School of Excellence gets through to the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Gauteng Inter-District Play-offs

The SAFA Transnet Football School of Excellence was started by ex Bafana Bafana captain, Neil Tovey, in February 1994 with the sole purpose of further developing exceptionally talented players that attended his many soccer clinics held around the country to feed into the professional ranks. Fast forward 21 years and the objective of the school is still the same. 

The school’s Under-19 team are Gauteng’s Ekurhuleni North district winners of the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, and while the coach, Lefa Mathebula would like to emulate the 2012 victory again this year and win the R1 million as national champions, that is not the focus of the school

“We don’t measure our success by wins but by the players we produce for professional teams.” Mathebula said. “We obviously want the team to win the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup this year but winning must be in the context of development. Every year the competition gets tougher and tougher, but we concentrate on the growth of our players.”

The School of Excellence has a policy of keeping coaches with their teams as they progress through the age groups, so Mathebula has been with this group of players since 2011 when they came to the school as under-14s.

“We don’t have 18 and 19 year-olds at the school, he explains. This is a young group of players, but they have been together for a long time and have grown into a tight unit,” he said.

Mathebula has been coaching since 1999 and is well qualified. He has a Level 2 SAFA coaching Qualification, CAFB licence, FIFA Grassroots Coaching Qualification and a BTech in Sports and Exercise.

He explained the school’s selection process which involves going to all nine provinces to look for the best young players. “We have a very strict Identification programme, looking for players that stand out above the rest. We look at technical proficiency, athleticism, technical awareness and mental strength.

“The players have to go through a number of phases before they get offered bursaries at the school. We run a tight ship at the school and give opportunities to players that are willing to learn and take what we teach them and make a success out of it.”

The School of Excellence has produced many star players over the years. Currently, Paseka Sekese, was part of the 2012 team that competed in the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup and currently plays for Bidvest Wits, as does his 2012 team mate, Abednigo Mostatlhaga. Aubrey Mapahosa of Mpumalanga Black Aces is also a product of the school.

While the road to the Gauteng inter-district phase has been tough, Mathebula is optimistic about the tournament this year, and thinks they might reach the national finals.

“But we are taking each game and level as it comes,” he said. “We don’t want to focus on the bigger picture and lose focus on the next phase of the tournament,” he said.

There are several star players in the 2015 team. Two of them: Siyabongakonke Mbatha and Edwin Sikhwama played for the under-17 national team at the 2015 CAF U-17 African Youth Championships, while another - Dlozi Ndaba – was one of four players in the whole country chosen to travel to Brazil to participate in a talent search in the hopes of signing a contract with a European club.

Mathebula is a firm believer in a South African style of soccer and is critical of the PSL-affiliated academies who try to adopt a European style of play.

“People should definitely look forward to the South African style of football from us”, he said. “We want to restore faith in our own style, embrace it and show other teams that South African football still exists.”

Third time lucky for Eastern Cape Danone Nations Cup Provincial Champions

It was a case of third time lucky for Mbizana’s Lukholo Junior Secondary School when they took the title at the Eastern Cape under-12 Danone Nations Cup champions last weekend.

The school has made it through to this stage of the competition before, only to be eliminated, but it was different this time, and they will be travelling to Gauteng in June to play in the national finals of the competition.

Zwelethu Mdedelwa, the coach of the team, wasn’t confident the team would even get to the provincials, but the boys proved him wrong.  “We were well prepared and I had a bit of hope and was surprised at how easy the passage turned out to be.  We scored 10 goals and conceded just 3, and no team threatened us,” he said. “The team played exceptionally well, they listened to all my instructions. I’m proud of the boys, even if we don’t come out as National winners come the 27th of June.”

The strategy going into the provincials was to keep possession at all times, use the entire field, and take their scoring chances said Mdedelwa. “I always stress the importance of discipline to the team,” he said. “I tell the players to play by the rules and always accept the referee’s decisions. That’s how you produce players that are disciplined.”

The plan for the nationals is to continue with the same strategy that won the team the provincial title. “I don’t want to confuse the team, they are comfortable with how things have been done so far,” Mdedelwa said.

The coach sees the biggest threat coming from Gauteng. “They have better infrastructure and qualified coaches, but I always tell the team that when two teams are on the field it does not matter where they come from, what matters is how the teams play.”

