Walmer High School wins Eastern Province Kay Motsepe Schools Cup provincial finals

Port Elizabeth’s Walmer High School beat Pangalele Secondary School on penalties to be crowned the Eastern Cape under-19 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Provincial soccer champions.

Not only does the school qualify for the national finals in October, but also get the R100 000 provincial first prize to use to fund legacy projects at the school that will benefit the students as well as the broader community. All is not lost for Pangalele as they also qualify for the national finals and stand a chance to win the R1 million first prize or R600 000, R500 000 or R400 000 if they finish in second, third or fourth place respectively.

Walmer have been playing in the tournament since 2013.  Last year they made it through to the provincial finals where they lost in the final to Lingelihle SSS, but did get a berth in the national finals.

Their team manager, Lunga Lloyd, said they have redeemed themselves this year by winning the provincial title. “This year we have an experienced team – seven of last year’s team are back – and we have done well.  The players are truly committed to this tournament,” he said. 

“I thought that my team did a pretty good job, although they were nervous,” Lloyd said. “We were the host school and therefore had home ground advantage and the team had no choice but to play for a win and not disappoint the fans.”

Lloyd said the victory was a team effort, although midfielder, Philasande Manzi, has been one of their stars and has caught the attention of the professional scouts.

The next step is the nationals and Lloyd said they go back to the drawing board now to rectify the mistakes they made at last year’s finals. “We did badly last year, not due to lack of skills, but because the players never realised how strong the competition was. This time we need to concentrate and focus on why we qualified and what we want to achieve.”

The team is training hard now and will take each game as it comes and try to remain one step ahead of their opponents, Lloyd said.

“The teams from Gauteng, KZN and the Free State will be tough, however we will fight tooth and nail to make sure that we at least rank much higher than we did last year,” he concluded.

Eastern Cape Provincial Finals Results:

Stream A

St James SSS 2 vs. TEM Mrwetyana 0

Walmer HS 0 vs. Tsholomnqa SSS 0

St James SSS 0 vs. Walmer 0

TEM Mrwetyana 0 vs. Tsholomnqa 2

St James SSS 3 vs. Tsholomnqa 1

Walmer HS 5 vs. TEM Mrwetyana 1

Stream B

Malcomess SSS 0 vs. Toleni SSS 0

Malcomess SSS 1 vs. Pangalele SSS 1

Toleni SSS 0 vs. Pangalele SSS 1

Final

Walmer 0 vs. Pangalele 0. Walmer won 3-2 on penalties.

First timers participate in the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Eastern Cape provincial finals

The Eastern Cape Provincial Finals in the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, take place at Walmer High School in Port Elizabeth on Saturday 15th August.

In the finals this year, despite the fact that this is the first time they have participated in the competition are Tsholomqa High School of East London.

Their coach, Lilixa Ntebe, said they became aware of the tournament two years ago by a SASFA representative in their area. “This year we decided to research and get as much information as we could about the tournament and to register,” Ntebe said. “We think that this tournament is a good way to introduce the boys to high level soccer. It’s a great initiative to prepare the boys in becoming professional soccer players.”

The team played five games on their way to the final, winning four and drawing one. “We thought we would play a whole lot more matches, but I guess not a lot of schools from our area registered,” Ntebe said. “But it has been an interesting journey for the team. I think that the real competition will begin at the provincials.”

The coach says they have no idea how intense the competition will be, so they are not looking for great results from the team. “We just want them to learn as much as they can this year and get a better understanding of the tournament so that we can prepare better for next year,” he said.

The team has been playing in the local league, so they do they have some experience, Ntebe explains, and they are excited and anxious about the games, considering the fact that they have never played at this level before.

Ntebe has no coaching qualification and relies on his experience as a player to help him. “I have been passionate about soccer since a young age.  I am part of the school governing body and offered my services as a coach so I have been here since 2013,” said Ntebe.  “I have been working with the team since they were 17 so we have been together for a long time and they have a good understanding of each other and they understand how I operate.  At the end of the day, we both have the same objective which is to see the team succeed, so we have to work together to ensure that happens.”

Training is challenging he explains.  “Some of the players live far away from the school so we can only allocate one hour for training two times a week because they have to travel quiet a distance to their respective homes. But we make do with that and do as much training as we possibly can in that one hour.”

The schools participating are:

·        Walmer High School - Nelson Mandela Bay District

·        T.E.M Mrwetyana Sec School - Cacadu District

·        St James High School - Chris Hani District

·        Malcomess High School - Joe Gqabi District

·        Pangalele SSS - OR Tambo District

·        Toleni SSS - Alfred Nzo District

·        Tsholomqa High School - Amathole District 

Eastern Cape host first Kay Motsepe Schools Cup Regional Final

Port Elizabeth’s Walmer High School will be hosting the Nelson Mandela Bay’s under-19 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, sponsored by the Motsepe Foundation and Sanlam, regional final on Saturday, 16^th May to identify the school that will represent the region in the Eastern Cape provincial finals happening later in the year.

Walmer came second in the provincial finals last year and went to the national finals for the first time. It’s an achievement they hope to repeat this year, according to team manager, Lunga Lloyd.

Being located in Port Elizabeth, where there is only one top professional club – Chippa United – means that talented young players from the region have limited opportunities and so it’s important for them to be exposed to scouts from the big clubs at an event like the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, Lloyd believes.

“This year is the third year our school has been involved in this competition and, while we didn’t expect to make the nationals last year, it was a huge achievement for the school, and we are working hard to be there again this year,” he said.

There are 7 players from last year’s team still eligible to participate in the tournament, which makes quite an experienced team believes Lloyd.

The team is coached by Lloyd and Mr Nkani, another teacher at the school, with the help of Mutaba Sina, a qualified coach who works with various soccer clubs in the area. “Sina has been with the school for a while now and we appreciate his efforts. He shares the same passion as me and wants to see these boys reach their full potential,” Lloyd said. “We are happy to have him back again this year.”

Although the players are used to competing with other local clubs around Walmer, they battled at the national finals last year because they don’t play as much competitive soccer as the other teams at the nationals.

“The boys really had a hard time at the nationals and were surprised at the high level of school soccer at that level,” Lloyd said. “It definitely was a learning curve for the players in all aspects: experiencing a hotel for the first time, the food they were given and living with the teams from different provinces, was a lot for them to take in.”

This year, the team played 3 games in their cluster to qualify for the regional play offs. It’s a small cluster, Lloyd says, and it was easy to win through. “Now, the only planning we can do from our side is to make sure that the team is fit and ready to play on Saturday. We have been training hard with the team and what also helps is that a lot of the boys play for local clubs where most of the hard training is done and skills practised.”  Most of the other clusters are still busy playing qualifiers so Lloyd as yet doesn’t know who their competitors will be.