Tshedimosetso Secondary School of
Klerksdorp in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, are the North West Kay Motsepe
Schools Cup Provincial champions. They beat Itshupeng Secondary School in
the final match. Both teams will go on to play in the national finals in
Gauteng from 7th to 10th October.
According to David Lefifi, the
team’s manager, they have been playing in the competition since 2013, but have
not done very well in the past, until this year.
“Before 2013 there wasn’t much
interest in soccer among the boys, so we never formed a team,” he explains.
“Then in 2013 my colleague, Sipho Chozi, and I decided to start putting a
soccer structure together. At that time the boys were under-16 and they have
now progressed to the under-19 age group so they blend well together as a
team.”
2013 and 2014 were learning years
for them, Lefifi said, but they always believed that they could win one day.
“After last year’s competition we went back to the drawing board and starting
strategising for 2015 and came back this year with the aim of winning. The
level of determination the boys showed was great.”
Winning the provincial title has
been amazing, the coach said. “On Monday the boys came to school with their
soccer kit and medals, and have been parading around the school. They even went
out into the neighbourhood to show the community their medals and the cheque
that the school won.”
Lefifi said his approach was the
same as last year. “Our training hasn’t changed, but I think the players were
more dedicated this year. Even the parents have been chipping in to help with
transport to all the games. The level of dedication was unbelievable and I
think that’s what made all the difference this year,”
The players showed no signs of
nerves at the provincial finals said the coach. “I guess it’s because we
believed in ourselves. We were not worried about the other teams and our
focus was on our own abilities which got us this far.”
One of the sides they came up
against was affiliated to the Platinum Stars academy, but that didn’t
intimidate them. “We only found out about it on the morning of the games, so it
didn’t make much of a difference for us”, Lefifi said. “The games went very
well and I believe we were definitely the strongest team on show.”
Tshedimotsetso have qualified for
the national finals of the competition now and Lefifi knows that will be a
different level of competition.
“We will be treading carefully
because we have never been at this level before. I will try to get a
professional qualified coach in to help as this will benefit the boys and they
will get more knowledge and practical training.”
As provincial champions, the
school has been given R100 00 to spend on legacy projects and Lefifi said a lot
of people will be involved in deciding on how the funds will be spent. “There
are many things that the school needs, but I want the sport department to be
looked after because they are the reason why the school has won the money in
the first place.”
Results
Keledi 0 vs Itshupeng 1
Tshedimosetso 3 vs Hoerskool
Zeerust
Tshedimosetso 2 vs Keledi 0
Itshupeng 2 vs Hoerskool Zeerust
1
Herskool Zeerust 1 vs Keledi 2
Final
Tshedimosetso 4 vs Itshupeng 1
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