The nationals will be tough, Mdedelwa knows. “The best 9 schools will be competing and all of the teams will have the same goal and that is to go to Morocco and represent South Africa. I definitely want my school to be the one. The last time we had a school from Eastern Cape representing South Africa was back in 2011. We won’t let the fact that we come from a very rural area deter us from our goal.”

Although every player is important to the team, Mdedelwa singles out his captain, Mava Mbokotho, as a key player. “He led the team to victory, the players respect him and listen to him at all times, he is a very dedicated player,” he said.  “Since giving him the captain’s armband he has never proved me wrong.  He relates very well with his teammates.”

Results of Eastern Cape Provincial Finals

Lukholo JSS 1 Charles Morgan 0

De Hoop Primary 0 Sterkspruit 1

Bhongweni Primary 1 Qumbu Village 0

Lukholo JSS 3 De Hoop Primary 0

Charles Morgan 0 Sterkspruit 0 (Charles Morgan won on penalties)

Qumbu Village 0 Siyaphambili 0 (Qumbu Village)

Sterkspruit 0 Lukholo JSS 3

De Hoop Primary 0 Charles Morgan 2

Siyaphambili 1 Bhongweni Primary 2

Final - Lukholo JSS 3 Bhongwen PS 0

About Danone

Danone Southern Africa is part of the Danone Group, one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world.  Danone is present in over 120 countries across all continents. With 160 plants and around 100,000 employees, the Danone Group is the number one worldwide for Fresh Dairy Products. Danone’s mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

One of the core values of the Danone Nations Cup tournament is to encourage young people to believe in their dreams. Through this initiative Danone offers a sporting event that reaches out to and inspires millions of children all over the world

DNC Partners:

Malcomess Senior Secondary School through to the provincial finals for the 3rd time

Malcomess Senior Secondary School of Aliwal North will be making their third appearance in the Eastern Cape provincial finals of the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, on 15^th August.  They are determined to progress to the national finals, something they failed to do in previous provincials.

Malcomess beat Sibabalwe Senior Secondary School on penalties in the Geo Gqabi regional finals that took place this week.

Their coach, Tieho Rantho, believes it will be different this time because they have an exciting new team, and they are better prepared. “Last year unfortunately we were knocked out in the earlier stages of the tournament, but there are some excellent players in the new team and I know we will go far.  Our captain, Mawethu Mahe is the only player that was part of the 2013 and 2014 team. He is the only 19 year old in the team as the rest are 16 and 17 years old.”

Rantho is proud of his players who beat other teams made up mostly of 19 year olds and were much taller and bigger than his boys.  “I am confident and believe in this team. They have done remarkably well this year.”

Rantho said the regional playoffs this year were the toughest they have played in. There was little to choose between the teams and few clear winners in the games. “Schools from our district have certainly become more challenging than they have been before; there definitely is progress out there. The fact that we had provincial final experience didn’t threaten or intimidate our opposition; in fact it made them want to prove a point to us.”

Rantho has studied Sports Psychology and Sports Management at Unisa and has been coaching at Malcolmess since 2004. Current Kaizer Chiefs player Bangani Ndulula, came though his hands at the school.

He believes that studying sports psychology has improved his coaching. “I am able to tap into the players’ minds and help them understand and improve their game mentally,” he said. “Coaching is broad in a sense that it’s not just about training the physical body, it’s also about training the players’ minds and emotions.”

The school is now preparing for the provincials, and the coach will be working on the attack. “We missed opportunities to score goals, but I am not worried about the defence There won’t be any tweaking of the side, I am happy with how they played at the regionals,” he said. “But we will be soliciting help from local coaches as we need to be better prepared this time around if we want to win the provincials. We want to represent Eastern Cape at the national finals this year and the players believe that they can do a much better job than previous provincial winners.”  

Regional Playoffs Results

Mount Fletcher Sports Grounds, 16^th May 2015

Sibabalwe 1 vs Tlokweng 1

Ethembeni 1 vs Malcomess 2

Sibabalwe v1 s Ethembeni 3

Malcomess 1 vs Tlokweng 1

Ethembeni 1 vs Tlokweng 1

Final

Malcomess 0 vs Sibabalwe 0 (Malcolmess won on penalties).

