The SIFF Women's Development officer, Diane Justus' outreach programme to schools in the city has received positive feedback.

The programme started last Friday after it was postponed because of continuous rain in Honiara.

Chung Wah Primary School at China Town received the first visit and the response was overwhelming, says Ms. Justus.

She said the visit was an eye opener for the young crowd and response from kids was "just awesome".

"Though soccer is the country's number one sport, a lot of the kids are not really sure about its rules and so on. The demonstrations I had with them (both in theory and practice) has got them thinking with a few of them expressing their desire to take football seriously," she said.

She had two sessions for the kids - for standards 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 and received instant request to return for similar programmes in the future.

"I felt good participating in the small sided games you organised," said Brendon Tam of Chung Wah School.

Others shared similar opinions which Ms Justus took as positive response to what she is doing and trying to achieve.

"Their response gave me confidence to continue with my school visit and I hope to cover as many schools as I can in the coming weeks," she said.

The sessions held for both young boys and girls was initially planned for girls.

"The whole intention of this programme is to introduce football to girls at an early age so that when they grow up they can make their mind whether to play soccer or not," she said.


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