Laёrskool Rustenburg Noord were well deserving winners of
the under-12 Danone Nations Cup North West provincial finals, which took place
this past weekend at the Alabama Stadium in Klerksdorp.
History will be made in that it will
be the first time that a female coach will be in charge of a team at National
Final level, as this has not happened in a Danone Nations Cup tournament in
South Africa.
“I am overwhelmed,” said an
excited Busisiwe Mangena. “My team was
fantastic, and I am so proud of all my players.
They started off a little nervous but soon gained their confidence and
just went from strength to strength.
“The final round robin game
pitted us against Refethuto Primary and the boys put their heart and soul into
ensuring a good win (8 – 0). This put us
into the final scheduled immediately after our last league game and I was
worried that the boys would be exhausted.
But, once again, they proved that they have the stamina and endurance to
continue their winning ways and we finally beat Kwala-Kitso 3 – 1 to take us to
the next step, which is the national finals.”
Laёrskool Rustenburg Noord was boosted by an
exceptionally gifted youngster, Koketso Tshwene, who was a member of the
Mamelodi Sundowns Rustenburg satellite development programme when he was just 8
years old. Due to transport problems he
was unable to continue and is currently attending the Atletico Academy in
Rustenburg.
“I remember Koketso well as a talented
youngster at the Sundowns Academy,” said Mamelodi Sundowns scout, Mandla
Mazibuko. “While he was with us he was
not shy to take chances and was constantly shooting at goals which earned him
the nickname, Messi.”
Koketso’s parents, George and
Joyce Tshwene were at the game to watch their son in action. “We travel everywhere to support Koketso,”
said a proud Joyce Tshwene, who is a project manager with the SA Airforce VVIP
unit. “I would like him to come to Tshwane next year so that he can continue
with Sundowns. He has the talent and is confident on the ball and I would like
to give him the best grounding. Who
knows, one day he might play for South Africa!”
Mazibuko has attended most of the Danone Nations Cup
finals this year and has identified good coaching as key to the success of
developing youngsters. “To ensure
excellent results at top level (Club and Bafana Bafana level) we need to ensure
that structures at youth level are in place.
We have so much talent in this country, and to keep up with the way the
game is evolving at a technical and tactical level, kids need to learn as early
as possible so that it becomes a habit. This means that schools need to teach correct
methods.”
There were four regional finalists that competed in the North West
provincial finals.
Kwala-Kitso Primary School (Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati
region)
Rustenburg Laerskool Noord (Bojanala region)
Potchefstroom Primary School (Dr Kenneth Kaunda region)
Refethuto Primary School (Ngaka Modiri Molema region)
Results
GAME 1: Potchefstroom 2 – 0 Refethuto
GAME 2: Rustenburg Noord 0 (2) – (3) 0 Kwala-Kitso
GAME 3:
Rustenburg Noord 1 - 0 Potchefstroom
GAME 4: Refethuto 1
- 2 Kwala-Kitso
GAME 5: Kwala-Kitso 0
(0) - (1) 0 Potchefstroom
GAME 6: Refethuto 0
- 8 Rustenburg
Noord
FINAL
MATCH: Laerskool Rustenburg Noord 3 – 1
Kwala-Kitso
Ends.
No comments:
Post a Comment