The under-12 Danone Nations Cup
soccer tournament is in its 15th 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 16th
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
No comments:
Post a Comment