Latest news with #TAKA
Zawya
27-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) To Train 1.2 Million Young Africans in Five (5) Years
As part of its commitment to one of its seven core pillars, the All Africa Music Awards, AFRIMA, ( is set to launch The AFRIMA Kreative Academy, TAKA, a project designed to reshape Africa's creative sector through education, skills development, and job creation to empower 1.2 million young Africans over the next five years with the knowledge and tools needed to succeed in the fast-growing global music industry. Themed 'Learn and Prosper', the programme is designed to equip and empower young Africans between the ages of 18 and 35, with a special focus on underserved and vulnerable communities across the continent. AFRIMA Founder and Executive Producer, Mike Dada said with over two decades of experience in the creative industry, the awards platform is launching this academy to address the urgent need for skilled professionals in Africa's growing music scene, adding that despite the continent's talent, there is still a major gap in structured training and access to opportunities. Dada, who announced the initiative during the 2025 AFRIMA Music Conference, Calendar and Host City Unveiling event hosted by the African Union Commission (AUC) at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Tuesday, May 13 said TAKA will provide world-class training in key areas of the music ecosystem and value chain including but not limited to music production, music business and entrepreneurship, event technical production, digital technology and the Internet of Things (IoT). He said the academy will operate three training cycles each year, with each cycle running for four months over five years. To ensure the highest quality of training, he added that AFRIMA will bring together some of the best minds in the industry including top music producers, successful artists, expert sound engineers, and experienced event professionals from both Africa and the diaspora who will serve as trainers, mentors and employers to guide participants throughout the programme. "Beyond skill acquisition, TAKA is expected to drive broader social and economic benefit including improved knowledge and capacity among young creatives, increased job creation, the promotion of African culture, and overall economic empowerment that will drive prosperous Africa," Dada told an elated gathering of key stakeholders present at the AU headquarters during the unveiling of Lagos as the Host City of the AFRIMA 2025. "This is our response to the urgent need for practical learning and job creation in the music and creative industry space. If Africa wants to keep competing at the global level in music and cultural industry, we must do more than just celebrate talent. We have to invest in training and preparing our young people for real opportunities in the industry. "We are calling on investors, development partners, governments, and the corporate world to support the initiative and join in creating a legacy of impact. With the right support, we can unlock the full potential of our young people, elevate African music business and event production industry to new heights, and build a more prosperous future for the continent." He added that for long-term sustainability, AFRIMA plans to build strategic partnerships with key players in the creative and tech industries around the world, establish an endowment fund, and foster generational impact through services rendered by the academy. Similarly, AFRIMA is getting ready to go even bigger, as the Africa's Global Music Awards is planning to launch a Global Tour in 2026. This was shared by Nde Ndifonka, AFRIMA's Regional Director for Central Africa, who said the global tour will include live music mega shows, performances, and cultural events in major cities across Africa and around the world. 'We're excited to share that starting in 2026, this global tour will become a major part of AFRIMA's yearly activities,' Ndifonka said. 'Many music fans and industry players have asked for something like this, and we're happy to make it happen. Music concerts and tours are important for building a strong music industry. They give artists the chance to perform live, connect with fans, earn money, and sharpen their stage skills. This tour will travel through many cities in Africa and beyond. We believe it will open new doors for African music and help it shine even more globally.' Ndifonka explained that AFRIMA 2025, which officially kicked off with the unveiling of its Calendar and Host City in Addis Ababa on May 13, will serve as a lead-up to an even bigger dimension next year that will include the highly anticipated Global Tour. He noted that AFRIMA 2025 will climax with the Awards Week from November 25 to 30, featuring a lineup of exciting events such as the Diamond Showcase, Africa Music Business Summit, Nominees Party, Music Village Festival, and the Main Awards Ceremony on Sunday, November 30. The ceremony will be broadcast live on over 84 TV stations across the world and digital platforms. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA).
USA Today
02-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
MLS Next rolls out new U13, U14 rankings to emphasize development over wins. How it works
When we win a game in a team sport, what does it mean for our individual development, especially when kids are still growing and maturing? It's a question youth sports parents ponder, and it's one Major League Soccer has wrestled with during the five years its MLS NEXT youth program has existed. "If we just have a bunch of dominant 13- and 14-year-olds that don't end up being dominant 18-year olds, I think that's a huge miss on the return on our investment,' said Luis Robles, MLS NEXT's technical director and a former USMNT goalie. "So this is why we have to tinker with different ways to evaluate players.' The organization will announce Wednesday a pilot program to evaluate its U13 and U14 age groups that looks beyond traditional results of games, focusing on complete performances of individuals. Its Quality of Play Rankings move away from wins, losses and draws to measure progress of teams based on their players' offensive and defensive actions, including their off-the-ball movements in games we sometimes don't see. This is the first time MLS Next will have a list of standings for teams in these age groups, but they will be ranked on this new metric rather than records, according to Robles, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports prior to making the new rankings public Wednesday. "We know that this is different," Robles said in an exclusive interview. "This is new. It could come off in the launch as gimmicky, but when you start to pull back and understand why we're doing it, it's a massive investment. But this is worth it, because then Major League Soccer and the national teams, long term, stand to gain the most. Our hope is that we're developing better professionals.' Robles spoke with USA TODAY Sports about what the move means for your player and the dramatic effect it could have on the youth soccer landscape. Why is MLS NEXT making the change to Quality of Play rankings? The program supplies about 90% of players to youth national teams, according to MLS NEXT GM Kyle Albrecht, and has never kept standings for these age groups. Robles said they want to lean more heavily on player progression without the added pressure of trying to win. "The question we try to answer is, 'What role does competition play in player development?'" Robles says. "It should play less of a role. It should be more about the training sessions, the technical ability, the formation of the player, helping them understand the game, solving the game with soccer." But if MLS wants to develop future national team players, Robles said, it must acknowledge how well players do in game-time situations. 