Registration has closed for the
2015 edition of the Under-19 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by Sanlam, the
Motsepe Foundation and the Ubuntu-Botho Trust, and schools that have registered
will now start competing in their various clusters.
The Kay Motsepe Schools Cup has
become the foremost youth talent identification tournament in soccer in the
country and the role that schools attached to the development academies of
professional clubs cannot be underestimated.
A case in point is Clapham High
School of the Tshwane North District in Gauteng, which was one of the first
schools to register this year and houses the school-going players who are in
the Mamelodi Sundowns Youth Academy.
The 2015 under-19 team will
comprise of seven of last year’s players that are still at the school and it
will be bolstered by 5 new recruits and team manager, Ngwato Petje, explains
that not all their players are associated with Mamelodi Sundowns.
Keamogetswe Ledwaba comes to the
school from Benny’s Sport Academy in Limpopo. He plays for Edu Sport FC in the
SAB League and, according to Petj he is star quality and is definitely someone
to look out for during the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup this year.
Clapham are former winners of the
competition, but they were knocked out at the provincial finals last year and
are keen to make amends for that. They were one of the first schools to
register for the 2015 tournament and are eagerly waiting for the cluster level
games to begin.
The team will once again be
coached by Mike Manzini. “Last year was the first time Mike coached the team
and he did a good job with the team even though we ended up being knocked out
of the tournament,” Petje said.
“He has obviously learnt a few
things from last year and I believe that he has prepared the team better this
time around to ensure positive results.”
Petje is looking forward to
seeing how the new players fit in. “They are new to the schools and will be new
to this tournament but luckily we still have 7 previous players that can share
their experience with them, overall the team is doing well and they get good
quality training.
Preparations are going well said
Petje. “We have played 5 friendly games already and we obviously want the
team to be familiar with each other and for them to see if there are any
adjustments that they need to improve upon. The Mamelodi Sundowns Academy team
will be playing in the final against University of Pretoria in the Multichoice
Diski Challenge and that’s the basis of the team that will be participating in
Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, along with the non-Academy players.”
Petje admits that it wasn’t easy
to accept defeat last year as the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup is the biggest
schools soccer tournament and every school wants to be successful in it. “The
loss showed us that we need to work twice as hard as other teams in order for
us to win again. The tournament is getting tougher and tougher and becoming
more and more competitive each year.”
Gauteng is by far the most
competitive province, Petje said, and they are not under-estimating any team
they will meet.
“Of course our main rivals are
the defending champions, Holy Trinity. We have to take back the title from them
and should we meet up with them it won’t be an easy match. Neither team will go
down without a fight,” he said
As 2013 champions, Clapham won R1
million in funding for the school and they are in the process using the funds
to build two new classrooms and a life skills centre. They are awaiting
the Department of Education approval of the site they have identified.
Being able to be part of school sports seems like something that is essential. I personally think that there are a lot of things that can help with keeping kids active, and soccer definitely can do it. Hopefully there will be a way to get these kids registered for the sport to ensure they are able to participate. Thank you for sharing. http://www.registryunlimited.com/services.html
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