The
Western Cape Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup provincial finals will now take
place on 1 September at the Rustedene Stadium in Beaufort West. The postponement is to accommodate the Muslim
month of Ramadan as many players will be fasting during the month of August.
The
winners of the six regional finals will participate, namely Central Karoo,
Eden, Overberg, Cape Town, Cape Winelands and West Coast.
Qhayiya
Secondary School from Hermanus, representing the Overberg Region, will be
making their third appearance in the Provincials, but have never gone on to
play in the National Finals. Seventeen
year-old team captain, Monwabisi Tim, believes his team will make it to the
National’s this year: “We’ve learnt a lot last year in terms of how the
different regions play and, with the full support of the technical team as well
as the teachers; we have the confidence and drive to go all the way to the
Nationals.”
Qhayiya’s
coach, Mike Gwaxa, has been with the school team since 2006. He says that the
four players in the team that competed in last year’s tournament will help, but
he cautions that his team’s fitness might let them down. “It was self-belief
that let us down last year. Playing teams like Beaufort West Secondary School
and Bastiaanse Secondary School can be intimidating as they have won the
tournament before. I am working on
fitness at the moment to get the players to peak at the right time.”
Looking
forward to the provincial finals is Thembalethu Secondary School’s player from
the Eden Region, Goldman Jwili: “This
will be the first time we will be competing against the best under-19 teams in
the Western Cape and we are going there with confidence, but will not take any
opposition we face lightly.”
The
17-year-old captain believes that the schools fromGeorge have exceptionally
talented players and he went on to say that his school has a better than
average chance of winning as they are regarded as underdogs.
Also
joining the two schools is 2010 Nationals Finalists; Bastiaanse Secondary
School (Central Karoo). The school finished 16th that year.
Cape
Town, Cape Winelands and West Coast are still to host their regional finals.
About the Sanlam Kay
Motsepe Schools Cup:
The
Sanlam Kay Motsepe Schools Cup is an initiative co-funded by Sanlam, the
Ubuntu-Botho Community Development Trust and the Motsepe Family Foundation. It
the biggest high school soccer tournament in South Africa and is open to all
high schools including rural, public, private and independent schools. The
National winning school will walk away with R1 million with R600 000, R500 000
and R400 000, for the second, third and fourth placed schools respectively.
Each Provincial winners gets an additional R100 000. Prize money is used to fund
legacy projects identified by the school.