Empangeni High School beats reigning Kay Motsepe Schools Cup champs to reach the provincial finals

Empangeni High School, in just their second year of competing in the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup competition, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, have eliminated last year’s KwaZulu-Natal provincial champions and national runners-up, Tholokuhle High School, in the UThugulu District regional finals.  The school will now represent the district in the provincial finals happening on 18^th and 19^th September.

Last year’s participation in the tournament did not go according to plan for Empangeni as there were problems with some of the players documents and they were unable to field their strongest side. That’s all been sorted out now and they have shown themselves to be serious contenders said coach, Busani Biyela

Biyela explained that while they are newcomers to the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, they are regular competitors in the Kloof High School Tournament, an annual event featuring 48 schools from different provinces. “The highest level we have ever reached in that tournament is the semi finals and we might not know much about the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup but we will have played against many of the schools involved.”

Biyela was an amateur soccer player growing up and says that the moment he started teaching in 2005 he also started coaching because of his love of the game and desire to develop youngster.

The school has one player, the captain, Sanele Nene who is affiliated to the Jomo Cosmos Academy and has played for the KZN u-19 team and the SA u-17 team. “He is an outstanding central mid fielder and we will be looking forward to great things from him in the games to come,” Biyela said.

Playing against Tholokuhle in the regional play offs was not intimidating according to the coach. “We went into the tournament confident and with the will to win regardless of whether we were playing against defending champs or not. I always emphasise the fact that all teams have 11 players on the field and they have as much chance of winning as we do, but what sets us apart from other teams is how we play our mental game. I believe that is how we outplayed the defending champs, we came into the final game with a positive attitude and we beat them fair and square.”

UThungulu District playoffs results:

GROUP A

Siphosethu 0 (4) vs Tholokuhle 0 (2)

Mgithswa 0 (2) vs Ikhandlela 0 (4)

Siphosethu 1 vs Mgithswa 0

Tholokuhle 2 vs Ikhandlela 1

Siphosethu 0 vs Ikhandlela 1

Tholokuhle 1 vs Mgithswa 0

GROUP B

Sizakahle 1 vs Welabasha 0

Mningi 0 vs Zinqobele 2

Empangei 3 vs Mningi 0

Sizakahle 0 (1) vs Zinqobele 0 (3)

Welabasha 0 vs Emnpangeni 0

Empangeni 0 (2) vs Sizakahle 0 (4)

Welabasha 2 vs Mningi 0

Empangeni 2 vs Zinqobele 0

Mningi 1 vs Sizakahle 4

Welabasha 2 vs Zinqobele 1

GROUP C

Entembeni 0 vs Gijimana 1

Ongoye 0 (4) vs Balondo 0 (2)

Gijimana 2 vs Ongoye 0

Etembeni 0 vs Balondo 1

Gijimana 0 (1) vs Balondo 0(4)

Etembeni 0 vs Ongoye 0

GROUP D

Kwanxusa 0 (4) vs Masakhane 0 (1)

Gwejobomvu 1 (4) vs Bhekikusasa 1 (3)

Kwanxusa 0 (6) vs Gwejobomvu 0 (5)

Masakahne 0 (1) vs Bhekikusasa 0 (3)

Kwanxusa 0(3) vs Bhekikusasa 0 (1)

Masakhane 1 vs Gwejobomvu 2

SEMI FINALS

Empangeni 2 vs Gijimana 0

Tholokuhle 1 vs Gwejobomvu 0

FINAL

Empangeni 1 (5) vs Tholokuhle 1 (4) 

Eastern Cape host first Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Regional Final

Walmer High school will be competing in the under-19 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, Eastern Cape provincial finals for the second year running.  The school beat Solomon Mahlangu High School 1 – 0 in the regional finals that took place at Walmer High on the weekend to move a step closer to winning a slice of the R3.4 million winnings on offer in the tournament.

Walmer has a few months to prepare for the provincials that will take place at the school on 15^th August.

Bulelani Sina, coach of Walmer High School, is delighted to have reached this level of the competition in his first full year with the school.  “The boys did it once again and this time around I was with the team from the beginning of the tournament,” he said. “The win this year is much more humbling because I was part of the coaching staff from the very start, we are so proud of the boys for this achievement and hope that they continue winning like this.”

