By DERRICK SILIMINA
When the Trident Country Club hosted a golf tournament for the Junior Golf Academy on Thursday at Kalumbila golf course, FQM Trident assistant General Manager Junior Keyser said golf is an important sport as it teaches discipline, integrity and sportsmanship.
The prestigious tournament, featured 60 pupils from as young as five years of age up, from some local schools including Trident Preparatory, Frontier Nkisu, and Sentinel Kalumbila schools. The debut tournament was also held last year.
Keyser noted that the Junior Golf Academy which is supported by the FQM Trident Ltd, is an on-going programme whose aim is to tap talent from the grassroot level.
“Today we rewarded more than 60 kids and most of them are from the local community. What we want is to bring this lovely sport to the people of Kalumbila because we have our best coaches available to teach young golfers the right techniques, the right discipline and right attitude from the grassroot level.”
The General Manager further affirmed that the Trident Country Club has one of the best golf courses in the country and probably in the world, hence the need for the mining firm to develop the sport in the district.
Asked if the mining giant will roll-out the support of golf to other parts of the country beyond Kalumbila District, Keyser explained that the programme is currently focused on the need to nurture local grassroot talent
“For now, I think the focus is in our own district as we do the same in our soccer kids and adults such as the Trident Football Club, which we will be rolling out to the ladies as well. You can see that some of these kids are doing great in sports and will soon compete at national level. Our focus is to develop our own kids here,” he stated.
Speaking at the same event on behalf of Trident Foundation Manager Joseph Ngwira, company Lead-Finance and Commercial Support Auxilia Kangwa encouraged the junior golfers to use the sport to gain integrity, discipline, and use it as a platform to network with role models of various professions.
Ngwira noted that being a sportsman and woman presents an opportunity for one to learn valuable lessons in life such as integrity.
“As Trident Foundation, we are honoured to be part of this Golf Academy but we would also like to add that this tournament would not have happened without the efforts and sacrifices made by everyone who was involved in organizing this event,” he said
And speaking on the sidelines of the golf tournament, FQM Trident Public Relations Coordinator Mirriam Harmon said the mine management had taken a keen interest to support sports development especially among young learners.
“What we are doing today is part of an on-going sports development for the youths, especially the children. It’s an interest that we are inculcating from a young age, meaning that when you start with the foundation, the discipline is already there, the interest is already there.”
The young people who were part of the Junior Golf Academy were the future professionals, hence the urgent need to develop their talent
“For us, this is our starting point. And it’s not just the children of employees who work for the mine but we have also taken a keen interest in children who are in the surrounding schools in our communities who are also being supported by Trident foundation.”
