The new participation growth project, called “HEILALA MANONGI” successfully launch in ‘Eua, Vava’u and finally in Tongatapu.
The Tonga Football President, Lord Ve’ehala officially launched the Heilala Manongi together with Belinda Wilson, FIFA Women’s Football Technical Consultant, Emma Evans, OFC Women’s Football Development Officer and Melanie Giles from the FIFA DO for Oceania. Pastor ‘Ofa Pepa from the SDA lead the opening prayer, while Palu ‘Uhatahi Tu’amoheloa, Women’s Representative to TFA EXCO welcome everyone.
Prior to the launching of the “Heilala Manongi “, Belinda Wilson, the FIFA Women Football Consultant, had been instrumental in working on the project with Tonga Football Association team.
Wilson says, “We have been working closely with TFA for over a year and had assessment visits to understand the nature of football on Tonga. More importantly what gaps needed to be closed to help the development of Women’s Football on the islands. We worked closely with the Technical Director, Women’s Football Manager and Grassroots managers. The discussions we had created a very clear understanding of what was currently happening and what areas that we needed to focus more on to help the development of the game in Tonga”.
In her first initial workshop in July 2019, she also had an opportunity to discuss specific elements with the project leaders of each of the islands.
She said, “Once we had all relevant information we then sat down and came up with a program where we could link player pathways, develop qualified coaches and identify and mentor Coach Educators that is tailored to Tonga and to the communities. This project will stretch over 6 Islands and over 50 communities. Thus, allowing girls aged between 13-15 to participate in a fun and safe environment with the objective for them to stay active and start their pathway into our sport.”
Wilson added, “Over all there were little obstacles, as everyone who are involved are working hard to mitigate any challenges that may come up. One challenge that we identified early on was the geographic challenge of linking projects across the islands. We needed to adjust the Niua Islands program due to the graphic distance from Tongatapu and the ability to travel between the islands.”
As Wilson excitedly expressed of two moments that stand out during the whole process, firstly was the ability to the team (Island Project leaders/TFA/FIFA) the work everyone put in to ensure that the project met deadlines and the ability to bring the communities together. The second one was each of the launches where you saw over a 100 girls between the ages of 13 to 15 on each island come together and enjoy themselves whilst playing football.
She did remind the participants this Heilala Manongi provide a platform for them to own the environment, with very little input from their respective coaches.
The outcome was amazing, lots of laughter, lots of football being played and knowing that they all want to come back and continue to enjoy playing together.
The Tonga Football President, Lord Ve’ehala extend his profound appreciation to FIFA for selecting Tonga and 5 other countries out from the 211 member countries to pilot this project.
Lord Ve’ehala says, ”I am so proud to say that we were identified as a high potential FIFA member and has a strong foundation favouring women’s football development”.
“I will continue to follow this Heilala Manongi project to reach the targets and to be successful”
The Heilala Manongi project will run for the next 16 weeks and will round up with a major tournament including the outer islands.
End.
