KFC and CSA sign for another decade

KFC SA and Cricket South Africa, this morning, concluded a landmark agreement that will see the hugely popular and successful KFC Mini-Cricket programme extended for a further 10 years.

KFC first involved themselves with CSA in the Mini-Cricket program five years ago and since then their investment has grown to a point where there are now more than 110 000 kids actively participating on a regular basis each week.

“The KFC Min-Cricket programme is our flagship development programme and we believe this is one of the best sports development programmes on the continent,” said CSA Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat.

“This is where our pipeline starts and this is where KFC’s commitment has ensured that we can bring together thousands of boys and girls all around the country to grow the game and to unearth future international stars,”

“I am overjoyed by KFC’s willingness to partner with us for a further 10 years. Such long term investment is unheard of in today’s sporting climate and I want to thank KFC for their vision and great partnership with CSA,” added Lorgat

“Looking back on another successful and highly active season of KFC Mini-Cricket, we are incredibly proud to be announcing our continued support of the KFC Mini-Cricket programme for the next 10 years,” explained Mike Middleton, Chief Marketing Officer, KFC Africa.

“Our shared vision remains to get more kids in South Africa to lead active lifestyles through the KFC Mini-Cricket programme and we will continue to work closely with our partner, Cricket South Africa, to take development cricket to the next level and continue to build upon the positive momentum generated over the course of five very successful seasons.”

In addition to the Mini Cricket program, KFC will remain CSA’s Official Restaurant Supplier, and will also continue to have the rights for ball boys and ball girls for all domestic and international T20 matches.

Ragini Moodley wins the KFC Mini-Cricket Coach of the year award

Ragini Moodley, a KFC Mini-Cricket coach from Chatsworth, KwaZulu-Natal, has won the 2014/15 KFC Mini-Cricket Coach of the Year award at this year's Cricket South Africa Breakfast Awards.

It takes huge dedication and passion from the over 8400 volunteer coaches who get over 110 000 kids from across the country active through the KFC Mini-Cricket programme. Over the last 24 years, Ragini has continuously gone over and above in her efforts to grow the KFC Mini-Cricket footprint in KwaZulu-Natal and give as many kids as possible the opportunity to learn the game.

Many of the kids whom Ragini coaches come from impoverished and disadvantaged backgrounds, however through her dedication to the KFC Mini-Cricket programme she is able to give these kids a positive and safe environment where they are able to learn the fundamentals of cricket, grow their love for the game and get active.

Ragini has also had a hand in introducing cricket to players like Trisha Chetty, Chloe Tyron, Cody Chetty and Johnathan Vandiar from the Sunfoil Dolphins.

Cape Town first timers in the Danone Nations Cup hope to win the Provincials.

The Danone Nations Cup Western Cape Provincial Finals take place at the D’Almeida Stadium in Mossel Bay on Saturday 6^th June, games kick-off at 10am.  Competing will be the 6 regional winners including first timers, Kleinberg Primary school from Ocean View, Cape Town.

At the helm of Kleinberg will be two old boys, who are also teachers at the school, Zafrulas Oppelt (team manager) and Nolan Kopman (coach).

“We have never played in a tournament under the SASFA umbrella before,” said Oppelt. “We have always played in the schools local league soccer tournament, and this year we decided to enter as I believe competitions like the Danone Nations Cup will definitely improve the players as they will be exposed to competition that they were not getting in our local league.”

Oppelt and Kopman are passionate sports supporters. “We are both mad about sports in general and this is our way of giving back to the community, we do everything we possibly can to help the school in any shape or form,” he said.

Oppelt believes the players will get recognition from the tournament and they will take away something from it, win or lose. “We are lucky to have reached this stage. I certainly didn’t expect it but I am happy that the team managed to qualify for the provincials,” he said.