Sina coaches Young Ideas FC, a local team based in Walmer, and was asked to come and coach the school team as most of the players also play for his club.

“I know these players very well as I have coached most of them from the tender age of 9 years old,” he said. “I am passionate about soccer, especially development. I have been involved in the game for as long I can remember and have helped a lot of local teams in the ABC Motsepe League.”

Hard work and dedication are what Sina identifies as key to a successful team.  “I tell the players that if they are not going to put in the work, then you might as well leave because I don’t tolerate laziness,” he said. “Players must understand the importance of hard work from an early age. If a player works hard then it makes my job as a coach easy.”

The coach does not believe that playing the district finals at home gave them any advantage. “I think that playing at home adds unneeded pressure to the team,” he said. “In most cases players end up wanting to impress their fellow students or parents that are watching which can cost the team. However this was not the case this time.  The team maintained their position and respected all the other teams,”

The opening game against Ndzondelelo was the most challenging admits Sina.  “Most of the players that play for Ndzondelelo play in the ABC Motsepe League, so they were much more experienced than us,” he said. “But we managed to beat them and it goes to show that having experience does not guarantee your team victory, this tournament is there for any school to win.”

Sina is confident that they can win the Eastern Cape title this year. “We are taking first position this year and coming back with the R100 000 for the school,” he said. “Unfortunately we didn’t do well at the nationals last year as the competition was very tough and it it’s going to be even tougher this year so our aim there is to end higher on the table.”

Results

Chubekile Senior Secondary School was disqualified as they did not have the correct documentation

Ncedo SSS 1 vs Solomon Mahlangu SSS 1

Ndzondelelo SSS 1 vs Walmer High 2

Woolhope 0 High vs Ncedo SSS 3

Walmer High 2 vs Liemkaya SSS 0

Solomon Mahlangu 4 SSS vs Woolhope SSS 0

Limekaya SSS 2 vs Ndzondelelo SSS 2

FINAL

Walmer High 1 vs Solomon Mahlangu 0

First timers crowned the KwaZulu-Natal Danone Nations Cup Provincial champions

Mophela Primary School from the Pinetown District won the under-12 Danone Nations Cup KwaZulu-Natal provincial finals that took place at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium this past weekend.  The school beat favourites, Mthethomusha Primary School 3-1 in the final match.

According to Danone Nations Cup ambassador and ex Bafana Bafana captain, Neil Tovey, who attended the tournament to talk to the players and give advice, the final match was a cracker with both teams evenly matched.  “The teams that won through to the final match were very good.  You could see they were well coached as they played with structure and their passes were good.  This was pleasing to see as at this age often the players get caught up in the game and just chase the ball.  Both these teams were able to play wide and the players had foresight.”

For Sydney Mkhize, Mophela’s team manager, the win was unexpected.  “We have never played in this tournament before and I told the boys that they must look at the provincials as a learning experience, never dreaming we would win. The boys came together as a team, bonded well and had a positive attitude which I think played a crucial part in our success.”

Winning their first game 5 – 0 against Westville helped boost the players confidence, admits Mkhize.  “From that point we knew that these games were going to be smooth sailing for us.  I anticipated that the games were going to be extremely tough, especially against the four invitational teams as they do not compete in our tournaments and we had no idea what to expect.”

Mkhize highlighted Masihambisane and Mthethomusha as strong contenders.  “Either of these schools could have won as they both had a strong side.”

The focus now will be on the nationals said Mkhize.  “There will be no team changes as the boys are well balanced and they know and understand their way around the field.  I am happy with the standard of football they portrayed on Saturday. Our focus now will be on the psychological aspect as we need to prepare the boys mentally as we know that the nationals will be a completely different ball game.

“I noticed in the final game, before we scored an equalizer, that the boys were playing with their hearts and emotions on the field.  Some of the players had tears streaming down their faces while kicking and passing the ball, you could see that they wanted to win so badly. That’s not what we are trying to promote with these junior teams, we want them to know and understand that at the end of the day there will be winners and losers.  Losing does not mean that you are a failure it only means that you need to work extra hard next time around,” said Mkhize.

Scouts from Sundowns, Amazulu FC and Golden Arrows attended the provincial finals over the weekend and Mkhize admits that negotiations are about to start with some of the players.

