Elma Smit to scout Coca-Cola® Craven Week Heroes

Coca-Cola South Africa today announced rugby anchor Elma Smit as the ambassador of the 2016 Coca-Cola® Craven Week Hero of the Day campaign.  Smit, Supersport’s first female rugby presenter and recognised as a pioneer in South African television, will be heading up a panel of experts tasked with selecting the prestigious Coca-Cola® Hero of the Day recipients at this year’s Coca-Cola® Craven Week, taking place at Kearsney College from 11 – 16 July 2016.

“The Coca-Cola® Craven Week is one of the most important stepping stones for a young rugby player in South Africa and has been producing heroes for generations.  I was immensely proud to get a call from The Coca-Cola Company to lead the Hero of the Day panel, which has already identified multiple young heroes who have gone on to achieve big things in the rugby world,” said Smit.

The Coca-Cola® Hero of the Day however is not necessarily your typical man of the match award.  He is the fullback who made that courageous try-saving tackle, the kicker who slotted a final second penalty for the win or the winger who scored an amazing intercept try. 

It is hero moments such as these which Smit and her team, made up of some of the foremost rugby experts in South Africa including key members of the national sporting, school sports media will be tasked with identifying.

Fetsi Mbele, Senior Communications Manager: Brand Experience, Coca-Cola South Africa concludes, “Coca-Cola is extremely proud to continue to support the development of South Africa’s next rugby heroes through all four of the Coca-Cola® Youth Weeks.  The Coca-Cola® Craven Week has become synonymous as the platform for showcasing the best in South African youth rugby talent – it is where South Africa’s future rugby heroes are made.  As part and parcel of this support, we are immensely excited to have Elma on board and leading our judging panel as we continue to evolve the Coca-Cola® Hero of the Day award in our pursuit to unearth the future heroes of South African rugby.  We can’t wait to have her add an extra level of expertise and unique perspective to our panel as the queen of South African rugby.”

For more information, search #WhereHeroesAreMade on Twitter or visit @Coca_ColaZA

About the Coca-Cola® Craven Week

The Coca-Cola Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament aimed at identifying the top school rugby players in the country. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven.  Coca-Cola became the naming rights sponsor in 1985. There are four tournaments that take place during the Coca-Cola Youth Weeks, namely the Coca-Cola U/13 Craven Week, Coca-Cola U/16 Grant Khomo Week, Coca-Cola U/18 Academy Week and the Coca-Cola U/18 Craven Week.  Many of South Africa’s top rugby players have participated in the Coca-Cola Craven Weeks as a springboard to their professional careers including former World Cup winning captain’s John Smit and Francois Pienaar.

About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands and more than 3,800 beverage choices. Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world's most valuable and recognizable brands, our company’s portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands, 18 of which are available in reduced-, low- or no-calorie options. Our billion-dollar brands include Diet Coke, Coca-Cola Zero, Fanta, Sprite, Dasani, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply, Del Valle, Georgia and Gold Peak. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, we are the No. 1 provider of both sparkling and still beverages.  More than 1.9 billion servings of our beverages are enjoyed by consumers in more than 200 countries each day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, create a safe, inclusive work

South African player, Amanda Dlamini, announced as Danone Nations Cup Ambassador

South African Women's attacking midfielder, Amanda Dlamini, has been appointed the ambassador of the under-12 Danone Nations Cup Southern Africa soccer tournament.

Dlamini, who is currently in camp preparing for the Olympic Games, will start her official duties on Saturday, June 25^th when she attends the Danone Nations Cup national finals happening at the WJ Clements Stadium in Reiger Park.

Here she will motivate the participating teams to believe in their dreams and how important it is to develop healthy lifestyles and how this will impact on their football careers. 

“We are delighted that Amanda has agreed to join the Danone Nations Cup family,” said Chantel Ehlers, Communication Specialist, Danone.  “She is an excellent role model to our young up and coming players.  She is driven, works hard and is a great motivator.  She epitomizes what the Danone Nations Cup stands for, which is fair play, openness, pleasure of the game and friendship.”

Dlamini captained South Africa from 2010-2013, before resigned to concentrate on her university studies and focus on her game.

In that time, she helped the national team to silver medals at the 2011 Cosafa Cup and the 2012 African Women Championships.

She led the team to the 2012 Olympic Games in London – the first time South Africa had participated in the event.

She hails from rural KwaZulu-Natal where she started off in the game playing with, and against boys.

Her dream was to play for the women’s national team, and ever since she achieved that she has been passionate about empowering the youth and helping them realise their potential.

In 2013 she established the Amanda Dlamini Girls Foundation aimed at inspiring young girls to make their dreams come true irrespective of their backgrounds and circumstances by creating an enabling environment that will allow them to be empowered through the use of sports and educational life skills.

