout, and one programme coordinator.
The outreach sports programme kicked off with beach volleyball in Keetmanshoop last weekend and is scheduled to run until October this year across the identified regions.
The Keetmanshoop beach volleyball coaching clinic and tournament was spearheaded by the club section’s head coach, Aloisius “Coach C” Ishitile, a certified beach volleyball coach with a Level Two International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) qualification.
Imparting basic volleyball skills
The clinic imparted knowledge to local coaches, teachers and volunteers interested in taking up coaching roles, attracting a turnout of about 20 participants.
Ishitile also conducted community training sessions open to youth and the public, focusing on the basics of beach volleyball, including serving, passing and spiking. This was followed by a tournament aimed at talent identification.
The tournament attracted 11 teams, with 22 players competing in men’s and women’s two-a-side sections, as well as a two-a-side social mixed section.
The event introduced beach volleyball to players accustomed to the indoor format, providing valuable exposure to the sand-based discipline in a town without established beach volleyball athletes.
“Players were eager to learn, compete and gain experience on the sand. They reported learning important communication skills, including hand signals and correct body positioning,” said the organisers.
Champions in the men’s two-a-side section were Samuel Iita and Matthew Paulus. Aloisius Ishitile and Matheus Mupupa finished second, while Elia Paulus and Sakues Shaningi placed third.
Two-a-side winner Iita acknowledged the unforgiving weather conditions but said training on different surfaces helped them adapt to the sand.
Andreas Kary and Aaron Madondo rounded out the standings in fourth place.
No matches were played in the women’s section due to a lack of opponents.
Two-a-side mixed winners
In the two-a-side mixed section, Sarah Haman and Sakeus Shaningi were crowned champions, ahead of Ester Katjivikua and Jackson Aukongo in second place.
Reflecting on the event, Shaningi praised Afrocat’s initiative to take sport to the regions.
“This event was organised on short notice to start the year with positive volleyball energy. Despite limited preparation, it was successful and showed that the south has great potential,” he said.
His partner, Haman, highlighted some of the challenges of transitioning from indoor volleyball to the sand.
“In beach volleyball, you cover more court, deal with extreme heat, and must adapt to different rules compared to indoor volleyball,” she said.
Afrocat is actively seeking collaborations with stakeholders and the participation of regional sport officers.
The club is seeking support in areas such as accommodation, transport and equipment, as well as government involvement to ensure alignment with national and regional sport development strategies.
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