The week prior to the provincials the school invited Mabhuti Khanyeza, a striker from Golden Arrows, to the school to motivate the boys.  “He told the boys to enjoy every game and to also make friends and then presented the school with a Golden Arrows jersey.  The boys felt special which also helped us.” Said Mkhize.

The national finals will take place at Reiger Park, Gauteng on 27^th June. The winner will travel to Morocco to compete in the World Finals happening later in the year.

Results

Highbury Preparatory School 0 vs.  Enhlabosini Primary School 2

Celimfundo Primary School 2 vs. Enkelabantwana Primary School 0

Machibini Primary School 2 vs. Pinetown Senior Primary School 0

Westville Senior Primary School 0 vs. Mophela Primary School 5

Ningizimu Primary School 0 vs. Sherwood Primary School 3

Phumza Primary School 0 vs. Masihambisane Primary School 1

Mthethomusha Primary School 1 vs. Dinuphoza Primary School 0

New Germany Primary School 0 vs. Emzweni Primary School 2

Enhlabosini Primary School 2 vs. Ningizimu Primary School 3

Enkelabantwana Primary School 0 vs. Phumza Primary School 1

Pinetown Senior Primary School 0 vs. Mthethomusha Primary School 2

Mophela Primary School 5 vs. New Germany Primary School 1

Sherwood Primary School 0 vs. Highbury Preparatory School 1

Masihambisane Primary School 0 (2) vs. Celimfundo Primary School 0 (1)

Dinuphoza Primary School 0 (2) vs. Machibini Primary School 0 (3)

Emzweni Primary School 0 (3) vs. Westville Senior Primary School 0 (1)

Highbury Preparatory School 0 vs. Ningizimu Primary School 2

Celimfundo Primary School 1 vs. Phumza Primary School 2

Machibini Primary School 0 vs. Mthethomusha Primary School 2

Westville Senior Primary School 0 (3) vs. New Germany Primary School 0 (2)

Enhlabosini Primary School 1 vs. Sherwood Primary School 0

Enkelabantwana Primary School 0 vs. Masihambisane Primary School 2

Pinetown Senior Primary School 1 vs. Dinuphoza Primary School 3

Mophela Primary School 2 vs. Emzweni Primary School 0

Semi-Finals 1

Ningizimu Primary School 0 (0) vs. Mophela Primary School 0 (2)

Semi Finals 2

Mthethomusha Primary School 2 vs. Masihambisane Primary School 0

FINAL

Mophela Primary School 1 (3) vs. Mthethomusha Primary School 1 (1)

About Danone

Danone Southern Africa is part of the Danone Group, one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world.  Danone is present in over 120 countries across all continents. With 160 plants and around 100,000 employees, the Danone Group is the number one worldwide for Fresh Dairy Products. Danone’s mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

One of the core values of the Danone Nations Cup tournament is to encourage young people to believe in their dreams. Through this initiative Danone offers a sporting event that reaches out to and inspires millions of children all over the world

DNC Partners:

Eastern Cape hosts their Danone Nations Cup Provincial Finals

When Zwelethu Mdedelwa, coach of the Lukholo Junior Secondary School’s under-12 soccer team, entered his side in this year’s Danone Nations Cup it was merely to give them a learning experience.

But, his young charges proved him wrong. They sailed through the qualification rounds and have made it into the Eastern Cape provincial finals for the second year in a row, and judging by their form they could well to through to the nationals, which they did not manage to do last year.

The finals are on 23rd May, at the Sisa Dukashe Stadium, East London, and Mdedelwa explains that they won all of their cluster and regional playoff games, scoring 12 goals in the cluster games and 21 at the regional playoffs.

“The boys proved to me that they can easily win the provincial finals this year, they are more dedicated and listen to every instruction,” he said. “This indicates that they are ready to compete and win the provincials.”

Mdedelwa has been at the school since 2012 and he has elevated sports participation there to the extent that they now play soccer, netball, softball, handball, cross country and recently introduced rugby as well;

“The kids need extracurricular activities to keep them active and healthy. More of them are signing up to participate in at least two different sporting codes which shows their dedication and interest in sport.”

While he believes it was a team effort that got them this far, the coach singles out striker, Aphiwe Dineka, who scored 6 goals in the cluster games and 8 at the district finals.

