Namibian Sun

Ester Kamati



This year’s Hashtag Festival Community Games took place in line with sport minister Erastus Uutoni’s sentiments that sport is important in an educational setting, as it helps with character development and discipline.

The coordinator of Namibia Media Holdings’ youth brand My Zone, Octavia Tsibes, highlighted at the opening ceremony that the Hashtag Festival is about edutainment and thus makes room for scholars and young individuals to enjoy themselves while learning.

This year, a series of professional coaches were involved in preparing the participating teams for the community games.

Each sport code had a professional to guide the teams, and playing that role for hockey was Johann Weyhe, the hockey manager at Windhoek High School.

Weyhe mentioned his role at the community games was to bring together those who have played the sport and those who do not know much about it, so they can play and develop a mutual understanding, and ultimately, enjoy themselves.

The sport codes included athletics (40m dash), rugby, netball, soccer and hockey, in addition to the chess and quiz competitions, which were aimed at stimulating the brain. The quiz competition tested how up-to-date the scholars were with current affairs in the country, with questions based information contained in Namibian Sun editions from 13 May until the competition date.

The quiz competition was carried out using an online system that timed the participants and managed their scores. Oshana Patriots emerged as the winners of the multiple-choice quiz.

A cheerleading competition was also held that was won by the Etosha Ravens, with the Arabian Knights in second place.

The all-girls team from Winnie Du Plessis High School that represented the Arabian Knights cheer squad were beyond ecstatic after being announced as the second-place winners. Cheer captain Petronella Garises said it was the first time they took part in such a competition and being awarded second place shows that their hard work was recognised.

“It feels very good to be awarded and we look forward to next year’s competition,” she said.

The participants comprised of groups from the central, northern, coastal and eastern parts of Namibia, who all came together at the Windhoek Showgrounds in the name of sportsmanship.

Teams from outside Windhoek were hosted at the Pension Hotel, where they evidently felt welcome, with Vitjituaje Tjikuua, a netball player from Paresis Secondary School in Otjiwarongo, mentioning the hotel stay as one of her highlights.

Spirits were high among the players and supporters alike, as they cheered on their peers.

Precious Kanime from Windhoek Gymnasium said she is proud of the Windhoek Saints, as they communicated well and worked as a team to secure wins in both rugby and soccer.

The overall winners, after the scores were combined scores for all the games, were the Highveld Cheetahs.