Ferdinand Brecher Primary School based in Steinkops,
have taken home the Northern Cape Danone Nations Cup under-12 provincial
soccer trophy and will travel to Gauteng
in June to compete in the national finals.
The school beat Kareeville Primary from Da Aar 4 – 0 in the final match
that took place at Upington on Saturday to clinch the title.
An overwhelmed, but
happy coach, Gerrit Afrikaaner, is excited for the upcoming trip to Gauteng, a
city that neither the boys nor he have visited.
He believes that the trip is of vital importance to his boys as they
will be able to gauge their strengths and weaknesses against other boys from
around the country and will learn a lot
about techniques and tactics. “This is the next step in uplifting soccer in our
area,” said the coach. “We are based in a farming community away from the big
cities and therefore there are limited opportunities in terms of coaching
courses as well as the number of competitive school to compete against. The opportunity to compete in the national
finals is a dream come true.”
Afrikaaner is the
only male teacher in the school, joining at the beginning of the year at the
request of the Board of Governors. “I
was brought in as a teacher and offered my services as the coach of the
under-12 boys. To reach this stage of
the tournament so quickly is incredible, but I do have an exceptional team of
skilled players. My key boys, Jadon and
Milano are good friends and have the potential to go far in the sport, if they
get the opportunities. They are so
talented that I have decided to put a local team together for everyone in the
community and coach and give them extra coaching.”
Jadon Cloete was the
top scorer at the provincial finals bagging all 4 goals in the final match. “Jadon scored a total of 7 goals on the day
and all the other teams combined only managed to score 10 goals.
But the day was not
an easy one, admits Afrikaaner. “Our
first game was against Tshwarelela Primary which we might have won 3 – 0 but
the field was wet and the ball was slippery and was problematic for the boys to
bring it under control. Our second game
we won 3 – 0 against Segonyana with Jadon scoring 2 of the goals.
Our toughest game of
the day was against Kareeville, which we drew 1-all. They were a well organised
and skilled team and we knew that we could well meet them again in the final
match so I decided to rest the key players and changed the team giving those on
the bench some game time and we drew our final league game against Friersdale
Combined with neither team managing to score.
I noticed the boys were not working together. They were arguing on the field and lost
focus, so I had to talk to them during the break. They were tired and I knew they needed extra
motivation to fight fatigue and get back on track.
This paid off and we
managed to beat Kareeville. Prior to the
tournament I never told the boys that winning the provincial finals was not the
end of the Danone Nations Cup but told them on the way back home that the next
step was a trip to Gauteng and that was very exciting for them. The school took back the medals and we
represented them at assembly on Monday.
This is a great achievement for our school.
Afrikaner has no
formal qualifications but has played the game since the age of 11 and has
played at National First Division level for most of his adult life. “
RESULTS:
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
GROUP DANONE
Dedicated to bringing health through food to as many
people as possible, Danone is a leading global food & beverage company
building on health-focused and fast-growing categories in three businesses:
Essential Dairy & Plant-Based Products, Waters and Specialized Nutrition.
Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking
practices, in line with its ‘One Planet. One Health’ vision which reflects a
strong belief that the health of people and that of the planet are
interconnected. To bring this vision to life and create superior, sustainable,
profitable value for all its stakeholders, Danone has defined its 2030 Goals: a
set of nine integrated goals aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) of the United Nations. Danone commits to operating in an efficient,
responsible and inclusive manner; it holds itself to the highest standards in
doing business, as reflected by its ambition to become one of the first
multinationals certified as B CorpTM. With more than 100,000 employees, and
products sold in over 120 markets, Danone generated €24.7 billion in sales in
2018. Danone’s portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel,
Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, Danette, Danio, Danonino, evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon,
Volvic, among others) as well as strong local and regional brands (including
AQUA, Blédina, Bonafont, Cow & Gate, Horizon, Mizone, Oikos,
Prostokvashino, Silk, Vega).
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