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

DNC Partners:

 

 

DNC registrations close and schools from vastly differing backgrounds will compete for a trip to France

 

One of the great things about the Danone Nations Cup soccer tournament is that it reaches every corner of the land, and now that registrations for the 2016 event have closed it’s apparent that a wide range of schools will be playing again this year.

Some of them are from affluent urban areas, where fields and facilities are not a problem, others are from the solid middle class areas, and others are located in the poorest rural communities where finding the time and space to participate in sport is a struggle. 

Yet, getting children out into the open and involved in organised activities is an important part of their education, and tournaments like the Danone Nations Cup provide an opportunity for them to move out of their limited surroundings and experience new things. 

Thornville Primary, located near Pietermaritzburg is one of the rural schools. It’s an old school - 82 years old – located in an area where there are many orphans and child-headed households and survival depends on child grants and school feeding schemes.

Thornvilles principal, Ranesh Chowthee, heard about the Danone Nations Cup at a local district circuit meeting and recognised the opportunity to show the pupils that there are many opportunities out there and there is always something to look forward to.“ It can encourage kids to come and play soccer as exercise is extremely important to the overall wellbeing of any kid,” he said.   

Chowthee stresses that the school’s focus is on academics and so the team was selected on the basis of the boys’ commitment to both sport and academics.

The team is coached by Bheki Dladla, a teacher at the school. He believes that the tournament is important as the boys will be exposed to players from other schools and they will be able to learn new soccer skills and how to interact with other kids from different backgrounds.

“It’s our first year of entering, so we are new to the competition, but we are hoping to at least get into the provincial finals,” he said.

Dladla is hoping Mbongeni Mchunu, his key player, will help them achieve that. “He was abandoned as a baby and lives with an unemployed aunt, but has a positive and energetic attitude to life,” Dladla said. “No matter what the adversity he has the ability to bounce back and see the positive side and has the drive to do better and achieve great things in his life.”

Mchunu is a prefect and one of the top academics in the school. He prides himself as a poet and is often given the platform at assembly to recite these.  He will captain the side and dreams of going all the way in the competition.

The winners of the national title will be going to the world finals in France. A trip like that is something worth striving for and although it won’t be easy, Mchunu said it is a boost for the team, and something that is getting the players to develop their passion for the game.

Mchunu said he would like to be a doctor one day and come back to the village and help the community – but he wouldn’t mind if he was scouted and landed up playing for his favourite club, Orlando Pirates.

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