Rietvale High School takes home R100 000 as Northern Cape Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Champions

Rietvale High School is from the small town of Ritchie, 50km outside Kimberley, and is making a name for itself as a football powerhouse in the Sanlam Kay Motspe Schools Cup competition. The school has won the Northern Cape Provincial finals in the tournament three years in a row.

Winning this round means the school gets R100 000 which, according to team manager, Barry Kammies, will be used, together with the winnings from 2012, to purchase a school bus to transport players to sports events.  The R100 000 funds won in 2011 were used to build a fence around the property.

Kammies believes that the win is due to hard work and focus.  “We believe in consistency, and that comes from working hard together,” Kammies says. “We try to balance the equation of new players and old players in the team and we have one vision in the team – winning our matches.”

Kammies says they have analysed their strengths and believe they have a solid defence and strong captain and striker Angelo van Rooi. “He is good and very fast on the field, he has ball control, discipline and a great attitude towards soccer,” Kammies said. “We will be building on those strengths in preparation of the national finals.”

The team has the support of the entire school.  Busses have been hired for supporters to go to the national finals.

In the mean time they are hard at work preparing for the national finals. “For the next two weeks we will focus on fitness, tactics - formation, spacing and passing the ball – and concentration on the field,” Kammies says. “Our central midfielders need to work hand in hand with helping the defence to make sure that their opponents don’t play on their weaknesses. Hard work is the reason why we have managed to win this competition three times, now we have to be committed to the game and every player must give all for his team mates if we want to go further.”

Kammies says he has seen the excitement levels at the school grow because of the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup. “There has been an increase in sports participation and in support in the school since we first took part in the tournament. Every soccer player feels proud to have contributed in a team that keeps coming back with positive results,” he said.

Ends.

About the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup:

·       The tournament is run under the auspices of the South Africa Football Association (SASFA)

   Named after prominent businessman Patrice Motsepe’s late mother, the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup offers the biggest prize money at school level in Africa (R3.4 million in total). 

·       The sponsors are:  Sanlam, the Motsepe Foundation and the Sanlam Ubuntu-Botho Community Development Trust.

·       The primary objective of the tournament is to revive the culture of school football amongst students between the age of 16 and 19 years old.

·       The tournament also gives players the opportunity to showcase their skills to soccer scouts with the talented players being recruited into development structures to be nurtured and shaped into professional players.