Friday February 14, 2020
PAGE 35
Kaieteur News
UEFA teams up with Disney in a bid to boost girls participation Manchester, England (Reuters) - UEFA has teamed up with Disney to launch a pan-European project aimed at increasing the number of girls playing football. The biggest-ever attempt to boost girls’ involvement in the game will start this spring in seven European countries before being introduced across the continent, European soccer’s governing body said yesterday. The new ‘Playmakers’ project is aimed at girls aged five to eight years old, who are not currently playing football, and is focused around play and games involving popular Disney characters and storylines. The first stage of the project will be based around the Incredibles 2 film and characters. UEFA had already committed to an ambitious target of doubling the number of women and girls playing the sport by 2024 and the youngest age group is seen as key to that change. Nadine Kessler, UEFA’s Head of Women’s Football, told Reuters that the aim of the programme was to “create an environment for all girls to flourish and develop, whether
that be fundamental movement skills, football basics or life skills and values. “We truly believe that this unique programme can be the spark for a more active generation of football-loving girls.” While more teenage girls and women are playing football, girls tend to start later than boys, choosing other sports or activities. UEFA examined research which showed that globally 84% of girls under the age of 17 are not meeting the World Health Organization minimum activity guidelines. When girls reach the age of 15-24, they are half as likely to participate in sport as boys the same age, according to studies by the European Commission for Education, Sport, Youth and Culture. Kessler says that sessions at Playmakers events will be very different from traditional training sessions. “There will still be football cones and a ball but these sessions will allow girls to play out scenes of their favorite Disney movies, they will be empowered to take on the character and roles of their favorite Disney heroes.
UEFA teams up with Disney in a bid to boost girls participation “It is broken down into 10 sessions and the girls will learn basic football skills by completing different tasks,” she added. The Playmakers project will launch in Scotland, Norway, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Romania, and Serbia this spring, before a full pan-European roll-out. Disney is not one of
UEFA’s commercial partners and has joined up with the organisation specifically for the Playmakers project. “It is a completely new agreement we have signed and a very important one,” said Kessler. “If you decided to create a programme based on playbased learning then you want
Stoute resists but Muhammad, Hinds limit Pride Bridgetown, Barbados, CMC – A Kevin Stoute halfcentury underpinned critical rearguard action from Barbados Pride and denied Trinidad and Tobago Red Force total domination of the opening day of their fifth round match here yesterday. Opting to bowl first, Red Force snatched the early advantage as seamers Uthman Muhammad (3-47) and Terrance Hinds (3-51) sliced through the Pride top order to reduce the innings to 47 for six after lunch, before the hosts recovered to reach 209 all out at Kensington Oval. Stoute, in his third match of the season, top-scored with 52 batting at number seven while Ashley Nurse slammed a better than run-aball 48 and Test seamer Kemar Roach, an important 38. In reply, Red Force lost Joshua DaSilva for 13 as they reached 52 for one at the close, with left-hander Jeremy Solozano ending unbeaten on 35. Needing precious points from the encounter after enduring the frustration of a rain-ravaged drawn fourth round game against Windward Islands Volcanoes last week, Red Force enjoyed a dream start. Left-handed opener Shayne Moseley struck four fours in his 23 before Hinds
Left-arm seamer Daniel St Clair. found his edge in the morning’s ninth over for DaSilva to take a smart catch at second slip. Seven runs later with 30 on the board, Muhammad removed in-form Test batsman Shamarh Brooks for four to a catch low down at gully by Kjorn Ottley, the right-hander driving loosely outside off-stump. And with no runs added in the same over, Justin Greaves lost his middle stump to a full length delivery, leaving Red Force in control
of the first hour. Test opener Kraigg Brathwaite, who has struggled this season averaging 21 from eight innings, continued his miserable run – shouldering arms to one from left-armer Daniel St Clair (2-39) in the last over before lunch and falling lbw for four. Brathwaite took 20 balls to get off the mark and lasted 55 balls in an hour-and-a-half at the crease. Tottering on 33 for four at the interval, Pride found little reprieve after the resumption as Hinds bowled
Kyle Mayers in the second over, spectacularly removing the left-hander’s off-stump for 10. And in the next over, St Clair shattered Test wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich’s stumps for three, after breaching the righthander’s defence. Stoute started the revival when he put on an invaluable 87 for the seventh wicket with Roach before adding a further 26 for the eighth wicket with Nurse. The 34-year-old Stoute played an attractive innings, counting nine fours off 85 balls in just over two hours at the crease. Roach crunched a couple of fours and three sixes off 72 balls before edging a slash at a wide ball from Muhammad and going caught at the wicket at 134 for seven. Red Force then got the prized wicket of Stoute just before tea, caught down the leg-side by wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin sweeping at left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein (2-49) but Nurse, who punched seven fours in a 47ball cameo, rallied the innings. Scores: PRIDE 209 (Kevin Stoute 52, Ashley Nurse 48, Kemar Roach 38, Shayne Moseley 23; Uthman Muhammad 3-47, Terrance Hinds 3-51). RED FORCE 52 for one (Jeremy Solozano 35 not out).
to have the best characters and stories in the world and I think Disney has inspired
generations and we are really happy to be able to use some of this magic.”
Wilder v Fury II: Briton says he needs to knock out American to guarantee victory
Fury is set to take on Deontay Wilder (left) on February 22 in a high-profile rematch.(Getty Images) BBCsport - Tyson Fury says he will have to knock out Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas to avoid a repeat of the judging controversy of their first fight. The British heavyweight, despite hitting the canvas twice, believed he had won their enthralling December 2018 WBC contest, declared a draw. “I believe I out-boxed him,” said Fury, who fights Wilder again on 22 February. To guarantee a win, I need a knockout. I don’t want another controversial decision - I want a defining win.” Fury, nicknamed the
Gypsy King, was knocked down in the ninth and 12th rounds but nevertheless impressed as he went the distance in what was his first world title fight since returning to boxing the previous June, after a threeyear absence. The spectacle in Los Angeles was scored 115-111 for Wilder, 114-112 for Fury and 113-113. The 31-year-old, speaking during a conference call, added: “I’m not a judge and these guys see what they see, but my own destiny lies with my own two fists.” (Continued on page 32)