The King’s School in Robin Hills,
Randburg, has entered the Johannesburg Primary Schools Association’s under-12
Danone Nations Cup soccer tournament again this year, and will be competing
with 21 other schools at St David’s Marist Inanda on the 23rd, 24th and 25th
of July. The winner will go on to represent the organisation at the tournament’s
Gauteng provincial finals on 25th August.
Coach, Kgaba Ditsebe believes his
team is up to the challenge and ready to compete. He was a very skilled footballer in his
primary, high school days, even getting the chance to play for SuperSport
United. However, a knee injury, which he
picked up in a friendly match, unearthed a tumour in his right knee cap. After months in hospital and the removal of
the knee cap and a fusion he was forced to give up his career as he now walks
with crutches.
He threw himself into coaching
and has numerous coaching qualifications, including Lead into Football; SAFA
introductory certificate; FUTSAL introductory certificate; KNVB coaching
certificate and the Basic and Advanced periodisation course. He also has a
National Diploma Certificate in Marketing from University of Johannesburg.
He joined the King’s School in
2013 as a sports administrator/coach and has
been involved in coaching and recruiting new athletes for the school. He also coaches
the under-17 team at UJ and sees coaching as a fulltime career in the
future.
King’s School competed in the Danone
Nations Cup in 2017 but didn’t get past the group stages. Ditsebe said he believes
they can do better this year as he has an exceptionally talented bunch of boys.
“It will also depend on the
opposition, of course,” he said. “Under-12 means that the teams change every
year. One cannot go by what happened last year as it is a new year, with new
players and some teams will have new coaches.”
The aim, he said, is to put in
the best possible performance in the most important competition of the year.
“It involves progressive cycling of various aspects of a training program
during a specific period.”
Ditsebe was a coach at Bophelo
Impilo Combined School in Mayfair in 2006 when he first heard about the Danone
Nations Cup tournament and he entered the school in 2007, but never managed
to get past the cluster level.
Preparations are well under way
and the team is ready for the playoffs. As a disabled coach he is limited to
what he can do on the field and therefore he asks other coaches to come in and
help.
“I get help from UJ where I coach
in the evenings. Coach Paseka Sepotokele, who has a SAFA C licence helps me
out. At school Thando Zulu, a football officer helps me with the day to day
operations. He also has a SAFA level 1 qualification, which helps.”
The schools that will be playing
at the JPSFA playoff tournament are:
Participating schools:
The schools that have entered to
date include:
Blairgowrie Primary School
Bryneven Primary school
Curro Wilgeheuwel
De La Salle Holy Cross College
Deutsche Internationale Schule
Emmarentia Primary School
Fairsands Primary School
Grayston Preparatory School
Greenside Primary School
HA Jack Primary School
HeronBridge College
Houghton Muslim Academy
Houghton Primary School
King David Primary School Victory
Park
Maryvale College
Northwest Christian School
Orange Grove Primary School
Reddam House Bedfordview
St David’s Marist Inanda
The King’s School Robin Hill
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