“He looks up to Amazulu striker Bongani Ndulula, and also want to be called “Ndulula”.  He even wears no 9 jersey just like his idol,” Mdedelwa said.  “If he continues to score goals like he has been  we are definitely in with a chance at reach the nationals.”

Training for the finals has been going well although there is the challenge of not getting enough training time with the boys.  “They live far from the school and we need to make sure that they arrive home safely,” Mdedelwa explains. “We have chatted to the parents and we have their full support.”

Coaching has always been a part of Mdedelwa’s life, although he has no formal qualifications. “I watch and read up on soccer continuously to keep my coaching current and give me insight as to how the sport is evolving,” he said. “If the kids are taught the basics properly it stands them in good stead for their future careers. ”

The teams participating in the Eastern Cape Provincial Finals are:

Lukholo JSS-Alfred Nzo District

Sterkspruit Community School-Joe Gqabi District

Charles Morgan Combined School-Amathole District

De Hoop Primary School-Chris Hani District

Bongweni Primary School-Cacadu District

Siyaphambili Primary School -Nelson Mandela Bay District

TBC-OR Tambo District

About Danone

Danone Southern Africa is part of the Danone Group, one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world.  Danone is present in over 120 countries across all continents. With 160 plants and around 100,000 employees, the Danone Group is the number one worldwide for Fresh Dairy Products. Danone’s mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

One of the core values of the Danone Nations Cup tournament is to encourage young people to believe in their dreams. Through this initiative Danone offers a sporting event that reaches out to and inspires millions of children all over the world

Eastern Cape host first Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Regional Final

Port Elizabeth’s Walmer High School will be hosting the Nelson Mandela Bay’s under-19 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, regional final on Saturday, 16^th May to identify the school that will represent the region in the Eastern Cape provincial finals happening later in the year.

Walmer came second in the provincial finals last year and went to the national finals for the first time. It’s an achievement they hope to repeat this year, according to team manager, Lunga Lloyd.

Being located in Port Elizabeth, where there is only one top professional club – Chippa United – means that talented young players from the region have limited opportunities and so it’s important for them to be exposed to scouts from the big clubs at an event like the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, Lloyd believes.

“This year is the third year our school has been involved in this competition and, while we didn’t expect to make the nationals last year, it was a huge achievement for the school, and we are working hard to be there again this year,” he said.

There are 7 players from last year’s team still eligible to participate in the tournament, which makes quite an experienced team believes Lloyd.

The team is coached by Lloyd and Mr Nkani, another teacher at the school, with the help of Mutaba Sina, a qualified coach who works with various soccer clubs in the area. “Sina has been with the school for a while now and we appreciate his efforts. He shares the same passion as me and wants to see these boys reach their full potential,” Lloyd said. “We are happy to have him back again this year.”

Although the players are used to competing with other local clubs around Walmer, they battled at the national finals last year because they don’t play as much competitive soccer as the other teams at the nationals.

“The boys really had a hard time at the nationals and were surprised at the high level of school soccer at that level,” Lloyd said. “It definitely was a learning curve for the players in all aspects: experiencing a hotel for the first time, the food they were given and living with the teams from different provinces, was a lot for them to take in.”

This year, the team played 3 games in their cluster to qualify for the regional play offs. It’s a small cluster, Lloyd says, and it was easy to win through. “Now, the only planning we can do from our side is to make sure that the team is fit and ready to play on Saturday. We have been training hard with the team and what also helps is that a lot of the boys play for local clubs where most of the hard training is done and skills practised.”  Most of the other clusters are still busy playing qualifiers so Lloyd as yet doesn’t know who their competitors will be.

Mpumalanga's Daniye Higher Primary School wins through to the Danone Nations Cup national finals.

Daniye Higher Primary School of Bushbuckridge are the under-12 Danone Nations Mpumalanga provincial champions and will be heading for Boksburg to compete in the national finals on the 27^th of June.  If the school wins there they will represent South Africa in the world finals for the second time.

In 2013 Daniye represented South Africa at the Danone Nations Cup world finals in London which was a life changing experience for the youngsters who travelled.  According to key player, Hlulani Zulu, who scored 2 goals at the provincial finals, he has been in contact with some of the players from the 2013 winning team and received invaluable support and guidance from him.

There are, of course, none of the 2013 players still at the school and, according to the team coach, Gideon Theko, they are taking it step by step this year.