“We only played two games in our region of Cape Town and they were both relatively easy, but the real competition is going to be at the provincials,” he said. “We are coming in as underdogs.  We know nothing about the schools that have qualified and have no experience of competing at this level. It’s going to be a challenge for the team but we have always taught the kids to strive for success no matter what the situation is, so we are very optimistic.”

They have prepared the team the best way they know how, Oppelt said, but they are not putting any pressure on the team. “We just want them to gain the experience to come back next year and cause waves.”

What helps, says Oppelt, is that a number of the players also play for local soccer teams, mostly for Oceanview FC, a reputable soccer club in Cape Town.

As for strategies ahead of the provincial finals, Oppelt said they are to going to take it one game at a time, and make sure they score a lot of goals.

“It’s important to start with a bang, and make the opponents aware that we are not here to play around. The boys have been training hard, they work well as a team and have been playing together as team since last year, so they are used to each other.”

The teams participating in the provincial finals are:

Naphakade Primary School-West Coast District

Mzoxolo Primary School- Eden District

Restvale Primary School –Central Karoo District

Masakhane Primary School-Overberg District

Kleinberg Primary School-Cape Town District

Rietenbosch Primary School - Winelands

Danone Nations Cup Partners

Sundowns development players help Clapham High School win the Tshwane North District Finals

The format of the Gauteng qualification rounds of the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup have been changed this year. Previously a series of inter-district playoffs across the region were held to determine the 8 schools that will play in the provincial finals, but from now on the playoffs will be in four districts, with two teams each from Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekuhurleni going through and one each from Sedibeng and on from the West Rand district.

Former title holders Clapham High School last weekend won the Tshwane North district title and will now play the winners of the Tshwane South, Tshwane West and Gauteng North to determine the 2 schools that will progress to the Gauteng provincial finals

According to Clapham team manager, Johannes Petje, the road to the district finals has been challenging as more and more schools are taking part in the tournament, with an eye on the prize money on offer.

“This means that we play more games every year and the competition is tougher because we don’t play against the same schools every year,” he said.

For example, Hoërskool Overkruin entered for the first time this year and they were very competitive. “We look forward to playing against new schools, it shows that the tournament is growing,” Petje said.

The 2015 Clapham team is made up of a combination of new and experienced players. “Some players have graduated and others are no longer eligible because of age, so we select new players and work hard to get the team up to speed with the standard of the tournament,” he said.

Petje enters his school into as many tournaments as possible to prepare the boys.  “We managed to reach the finals of a local tournament, the Diski Challenge, where we lost to University of Pretoria,” he said. “But they gained a lot of experience to help them prepare better for the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup.”

Through the academy, Clapham has become a rich source of players to the professional ranks. “It’s rewarding when players that come from the academy get signed to the first team,” Petje said. “Last year we had Percy Tau, who got offered a contract with the first team, and this year Motjeka Modisha was signed with the Mamelodi Sundowns first team, he played in this tournament in 2012 and 2013 and is captain of the SA u-20 national team.”

Although the senior players have hectic schedules, they do come to the school to spend a few hours with the players and encourage them. “Just recently, Percy Tau came to the school and had a chat with the boys. They can relate to him and they look up to him a lot,” Petje explained.

The Kay Motsepe Schools Cup is an unpredictable tournament, Petje said. For example, last year’s runners-up, Tholokuhle, from KZN,  have already been knocked out.

“We were also knocked out early in the tournament last year, so anything can happen. No team is guaranteed to reach the nationals, regardless of academy affiliations. It is getting tougher and tougher every year, especially here in Gauteng as more schools are becoming associated with academies.”

Clapham will be taking it one step at a time. The focus now is on winning the district finals then after that they will focus on the Gauteng provincial finals.

“We have to remain disciplined and focused,” Petje said. “Last year we missed a number of our best players who were called up for national duty, but this year we have prepared for that. We have players who can fill that gap should some of our players be selected for national teams.”

After beating Prestige College 4-1 in the District finals, Clapham are a confident team, Petje said. “We believe that this will be the year where we reclaim our glory.”