Registrations for the 2014 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup in the Northern Cape going well

Three time Northern Cape Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup champions, Rietvale High School, from the town of Ritchie, are already hard at work preparing to defend their title.

Team manager, Barry Kammies, says they have registered for the competition and are busy selecting their squad at the moment. “We had many new students that started at the school in January and we are currently to seeing them all play to gauge their strengths. We will select the final squad within the next couple of weeks,” Kammies said. “I can already see that a lot of work will have to be done with the new players.  The biggest problem we have to overcome is ball distribution.  Many of the players do not want to pass the ball and are inclined to play as individuals as opposed to a member of the team,” he said

Rietvale has won R300 000 in the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup after being crowned Northern Cape champions in 2011, 12 and 13.  “We have combined our 2012 and 2013 winnings and will purchase a 48-seater bus, which will make a massive difference to the school as transport is one of our biggest problems,” he said. “We will not only use the bus to take our team to soccer games, but also to take classes on educational excursions.”

Kasper Spandiel will be the coach again this year and he says that the lessons learned at last year’s national finals were that if they want to win this tournament, they definitely need an experienced coach and to have an affiliation with an academy. “The academies have a huge advantage over us and I think that winning the nationals is going to be a challenge,” Spandiel said.

“However, playing against academies is also very motivating. While our players might not match their level, I tell them that they must learn from these boys and they will become better players themselves. It’s an eye-opener for management as well as we learn a lot and take the lessons back for the next crop of players. In this way soccer standards keep improving.”

Spandiel sees Okiep High School, who they played against in the provincial finals last year, as probably their strongest opposition. “We want to be the provincial champions for the fourth successive year.”

Apart from the massive prize money on offer in the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, visits by scouts is very important for the boys.   “Sanlam is doing a brilliant job in uplifting soccer development in the country.  Our boys also get to play in front of scouts, which is very important for schools that are in rural areas and outlying towns.”

TO REGISTER FOR THE 2014 SANLAM KAY MOTSEPE SCHOOLS CUP CONTACT:  themba.tshabalala@safa.net

About the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup:

·       The tournament is run under the auspices of the South Africa Football Association (SASFA)

         Named after prominent businessman Patrice Motsepe’s late mother, the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup offers the biggest prize money at school level in Africa (R3.4 million in total). 

·       The sponsors are:  Sanlam, the Motsepe Foundation and the Sanlam Ubuntu-Botho Community Development Trust.

·       The primary objective of the tournament is to revive the culture of school football amongst students between the age of 16 and 19 years old.

·       The tournament also gives players the opportunity to showcase their skills to soccer scouts with the talented players being recruited into development structures to be nurtured and shaped into professional players.

Rietvale High School takes home R100 000 as Northern Cape Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Champions

Rietvale High School is from the small town of Ritchie, 50km outside Kimberley, and is making a name for itself as a football powerhouse in the Sanlam Kay Motspe Schools Cup competition. The school has won the Northern Cape Provincial finals in the tournament three years in a row.

Winning this round means the school gets R100 000 which, according to team manager, Barry Kammies, will be used, together with the winnings from 2012, to purchase a school bus to transport players to sports events.  The R100 000 funds won in 2011 were used to build a fence around the property.

Kammies believes that the win is due to hard work and focus.  “We believe in consistency, and that comes from working hard together,” Kammies says. “We try to balance the equation of new players and old players in the team and we have one vision in the team – winning our matches.”

Kammies says they have analysed their strengths and believe they have a solid defence and strong captain and striker Angelo van Rooi. “He is good and very fast on the field, he has ball control, discipline and a great attitude towards soccer,” Kammies said. “We will be building on those strengths in preparation of the national finals.”

The team has the support of the entire school.  Busses have been hired for supporters to go to the national finals.

In the mean time they are hard at work preparing for the national finals. “For the next two weeks we will focus on fitness, tactics - formation, spacing and passing the ball – and concentration on the field,” Kammies says. “Our central midfielders need to work hand in hand with helping the defence to make sure that their opponents don’t play on their weaknesses. Hard work is the reason why we have managed to win this competition three times, now we have to be committed to the game and every player must give all for his team mates if we want to go further.”

Kammies says he has seen the excitement levels at the school grow because of the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup. “There has been an increase in sports participation and in support in the school since we first took part in the tournament. Every soccer player feels proud to have contributed in a team that keeps coming back with positive results,” he said.

Ends.

About the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup:

·       The tournament is run under the auspices of the South Africa Football Association (SASFA)

   Named after prominent businessman Patrice Motsepe’s late mother, the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup offers the biggest prize money at school level in Africa (R3.4 million in total). 

·       The sponsors are:  Sanlam, the Motsepe Foundation and the Sanlam Ubuntu-Botho Community Development Trust.

·       The primary objective of the tournament is to revive the culture of school football amongst students between the age of 16 and 19 years old.

·       The tournament also gives players the opportunity to showcase their skills to soccer scouts with the talented players being recruited into development structures to be nurtured and shaped into professional players.

Rietvale High School benefit from generous Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup winnings

Rietvale High School, from the Francis Baard Region in Northern Cape is a school that has benefitted in the past from the generous prize money on offer to successful schools in the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup. The school was Northern Cape provincial champions in 2011 and 2012, and they received R100 000 each time, to go towards projects needed to benefit not only the school students, but the community at large.

Barry Kammies, the team manager, explains that their success in the competition has meant a lot to the school. ”In 2011 the School Governing Body (SGB) decided to use the prize money to put a fence around the school’s yard. Boys from the township would come into the school and disrupt classes and cause chaos,” he explained. “Since the fence has been put up the school has been running smoothly with no interruptions.”

The SGB hasn’t decided what to do with the 2012 winnings yet, although Kammies believes they should put it towards buying a mini-bus to transport the school’s sports teams to tournaments.  “Most of the tournaments that we partake in are far away and a bus will help us a lot.”

Success in the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup has done a lot for the children at the school, Kammies believes. “More kids are interested in playing for the school’s soccer team now,” he said. “Even the girls have become interested in soccer and we have started a girl’s soccer team. The tournament has uplifted the team’s spirits because they know that this tournament can do a lot, not just for the school, but also for the players as there are always scouts from PSL Clubs attending the Provincial and National finals.”

Rietvale has been in the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup ever since it started, and although they have been Northern Cape provincial champions twice, they have not gone further than that. They are in the provincial finals again this year and Kammies is determined that they will go all the way this time around.

It’s not going to be easy, though. “I have seen Okiep High School playing and they are a very strong team. I think they will give us a tough time when we have to play against them. But my team will do their best,” he said. Kammies identifies 19 year old striker, Angelo Van Rooi as a key player for the team.

“I had played in this tournament for 4 years,” said Van Rooi.  “The first 2 years we didn’t win anything; so when we won in 2011, and again in 2012, my spirits were uplifted and I realised then that working hard does pay off.  This is my last year and I would like to finish within the top four at the National Finals so we can help fund the bus we want to buy to transport the sports players.” he said

About the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup:

·       Named after prominent businessman Patrice Motsepe’s late mother, the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup offers the biggest prize money at school level in Africa (R3.4 million in total). 

·       The sponsors are:  Sanlam, the Motsepe Foundation and the Sanlam Ubuntu-Botho Community Development Trust.

·       The primary objective of the tournament is to revive the culture of school football amongst students between the age of 16 and 19 years old.

·       The tournament also gives players the opportunity to showcase their skills to soccer scouts with the talented players being recruited into development structures to be nurtured and shaped into professional players.