'Part of development is competing,' he said, "What we saw with US Soccer, and all the cynicism and criticism towards the players and the coaching and the results, you can't help but admit that sometimes what it comes down to, it is just how well you do in a competition.' How do MLS NEXT's Quality of Play rankings work? Analysts with TAKA, a video tool that takes a panoramic view of the field, will spend about 4 ½ hours on each game looking for significant offensive and defensive actions. Each player will be scored for attack, defense and overall quality of play. Team rankings will be compiled based on players' overall scores, which MLS hopes will more completely represent their overall caliber of play than the result of the game. If you're a weak-side defender and the ball is on the other side of the field, for example, it might seem insignificant when you adjust your position. But new rankings will allow off-ball intelligence that could be scored. Positive tactical intentions will be encouraged, even if the execution isn't perfect. Robles said that in presentations to MLS NEXT academy directors, an example play was shown from a "very, very significant global, international" with the vision to make a pass. "The end result was it was a turnover, but everyone wanted to find a way to say that is what we want to see our players doing,' Robles said. 'We want them to have the courage to make that pass, because if the pass comes off, you're going to get immediate gratification in the form of a shot or goal. But because the pass doesn't come off, that play could lose meaning, even though it was a significant play, and that's what we're trying to capture, and that's what quality of play is. "It's just the aggregate analysis of significant moments, whether offensive, defensive, good or bad.' What happens if a team tops MLS NEXT's Quality of Play rankings? While U13 and U14 teams in MLS NEXT previously had no year-end competitions, the top two or three teams per division (Robles hasn't decided yet) will be invited to compete at MLS NEXT Cup. The U13 and U14 age groups have eight divisions. The rankings will be adjusted based on quality of opponent, rewarding significant actions against better teams. "We don't want it to be that this player is such a great attacking player when they play the minnows,' Robles says. "We want it to be that they're doing it across the board. We want to see that the team consistently playing well. Traditional standings isn't the whole picture because the team could be mid-table, but it's because they beat all the teams that they were expected to beat, but couldn't beat a team that was above them.' How much do stays and wins factor into MLS NEXT's Quality of Play rankings? "Zero,' Robles says. "Naturally, if a team is scoring more goals, they probably have more significant moments on the positive. If a team is giving up a lot of goals, they're going to have more significance in the negative. But what weight does it have in our decision making process? Zero.' Why is MLS NEXT adding Quality of Play rankings specifically to U13 and U14? There are just over 5,600 U13 and U14 players registered in MLS NEXT, more than 1/3 of the organization's 16,000 players across the U.S. and Canada. They are the two most malleable age groups. Robles referenced the book, "Outliers," in which author Malcom Gladwell tracked how American hockey players born in the first three months of the year were more likely to go pro. They had been bigger and stronger when they were younger, and thus placed into a top-level national pipeline because they were fortunate enough to be born in January, February or March. "If you're born in January, as opposed to someone that's born in December in the same year, it's 10% of muscle development,' Robles said. 'You're not even sure which direction that's going. We have to find ways to be able to mitigate that." While Brazil's Cristiano Ronaldo was born in February and identified early, Robles said, so was France's Kylian Mbappé, a December baby who was fast but small. He ended up growing to be one of the world's fastest players. MLS NEXT seeks to find more late developers, even ones who are playing down an age level to develop their technical skills before they catch up with their age group from a physical standpoint. 'Are we picking players that are dominant at 13 and 14 that don't end up becoming great at 17 and 18?' Robles says. 'I think yes.' COACH STEVE: How youth hockey brings out the worst in youth sports Will Quality of Play rankings improve scouting? Robles said the rankings will enable MLS Academy kids to "confidently" know they're being evaluated at all times through TAKA, and not just when they're in front of scouts. 'Growing up, I would see a U.S. Soccer scout at one of my games wearing the badge and was there for 12 minutes,' Robles says. 'How do they know if I'm a good goalkeeper after watching me for 12 minutes, right? Right? Because it's just not enough. "And now what we're hoping is that more players that are already in our system are getting seen by MLS Academy scouts to get more opportunities.' There are 29 MLS academies and 122 elite academies within the 151 clubs that make up MLS NEXT. While MLS NEXT strives to develop players to compete on national teams, it's new second tier of competition has opened up an opportunity for those who want to play at a high level but don't necessarily view that goal as realistic. But what about playing in college? Robles said college coaches, if they register with MLS NEXT, will have access to every player in the TAKA database. COACH STEVE:What does MLS NEXT's expansion meanyou're your youth soccer player? What is the end game with MLS NEXT's Quality of Play rankings? Over time, MLS will be able to look back and track growth of players who ultimately achieve an elite level. 'You can now take that information, extrapolate it across the entire player pool, and start to identify more Aidan Morrisons, Benjamin Cremaschis," Robles said. "We use those examples because they went through the full cycle, where they were at an elite academy. So when you look at a player who might have been in an elite academy first, who makes the move to an MLS Academy, who then goes the pathway of the homegrown and is now playing for the first team, you start to pull back those layers and look under the hood, and we haven't been able to do that." MLS' U15, U16, U17 and U19 players will continue to be ranked by traditional standings. 'We still want to prioritize developing those players to be better professionals over just developing teams that win trophies,' Robles said. 'I want more of those players to be in college with the prospect of going pro. I want more of those players getting a chance to represent our country at the national or international level.' Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons' baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.
