Makueni County is set to host the first-ever unified sports tournament in Africa from 9th to 10th March 2024.
The county Executive for Children, Youth, Sports and Social Services Eng. Peter Mumo has disclosed that the tournament will feature female football that will comprise of a mix of approximately equal number of athletes with intellectual disabilities and those without in the same team for training and competition.
“We are calling it unified sports because we are going to have a mix of people without intellectual disabilities and those with the same playing during the tournament,” said Eng. Mumo, while addressing the media at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), Makueni campus sports grounds, where the games will be held.
The game is funded jointly by Nike through the Special Olympics and the County Government of Makueni.
He further said that the project aims at promoting inclusivity, fostering understanding and supporting persons with intellectual disabilities within the community, where the teams are drawn from in the county.
The county executive also said that through sports the county government of Makueni intends to advance and empower women in the county so that they can contribute to the sporting activities in the area.
On his part, the Sports Manager for the Special Olympics Kenya Vincent Mungai said this particular sport was started worldwide because females with intellectual disabilities are never engaged in sports.
“The reason we came up with this sport is because in the world over, females with intellectual disabilities have been left behind mostly in the engagement in sports,” said Mungai.
The initiative started last October 2023, where 240 football coaches and referees were trained from across the wards in the county, with 171 men and 69 women benefitting from the programme.
By Patrick Nyakundi