“As previous national champions, we definitely had a target on our backs at the Mpumalanga playoffs,” Theko said, “but we had worked hard in preparing for them, and the boys did well to win the final after losing our first game.”

That first game loss was to Maminza Primary, whom they met in the final match again and managed to beat them 3-0 on penalties.

Theko puts that early setback down to fatigue – they had to leave home at 2am to travel to Middelburg for the finals and hadn’t slept well the night before.

“That’s something we need to get right for the nationals,” he said. “We need to work on our stamina to last the whole day, and to make better travel arrangements when we go to Gauteng.”

The experience of playing in the provincial finals was great, the coach said. “I was impressed with the organisation and the boys had a great time playing and interacting with the players from other schools, I think the other Mpumalanga schools that we beat will be rooting for us in the Nationals finals.”

The big challenge at the nationals is going to come from the Gauteng representatives, Theko thinks. “We don’t know who they will be yet, but they set the bar high there and are strong. But we will come in with a positive attitude,” he said.

The Mpumalanga provincial finals were played at the Themba Senamela Stadium in Middleburg on 9^th May.

The results were:

Daniye 0 Maminza 0 (Mamzina won on penalties)

Dumelani 0 Nqobile 1

Dumelani 0 Daniye 1

Maminza 1 Nqobile 0

Nqobile 0 Daniye 1

Maminza 0 Dumelani 0 (Mamzina won on penalties)

FINAL

Daniye 3 Maminza 0

About Danone

Danone Southern Africa is part of the Danone Group, one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world.  Danone is present in over 120 countries across all continents. With 160 plants and around 100,000 employees, the Danone Group is the number one worldwide for Fresh Dairy Products. Danone’s mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

One of the core values of the Danone Nations Cup tournament is to encourage young people to believe in their dreams. Through this initiative Danone offers a sporting event that reaches out to and inspires millions of children all over the world

DNC Partners:

Teams invited to participate in the Danone Nations Cup for the first time

The under-12 Danone Nations Cup soccer tournament is in its 15^th year now and, the organisers – the SA Schools Football Association (SASFA) - and the sponsors have decided to try something new in order to broaden the reach of what is already the biggest soccer competition for kids between 10 and 12 in the land.

This year, in a pilot project, four schools in each of the KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Gauteng provinces will be invited to the provincial finals playoffs, to compete with the teams that have qualified through the system of cluster, district and regional playoffs.

The invited schools are all traditional soccer institutions who have never entered the Danone Nations Cup in the past and who follow their own soccer programmes in their particular local areas.

So far, the four schools that will be playing with the 12 provincial winners in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial finals at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Clermont on Saturday May 16^th have been announced. They are: Highbury Preparatory School, Westville Senior Primary School, Pinetown Senior Primary and New Germany Primary School.

Highbury Preparatory School is 112 years old and is a boys-only school. They offer a range of sports and excel in athletics, cricket, hockey, rugby, swimming, hockey having produced many sports stars that have gone on to play their particular sport at a provincial level.

Sport is compulsory at the school and the students have to participate in at least one sport each term.

Mr Knowledge Vilakazi, the team’s manager, said that competing in the Danone Nations Cup is exciting and motivational for the soccer players.  “We compete in our local leagues and play friendly matches against our neighbours and this opportunity is now taking soccer in our school to a different level.”

The entire school is buzzing about being given this opportunity and Vilakazi says he has suddenly seen an increase in the number of students that now want to play soccer.  “We are looking forward to participating and it has increased the awareness of soccer in the school.”

Vilakazi admits that, besides the other three invitational teams, who they play against, he doesn’t know a lot about the other 12 teams he will be facing.  “I have been following the tournament from a distance and I must congratulate Danone on a great job they are doing in getting the kids involved in sport. By participating in this tournament we are exposing the kids to competitive soccer at a higher level and also to different styles and skills,” Vilakazi said. It’s going to be a great experience for the team and they will learn a lot from other schools.”

Those views are echoed by Westville Senior Primary School coach Yagenderan Pillay.

Sport is a high priority at the school and they have 7 cricket teams, 12 rugby teams and 13 soccer teams. Cricket and rugby have traditionally been the high priority sports but over the years soccer has grown dramatically.

