From street football to competing fiercely in Namibia's Second Division, Aroab Football Academy (AFA) aims to shape champions on and off the field.
The academy's vision is to develop players from Aroab village to play in regional or national teams.
AFA chairman and founder Kallen Esau says: "We have already produced boy and girl players who have represented AFA at regional level over the past few years."
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Two such players are Jason Davids, currently playing in the Namibian Premier League for Mighty Gunners FC, and Aileen Esau, who plays for Ongos FC in the Women Super league.
[Kallen] Esau says the academy keeps young people off the streets and disciplined.
"AFA has a positive influence on young people because it promotes teamwork, allowing them to showcase their talent in fun and engaging sport games.
"It also promotes fitness and prevents young people from hanging out at bars."
Esau says the academy only started with a women's team in 2021.
"For two consecutive years, AFA's women's team won the ||Kharas Regional League. This takes hard work, determination, dedication and discipline.
"Now that we are preparing for this weekend's women's regional league promotional playoffs, we have a goal to get promoted to the First National Bank (FNB) Women Super League (FNB WSL), the highest league for women's football in Namibia," he said last week.
Aroab FA subsequently gave some fine performances at the playoff tournament in Windhoek this weekend, winning two of their matches, but eventually lost out to Desert Foxes, who beat them 3-1.
Esau says the short-term goal for the 2024/25 year is for both the boys' and girls' teams to win their respective leagues.
"The boys' team won the third division and got promoted to second division. We want to be in the first division in the next three seasons. The opportunity is there this weekend for the girls' team to get promoted to the FNB WSL".
Coach Wemos Kooper says the academy's slogan is 'Educating Through Football'.
"And with the help of a great technical team and diehard supporters we are inspired to work for the good of the future of these boys and girls," he says.
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"Our future aspirations are to own a training centre, training equipment, a shelter for the players, such as a youth centre, and hopefully transportation. The main desire is for us to make this academy the greatest at Aroab, in the ||Kharas region and beyond."
Kooper pleas for support form the Aroab Village Council to renovate Aroab Stadium.
"We would like our village council to renovate and upgrade our stadium to have our home games there so we can proceed with our development from under-8s," he says.
AFA women's team captain Emmogene Freyer says: "This journey has significantly shaped me and my teammates' confidence through skills development and building resilience and encouraging teamwork.
"The academy has helped our soccer careers by giving us a positive environment with professional coaching and exposure."
Boys' team captain Desmond Christiaans says what keeps the team motivated is the support they receive from the community.
"It inspires us to do our best," he says.
Team manager Rodler Gertze says they are battling limited infrastructure and access to resources.
"Our advantage was building or starting with boys at an early age and keeping the same volunteering staff, which meant building quality relationships between coach, players and parents (the community) over the years."
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