By Decide Nhendo
Premier Soccer League side Bikita Minerals Football Club intends to adopt schools in Masvingo province as they seek to build a firm foundation for future success using local talent.
Speaking to TellZim News, Bikita Minerals FC vice president Pardon Chimombe said they were moved by the backing they got from the community and in return were going to work with local schools in the province as their feeder teams to extract local talent.
“As Bikita Minerals we owe our success to the support we got from our community. The community is our mainstay and we are going to create a platform for children to play for Bikita Minerals,” said Chimombe.
Chimombe said they were going to work with local schools in Bikita like Pamushana High and others as a way to involve the community in building Bikita Minerals into a bigger brand in local football.
He said they had a number of tasks they were going to partake in to make sure that Bikita Minerals evolves to be the focal centre of football development in Masvingo province.
“We are looking at renovating the Lithium stadium in Bikita so that our fans are not deprived of the opportunity to watch their team play home matches as well as business opportunities. Soon the club will unveil the new playing kits and replicas to be put on sale as part of brand-building initiatives,” said Chimombe.
Chimombe said Bikita Minerals performed fairly well in the opening matches of the season, and their target for the next match with TelOne at Sakubva stadium was a win to maintain a place in PSL.
“Bikita has performed well in the opening nine matches, and the target for our next match is a win as we are fighting to stay in the league. The coach believes that if they manage to get 20-25 points by mid-season the team is going to survive well in the league.
“Our fans are rallying behind us as they follow everywhere we play and their support is important to the team as it boost team morale and confidence in players,” said Chimombe.
The promotion of Bikita Minerals Football Club into the Premier Soccer League (PSL) has not brought enough joy to fans and the business community who had prospects of watching PSL closer to home.
The business community was hoping to make money during matches with the hospitality industry anticipating to get full bookings on the Lithium Boys’, as Bikita Minerals is affectionately known, home matches.
These hopes are still pipeline dreams as most stadia in the country including Bikita Minerals are not up to standard to host PSL matches, a development which will see the Lithium Boys using Sakubva Stadium in Mutare as their home ground.
Apart from local people being denied business opportunities when teams are supposed to host matches at their respective stadiums, they also miss a chance to watch professional soccer live with aspiring young talents failing to learn and be familiarized with professional soccer firsthand.
