The Bloemfontein Cluster Games in
the Free State Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and
Sanlam, are under way and in action there is one of South Africa’s leading
sports schools, Grey College.
Ludwig Koekemoer, the school’s
sports co-ordinator is also the team’s manager, and he explains that the school
has been participating in the competition for four years now, and each time
they have been eliminated at the regional finals stage.
“I think one of our biggest
challenges is that our team mainly consists of under-17 players, and most of
the other schools field 18 and 19-year olds,” he said. “Physically our boys
don’t match up to the others and that’s where we encounter problems. Further,
our players are not as experienced. However exposure to older players
does make them mentally and psychologically stronger and they are learning to
compete outside of their comfort zone. That’s when we get to evaluate
their growth as a team and individually.”
Grey won the prestigious St
David’s Challenge Cup and the Waterstone soccer tournaments in Johannesburg
last year, showing that they are competitive against some of the country’s top
schools. “We just need to gain more experience in terms of playing outside our
comfort zone,” Koekemoer said.
This year, he believes has to be
different compared to previous years. “I think we need to focus on the players’
mental game. We need to build their confidence, which is the most important
aspect when it comes to the mental side of soccer. Even though physically our
players are not as strongly built as other players they need to know and
understand that soccer is a mental a game at the end of the day. We are known
as the school to beat when it comes to rugby, now we want to be known as the
school to beat when it comes to soccer as well.”
In their first cluster game this
year, Grey beat Sehunelo Secondary School 4-1. “The team is looking very strong
at the moment. We are going hard in our attacking, defending and shooting
on target. I didn’t expect the team to win by 4 goals, it’s a lot especially
for the first game of our cluster,” Koekemoer said.
“But this indicates that the team
is ready and they have a positive spirit going into the tournament. Winning the
first game has definitely set the tone for our next games. I am confident that
the team will go further in the tournament this year.”
Grey College has its own soccer
complex, with possibly the best school fields in the country so, Koekemoer
said, it’s a challenge when they have to play away games, sometimes on gravel
fields.
“That definitely causes problems
for the players, because they are not used to playing on such fields. This year
we have arranged for all our cluster games to be played at our school, because
we know that getting a venue is difficult for schools that don’t have their own
soccer fields.”
The teams participating in the
Bloemfontein cluster are:
Grey College
Bloemfontein High School
Sehunelo Secondary School
Kopanong High School
Heatherdale Secondary School
Headstart High School.
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