Pillay is eager to see how it goes in the Danone Nations Cup and this will help him decide whether to participate in the tournament on a regular basis in the future.

The players at Westville are all involved in other sports, so they only get to train 1 hour every day, but that has been increased now that the provincial finals are coming up.

“We want our kids exposed to playing with other schools, so we are thrilled that we were invited to participate this year. The players are really looking forward to playing at Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium, it’s a huge stadium and they want to see themselves on that field.

“They know about the possibility of going to Morocco, the ultimate prize for the eventual national champions, and they are eager to win the provincial title and travel to Gauteng for the national finals,” concluded Pillay.

ends

About Danone

Danone Southern Africa is part of the Danone Group, one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world.  Danone is present in over 120 countries across all continents. With 160 plants and around 100,000 employees, the Danone Group is the number one worldwide for Fresh Dairy Products. Danone’s mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

One of the core values of the Danone Nations Cup tournament is to encourage young people to believe in their dreams. Through this initiative Danone offers a sporting event that reaches out to and inspires millions of children all over the world

DNC Partners:

                                                                                 

A woman making an impact in the world of soccer at the Danone Nations Cup

When Machibini Primary School of Mtubatuba run onto the field for the KwaZulu-Natal provincial playoffs of the under-12 Danone Nations Cup competition, at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Clermont on Saturday May 16^th, they will have, in their technical area, have Mrs Happiness Mchunu as team manager.

Happiness is remarkable not only because she is a woman making an impact in the man’s world of soccer, but also because she, almost single-handedly, got sport established at the school.

When she started teaching at the school in 2004 they didn’t do any sport at all so, because she loves sport, she decided to get it going. Now they participate in athletics and soccer and are working towards adding other codes.

She entered the school in the in the Danone Nations Cup for the first time last year and to their surprise they made it into the provincial finals at their first attempt. “We didn’t expect to reach that level and were pleasantly surprised at our success,” she said.

Happiness gives credit for making it to the finals again this year to the boys. “When a coach has a committed team, anything is possible,” she said. “Last year we managed to reach the provincials, beating schools that are regulars in this tournament, it shows that the team and I were committed to making a success out of this tournament.  I instil in the boys that they need to be passionate about the sport- play soccer because you love it and it’s what you want to do,” is her advice.

Her love for soccer comes from being an avid fan. “I love the game and have been a dedicated follower all my life. I watch local and international soccer. My favourite team locally is Orlando Pirates and Internationally it’s Chelsea FC, who have just won the English Premiership.”

This year she is the manager of the team as the school has acquired the services of Lungani Biyela as a coach. He joined the school this year and they have been working closely together.

 “We don’t have a lot of female coaches in South Africa and my goal is to eventually be a qualified coach, but still remain involved in soccer development focusing in rural areas,” Mchunu said.

On their way to the provincial finals Machibini played a total of 22 games – at zonal, circuit and district level – and won them all. “It was not an easy road for us, making it into the provincials is a very big deal for us and we consider it a huge achievement for the team,” Mchunu said.

“Our defining moment was when we played our district finals game against Hluhluwe Primary School. They were the host team and the stadium was filled with their supporters, but we pulled through and we beat them 3-0.  That has been our best game to date this year.”

The teams participating in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial finals are:

Masihambisane Primary School - Amajuba District

Dinuphozo Primary School - ILembe District

Mthethousha Primary School - UMgungundlovu District

Nkelabantwana Primary School - Sisonke District

Celimfundo Primary School - UThukela District

Phumza Primary School - UGu District

Mzweni Primary School - UMzinyathi District

Nhlabonisi Primary School - UThungulu District

Sherwood Primary School - EThekwini District

Mophela Primary School - Pinetown District

Ningizimu Primary School - Zululand District

Machibini Primary School - UMkhanyakude District

About Danone

Danone Southern Africa is part of the Danone Group, one of the fastest-growing food companies in the world.  Danone is present in over 120 countries across all continents. With 160 plants and around 100,000 employees, the Danone Group is the number one worldwide for Fresh Dairy Products. Danone’s mission is to bring health through food to as many people as possible.

One of the core values of the Danone Nations Cup tournament is to encourage young people to believe in their dreams. Through this initiative Danone offers a sporting event that reaches out to and inspires millions of children all over the world