First time contenders Thembalethu Secondary School, from Thembalethu Township in George, are hoping it will be a case of first time lucky and be crowned Western Province champions when they compete in the Under 19 Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup football provincial finals on Saturday, 1 September, at the Rustdene Sports Ground in Beaufort West.
The school was established in 2004 and has never been able to enter the tournament as they have been building a team. “I joined the school in 2007 and only started enforcing football as an extra mural activity a year after that,” said coach, Mbongiseni Kalipa. “The boys were relatively young and to test their strength I used to organise friendly matches with our neighbouring schools."
Kalipa has no formal coaching qualification but has done well in turning the team into a force to be reckoned with. He is also chairman of the local amateur football club, Eden Young Blues FC. “I have applied all the football knowledge acquired for the past three years with the club to the team at Thembalethu Secondary School.”
His team will be minus five senior players who have opted to focus on writing their Matric, but he is still confident that the players he has are more than capable of doing the job. “We are ready and will do our best. The boys are excited as this will be their first ever participation in a serious schools competition. We are proud to make it this far especially because the calibre of the Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup tournament is so high," he added.
Kalipa singled out his goalkeeper, Mandisi Zingato and midfielder Nkosikhona Gwegwe, as well as team captain, Siyabulela Matshini as key players for Saturday. 18 year old Matshini is said to have an eye for goals and can read the game well. Kalipa believes he will intimidate the opponents on Saturday.
The provincial champions will walk away with R100 000 in prize money which will be used to fund legacy projects identified by the school and, together with the runners-up, they will go on to join the other 16 provincial finalists at the national finals of the competition in Bloemfontein from 2- 6 October .
Other participating schools include 2010 Western Cape Provincial Champions Cloetesville Secondary School (Winelands Region), Bastiaanse Secondary School (Central Karoo Region), Qhayiya Secondary School (Overberg Region), and Robinvale Secondary School (West Coast). The remaining school will be the winner of the Cape Town region, still to be decided.
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