Eastern Cape Schools are preparing for the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup National Finals.

The Under-19 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, is in full swing with five provincial finals compete. The tournament, which is run under the auspices of the South African Football Association (SAFA) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE), allows both the provincial winner and runner-up the opportunity of winning some of the massive prize money that is on offer at the national final stage, which will be taking place at the University of the Free State between 23rd and 27^th September.

The Eastern Cape provincial finals took place in Queenstown earlier this month with hosts, Maria Louw High School taking top honours and winning the R100 000 prize money.  They will be joined by second place finishers, Jojo Secondary School from Mount Ayliff in the Alfred Nzo Region at the national finals.

Maria Louw deputy principal and coach, Sandile Mata, is happy that his team has progressed to the national finals in their first outing in this prestigious tournament but cautions that it is not going to be an easy ride in the Free State.  “I joined the school in August last year from Lingelihele, where I was principal and coach, and took top provincial honours in this tournament in 2012 and 2014 where we met the likes of Clapham High School and Rosina Sedibane in the nationals.  Both are linked to PSL clubs and they have exceptional talent and experienced coaches and we will be up against them again this year.”  Mata does admit he holds Introductory and Level 1 certificates as well as the FIFA Grass Roots coaching certificate.

Mata has been following the progress of the provincial finals on Facebook and has noted there are many new schools that have qualified this year.  “Over the years we often see the same schools progressing up the ranks and it is good to see some new names there this year.  It makes the nationals more exciting and challenging.  This tournament is also about gaining experience, and watching the national finals is always an eye opener and the coaches from the rural areas pick up new ideas and approaches to the game.”

The main challenge Mata says he is facing is lack of motivation and discipline.  “It is a difficult age as the boys want to have fun, but it takes dedication and hard work to become a professional and some of the key players with immense talent skip training.  I have never had such a talented bunch of players before and all compete for top clubs in the area that play in local leagues.  We have the potential to go far – but they have to be committed.”

There are areas that need to be addressed before the nationals, admits Mata.  “My defence needs more work and we need more commitment from the strikers as we cannot rely on one person alone.  Those are the areas I am looking at improving within the next two weeks.  The Sundowns academy coaches will be at the nationals again and they have already identified two of my players, but it depends on how they play in the nationals as to whether they will be brought up to Joburg next year or not.”

The national finals promise to be spectacular with 18 teams competing for the ultimate prize of R1million, making the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, the competition with the biggest prize money in Africa at under-19 level.  The runners-up will take home R600 000, third place and fourth place finishers get R500 000 and R400 000 respectively.  On top of this the nine Provincial winners will each receive R100 000.  The winnings are not handed over in cash but spent on legacy projects identified by the winning schools.

PROVINCIAL FINAL WINNERS TO DATE:

PROVINCE/PF VENUE	DATE	WINNERS	REGION
Western Province Gaansbaai	03-Aug-19	WINNER:  John Ramsay High School	Bishop Lavis Cape Town
Western Province Gaansbaai	03-Aug-19	RUNNER-UP:  Beauford West Secondary School	Beaufort West Great Karoo Region
Eastern Cape Queenstown	10-Aug-19	WINNER:  Maria Louw Senior Secondary School (Queenstown)	Queenstown Enoch Mgijima Municipality
Eastern Cape Queenstown	10-Aug-19	RUNNER-UP:   Jojo Senior Secondary	Mount Ayliff Alfred Nzo Municipality
Northern Cape Upington	17-Aug	WINNER:  Okiep HS	Okiep Springbok Municipality
Northern Cape Upington	17-Aug	RUNNER-Up:  Blinkklip HS	Posmasburg ZF Mgcawu Municipality
Limpopo Polokwane	24-Aug-19	WINNER:  Tshikota High School	Tshikota (Louis Trichardt) Vhembe Municipality
Limpopo Polokwane	24-Aug-19	RUNNER-UP: Ditlalemeso Secondary School	Mankweng (Turfloop) Capricorn District
Gauteng Nigel	31-Aug-19	WINNER:  Rosina Sedibane	Laudium, Centurion Tshwane
Gauteng Nigel	31-Aug-19	RUNNER-UP:  Clapham HS	Queenswood, Pretoria Tshwane
KZN DURBAN	7-Sept-19	WINNER:  Dr JL Dube High School	KwaMashu Emlanjeni Durban
KZN DURBAN	7-Sept-19	RUNNER-UP:  Mount Currie Senior Secondary School	Kokstad Harry Gwala District