As Free
State champions, Credo Primary School of Sasolburg will be travelling to Reiger
Park on 28th June to play in the national finals of the under-12 Danone Nations
Cup soccer tournament. The school represented the Fezile Dabi district at the
Free State provincial finals at the Clive Solomon Stadium in Bloemfontein and
beat Maqheleng Primary School 1-0 in the final to take the title for the first
time.
And for
the first time since the inception of the tournament in 2000 the coach and
manager of the winning team is a female, Mrs Dikeledi Sothwane. “This win
has been long overdue. After years of participating in this tournament,
finally we have achieved our goal and from now on we are expecting only
positive results,” she said.
Credo
lost 2-0 to Maqheleng when the sides played each other in the league earlier in
the day, but that loss didn’t faze the players but rather served as a
motivation for when they met again in the final, said Sothwane.
Sothwane
believes their win proves that hard work and believing in your dreams does pay
off. “I am a proud coach,” she said. “What I introduced this year is daily
meetings when I get to evaluate the team’s psychological state and see where
their minds are. Coaching is not just about physical training and skills, it’s
also about developing players mentally and psychologically which helps build
confidence. ” she said.
Credo’s
preparation ahead of the provincial finals consisted of an intensive training
programme - training five times a day and playing a friendly game against the
school’s under-14 soccer team every Wednesday. “These friendly games improved
their level of fitness, plus I wanted the kids to get used to playing against
taller opponents,” Sothwane said. “And we will continue to train like this as
we build up to the national finals.”
Sothwane
identifies 11 year-old attacking midfielder, Itumleng Taute, as a key player in
the team.
Itumeleng
saw competing against other schools from different regions as a learning
experience. “I saw how other teams approach soccer and this will help me
as I know that the level of competition at the national finals will be very
different and we need to play even better that we did at the
provincials.”
Itumeleng
also plays for a local team, Play United. “We train three times a week and I
get the opportunity of being coached by another coach who also teaches me
different skills. Both my coaches are important in my life and are helping me
develop into a better player,” he said.
He
knows that the eventual winners of the national title will be going to Brazil
to play in the Danone Nations Cup World Finals. “Brazil has perhaps the highest
standard of soccer in the world and has produced famous soccer players,”
Itumeleng says. “I want to be there and see how they play soccer first hand.”
Results
Witsieshoek
0 (3) vs Bolokehang 0 (1)
Lestibolo
0 (6) vs Luckhoff 0 (5)
Maqheleng
2 vs Credo 0
Witsieshoek
1 vs Letsibolo 0
Bolokehang
0 (3) vs Luckhoff 0 (1)
Maqheleng
1 (1) vs Witsieshoek 1 (1) (2)
Credo 2
vs Letsibolo 1
Bolokehang
1 (2) vs Maqheleng 1 (1)
Luckhoff
1 (1) vs Witsieshoek 1 (2)
Credo 1
(2) vs Bolokehang 1 (3)
Letsibolo
1 vs Maqheleng 2
Credo 2
vs Luckhoff 1
Bolokehang
1 vs Letsibolo 0
Witsieshoek
0 (2) vs Credo 0 (0)
Luckhoff
0 (4) vs Maqheleng 0 (3)
Final
Maqheleng 0 vs Credo 1
Danone Nations Cup South Africa Partners
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