Story by Anashe Murombedzi
THE inaugural Prostate Cancer Awareness Football Tournament, a gathering of social football clubs, was held in Harare this Saturday as
part of efforts to raise awareness of healthy living habits.
Under the blazing sun in the capital, a group of men stood shoulder to shoulder, ready for battle against prostate cancer.
Rallied by Cancer Serve, the football tournament targeted creating a community of support for men’s health.
Cancer Serve chairperson, Anna Nyakabau said, “Today we have a Cancer Serve football tournament, where we are saying a lot of men’s health-seeking behaviour needs to be encouraged and we realised that they like soccer so we approached several companies to field their teams and get them involved in this awareness campaigns.”
In the field of play, eight teams showed that it takes a team to accomplish the targeted goal as their determination was as fierce as their passion for football.
The tournament inspired the participants to become more involved in the fight against prostate cancer.
“Cancer issues are on the rise in Zimbabwe especially coming from the month of commemorating prostate cancer so this is a success in engaging men to participate,” said Radiation Protection Authority of Zimbabwe corporate communication, Shingirai Huni.
ZIM Worx Assistant coach, Tashinga Kajiva said, “The benefits of the tournament is that we get to socialise and at the same time promote fitness and apart from football we had tested for prostate cancer which is very good and it’s a huge benefit to enhance our health.”
Meanwhile, apart from the tournament, there were training sessions, to provide a comprehensive experience that was informative focusing on the specific symptoms and warning signs of prostate cancer.
