The
under-12 school that will represent the Northern Cape at the Danone Nations Cup
national finals will be known on Saturday, 28 March, when the six regional
finalists battle it out at the Xolisile Dicky Jacobs Stadium in Upington.
The ultimate prize is a chance to compete against 31 other nations at the World
Finals taking place in Morocco.
Last
year’s provincial champions, Roodepan Primary School, are back in action for
the second time and according to team manager Enricho Chapman, winning the
provincials again this year is not going to be easy.
“It
helps that we have won the provincials before, and some of our players will
have the experience of competing at the national finals, but we know how tough
and competitive the provincials are. We do not know the strength of our
competitors but we know for sure that all the schools will be looking to take
our title and we need to do everything possible to make sure that we defend
it,” he said.
This
year the team has a new coach, Christopher Jafta. “He has an introductory
coaching qualification, and has been coaching for 10 years,” Chapman said. “I
think getting an external coach was a great move for the team. He is
putting 100% into coaching as opposed to getting a teacher at the school to
coach the team. Since he took ever at the beginning of the year we have seen
dramatic improvements with the team as a whole. The boys are more structured
and uniform now, compared to previous years where they were all over the
place.”
Chapman
said that managing and coaching a team, especially a younger team is
challenging. “The boys are still in the development phase. Every year we have
to start from the basics. Most of the players might know how to kick a ball but
that does not mean that they know how to play soccer.”
Preparations
for the provincials started as soon as they started playing their cluster
games, Chapman said. “Every game we play in this tournament is preparing us for
the next level. Currently we train 5 times a week. We won’t be playing any
friendly games prior to the provincials as we don’t want to risk any injuries a
week before the provincials. The boys know what is expected of them, they
want to go to Gauteng and represent Northern Cape just like last year.”
Chapman
believes that having a happy team even if they lose or win, makes the
tournament much more fun and exciting. “We need to make sure the kids
understand that it’s not always all about winning, but about making new
experiences, meeting new friends and exploring new places they have never been
to before.”
This
year’s team is inspired by the excitement they saw from the 2014 side that went
to Gauteng for the national finals. “I know that some of the kids have never
been outside of Northern Cape, so I know that they will enjoy travelling with their
team mates to another province,” Chapman said.
It also
helps to tell the players that when they get to the provincials in Gauteng they
will be able to eat as much of the Danone products as they like.
“Not
many companies plough back to the communities that support them the way Danone
has. They are giving these kids the chance of being discovered by scouts and a
chance to travel around South Africa and internationally I am very thankful to
Danone for getting involved in sports and makings sure that our kids stay
active and healthy.”
Participating
Teams
ZF
Mgcawu District - Keidebees Primary School
Pixley
District - Van Rensburg Primary School
Francis
Baard District - Roodepan Primary School
John
Taole Gaetsewe District - Rapelang Primary School
Namakwa
District - TBC
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