The nine provincial champion schools that
will be competing in the Danone Nations Cup national finals have been
identified and among them are Phaphama Intermediate School and Roodepan Primary
School, representing the Free State and Northern Cape.
The national finals take place at Reiger
Park, Boksburg, on Saturday 1st July.
For Roodepan, this is not the first time
that they will be at the national finals tournament. They made it through to
this stage twice. In 2014 the Kimberley School came 6th at the
nationals and in 2015 they were 5th.
But that is the past and looking at this
year both teams have an equal chance of winning the nationals. Phaphama may not
have the national final experience, but their coach, Lekwa Mokoining, is a
well-qualified youth coach and he owns his own soccer club, Future Stars FC.
He formed the club in 2014 and most of his
team also play for the club, so they get extra coaching and training.
Mokoining has a Level D coaching
certificate from SAFA, which he obtained in 2016. “Having this qualification
has made a tremendous difference as it has helped me design and implement the
right training programme. The players can avoid any injuries during their matches,
and it teaches players the basic skills of soccer such as passing the ball and
communicating well on the field.”
For Roodepan Primary, preparing for the
nationals has not been easy. Many of the players are also in the school’s rugby
team, so finding time for practice sessions has not been easy. And the two
sports are very different.
Team manager, Enricho Chapman, says,
however, that they have managed to iron out many of the problems that emerged
during the provincial finals, particularly the lack of goals scored and scoring
opportunities.
“We will be relying on our midfielder,
Graham Davids, who is the best player in the team. He also plays rugby, so he
has not managed to get in enough practice time, but we are looking for a big
contribution from him.”
The school that wins the national title
will travel to New York in September to compete in the Danone Nations Cup world
finals
The provincial champion schools
are:
Eastern Cape: Isaacs Booi Primary School
Free State:
Phaphama Intermediate School
Gauteng: Acron Park Primary School
KwaZulu-Natal:
Mophela Primary School
Limpopo: Haggai Combined Private School
Mpumalanga: Sekhulile
Primary School
Northern Cape: Roodepan
Primary School
North West: Mmamitlwa
Primary School
Western Cape: Idas Valley Primary School
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