At the age of eight, Simon Pierre Mulindwa started learning basic skills in football from the streets of Nyarugenge, where he grew up. He would do this by joining other young boys in playing football. “Despite growing up seeing people around me play football, I wasn’t as keen about the sport but by joining others on the streets, I would learn some skills which helped me compete as well as participate in football matches with my peers,” he says. The 21-year old says, because of this, he started developing a deep interest in football, and with time, he found himself into the game. From here, the high school graduate says he has played football for as long as he remembers, from playing football at a primary level all the way up to high school. To him, ever since he got introduced to the game on the streets, it has always been a part of his life, and that he always finds himself doing something football-related, whether playing with friends or watching the game on TV. “To me, football is a way of bonding with friends and family. Besides, this is a career I have chosen and I believe I will be able to fulfill my dream, which is becoming an international professional football player,” he says. Developing career While in high school in 2014, the youngster participated in the Coca-Cola football tournament and his team finished in third position. So far because of his passion, Mulindwa has been able to participate in different games while in high school, and among them, they managed to win the KPSL (Kigali Private Schools League), in 2017. He was the school captain in 2017 at Kigali Christian School guiding his team to second place in the league. Besides dreaming of taking his budding career to another level, Mulindwa notes that football has kept him occupied throughout his life, thus preventing him from falling prey to peer pressure. At the moment, Mulindwa is playing for the youth club called Etoile FC, as he waits to start his undergraduate degree program. Financially, he says at the moment he doesn’t rely on his parents for basic needs, as the little money he gets from playing football keeps him going. When it comes to setbacks as far as football is concerned, he cites that there is no platform that creates opportunities for youngsters to explore their careers, something he thinks is killing the dream of many young talented Rwanda footballers. Besides this, he says there is still a long way to go when it comes to parents supporting their children when it comes to sports. “Parents tend to put much effort in academics but when it comes to sports, a big number still don’t know the importance it has to their children and for this reason, they become unsupportive whether financially or emotionally,” he says. His message to the ministry of sports is for them to ensure that they ask all sports federations in Rwanda to organize consistent tournaments for schools.