“I was so humbled when Danone asked me to be their ambassador for the Danone Nations Cup,” said Dlamini.  “Working with the youth is very close to my heart hence I started my foundation. The majority of the kids that play in this tournament are from rural areas, like me. My humble beginnings have made me realise the importance of developing a good set of values and a strong moral code to conquer life and make my dreams come true.   I also know the importance of a healthy eating plan and how this affects everything you do – from brain to bone development.”

“Further, I have realised that basic education from schools only provided basic literacy and limited life skills training.  It is my mission to stop kids, particularly in the rural areas, from becoming involved in crime, drug abuse and other bad influences which is increasing in this country due to  irresponsibility, loss of hope, lack of self-esteem, limited or no life skills training and the lack of role models.”

She joins an illustrious group of world stars who are the ambassadors of the Danone Nations Cup.   Former French star and current Real Madrid coach Zinedane Zidane is the global ambassador of the competition, while the national ambassadors include Dimitar Berbatov (Bulgaria), Gheorghe Hagi (Romania) and Carlos Tévez (Argentina), just to name a few.

Post the national finals she will then assist the kids leading up to the world finals taking place in Paris, France between October 14^th and 16^th.

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The Nine Provincial Winners of the Danone Nations Cup will gather in Gauteng for the National Finals

 

The long sifting process is over and the nine schools that will be competing for the national title in the Danone Nations Cup competition have been identified.

They will gather at the WJ Clements Stadium in Reiger Park, Boksburg on Saturday June 25^th for the tournament’s national finals day (kickoff 9.30am).

The teams have come through local, regional and provincial elimination stages and are now playing for the big prize: the chance to represent South Africa at the Danone Nations Cup world finals in France in October.

Danone and the sponsorship partners, Mille, have laid on quite a day, with plenty of fun activities on the adjacent fields to entertain the public, and free NutriDay yoghurt, Yogi Sip, Mayo and UltraMel for everyone who attends.

Entrance to the stadium is free

Of the nine competing schools only one – Eastern Cape champions, Barkerville, the 2012 national champions – have won the title before, and most of them have never competed in the nationals before.

So, predicting who will win is not easy.

Nancy Shiba Primary School, representing Mpumalanga, are in the tournament for only the second time. Their coach, Andile Moloto, says that since they won their provincial title he has been approached by a community member who is involved in soccer development to assist as a mentor and technical coach, and he has also received calls from both Pirates and Sundowns, wanting to come and look at his team. 

Training is going well at the school, although exams have put a stop to the extra training which they wanted to do.

Moloto believes passing the ball effectively and executing in front of goal are essential, so those are the things he is concentrating on with the team.

Musa Memela, coach of KZN champions, Mthethomusha Primary School, said their preparations are a bit slow at the moment due to the mid-year exams, but they have been playing friendlies against local club teams.

He has been following the other schools they will be playing against on Facebook, so knows who his competition will be and he feels confident they will do well.

“We are focussing on score quickly as the games are only 20 minutes long and this doesn’t give much time. Attack is key in such short games,” he said.

Mthethomusha striker, Qiniso Ngubane, will be a key player, the coach said. “He has the speed and ability to score. He is a bit too emotional but he is also a great motivator, and has plenty of experience.”

Witsieshoek Primary will be representing the Free Sate and their manager, Zwelibanzi Zimu, said preparations are going very well.

“We have had great support from the district director of education who has arranged a district tournament to help get the boys used to playing competitively,” he said.

They have also had assessments from the Charles Mopeli High Performance centre, and attended training sessions there.

Zimu has been impressed with striker, Reabetswe Moloi. “He is an ambitious player, he is a quick learner and has improved greatly.”

The last school to win a place in the nationals was Benny’s Sports and Development Academy.  They will be representing Limpopo at the nationals and will be the only Academy in action on Saturday. 

Their coach, Mbishi Mokoena said, after winning their provincial final this week that their build up will focus on getting the kids used to playing on grass as all their fields are sand. 

“The boys did not play well in their first provincial final game as they were playing on grass, which they rarely get the opportunity to play on.” He said. “ I could see they were slipping and they were not used to the way the ball bounced and how unpredictable it was. It also affected their confidence; however they did come back and win.  The nationals will be on grass and they need a bit more practice as this level is very tough and we know that we will be facing still opposition.”

The participating schools are:

Eastern Cape - Bakerville Junior Secondary School, Mt Frere

Free State - Witsieshoek Primary, Phuthadithjaba

Gauteng - St Joseph's Kulani Primary, Winterveldt

KZN - Mthethomusha Primary, Edendale

North West - BM Mokitime Primary, Mafikeng

Western Cape - St Helena Bay Primary, St Helena Bay

Mpumalanga - Nancy Shiba Primary, Emalahleni

Northern Cape - Van Rensburg Primary, Britstown

Limpopo – Benny’s Sports Development & Academy, Vhembe

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