Nkosiyazi
Nhleko is a 12-year old A student at Zandile Combined School located in
Buffelspruit, near Malelane in Mpumalanga, and he is something special. He
helped his school’s under-12 team to qualify for the Mpumalanga provincial
finals in the Danone Nations Cup and should they win there, he will be making a
trip to Johannesburg for the national finals in June. The winners there will be
going to London in September to play in the Danone Nations Cup World finals.
Nkosiyazi’s achievements are special because he is an orphan who lives at the
Silwanendlala Home Based Care Centre.
He
is one of a number of children at the home who have either been abandoned by
their parents or have lost them at a tender age. Simphiwe Thwala, manager of
the Zandile Combined School football team, explains that the community helps
the children by donating school uniforms and delegating a team of people to
cook and feed them. Thwala explains that many of the children at the school are
orphans who survive on grants and feeding schemes at school, yet they choose to
come to school and participate in the Danone Nations Cup tournament.
Nkosiyazi
is just one of the players that Thwala will be looking at to perform at the
provincial championships. The others are: goalkeeper, Lubisi Bandile; strikers
Lubisi Siphosethu, Zama Nkosingphile and Sbiya Lungelo and midfielders Zulu
Malizole and Ntokozo Fakudze. Lubisi Siphosethu's father was a famous striker
for a local team called Nhlambanyathi Rovers FC and Lubisi has inherited his
father's skills. Sbiya Lungelo's father was a defender for a team called Home
Defender in the 80s.
Zandile
Combined School has been participated in the Danone Nations Cup tournament for
the last six years and this is the second time they have progressed to the
provincial finals. “We are hoping to do even do better this year,” says Thwala,
“but I am pleased with the boys for making it this far,”
Thwala
says they are working hard ahead of the provincial finals. “We train for an
hour and a half on Mondays and Fridays, and take advantage of our sports day on
Wednesdays which we use to identify areas that need to be improved,” he said.
Zandile Combined School has been going for 40 years andl offers sports like
netball, soccer and indigenous games. “Our main focus is on encouraging kids to
grow in sports regardless of the situations they face at home,” Thwala said.
Two
of Zandile’s past students - Thembinkosi Vascus Ngwenya and Lucas Thwala went
on to play for teams in the PSL. Thembinkosi is now playing for the Platinum
Stars development team while Lucas Thwala plays for SuperSport United. Both
players were hard workers who took part in the Danone Nations Cup as under-12s.
Thwala says they sometimes come to help at the school by motivating the kids at
school and even assist with training when they are free.
For
Groupe Danone, the Nations Cup tournament is all about giving young players the
opportunity to believe in their dreams. Through this initiative Danone offers a
sporting event that reaches out to and inspires millions of children all over
the world.
