Shirikisho la Mpira wa Kikapu Zanzibar
U18 and U16

Youth national teams

Boys and girls. Unguja and Pemba. School first. The call-up is an honour, not a threat to a child’s exams or a family’s income.

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The four squads

U18 men

Fed by Elite Pathway and ZNBL minutes earned carefully. Minutes are capped so a schoolboy is not playing three games a weekend.

U18 women

Fed by Girls Game Lab and ZNBL Women. A girl is not asked to train with the men ‘because there are not enough players’.

U16 boys

Named from Rising Hoops. Skill and decision-making outrank height.

U16 girls

Named from Rising Hoops and school shield standouts. Transport home is part of the session, not an afterthought.

Identification

Each April the academy leads and the school teachers send a long list, not a secret shortlist. Trials are on a published weekend, with one trial site on Pemba so a child does not cross the sea just to be cut in an hour.

Camps are never placed on national exam weeks. If a window clashes, the Federation moves the camp. The child does not have to choose.

  • Parent consent in writing before any trip
  • A named safeguarding officer in the travelling party
  • Rooming: adults do not share rooms with players
  • Food that respects the fast during Ramadan, with a pre-dawn plan if a session is early
  • Every player goes home with a one-page note: what was good, what to train, when they will be seen again