The Gaegake Primary School in Maruping Village, Mothibistad, will for the first time compete in the u.12 Danone Nations Cup provincial finals, to be held in Upington on Saturday (14/04).
This proves to be a great achievement for the school, which already began its preparations in October last year in an effort not to make any mistakes.
Manager and coach Gilbert Mabihi, also the school’s deputy principal, has a CAF D coaching license and is well qualified for the job.
He said their readiness was all thanks to friendly matches that were played for the cluster level stage of the competition, as well as the regional final. They won all four games played.
Mabihi is lauded for being a firm believer in sport as part of the educational process.
“The lessons they learn from soccer, particularly the importance of goal setting, focus, hard work and resilience, are also important for their academics,” he said.
The Lutzburg Intermediate School of the ZF Mgcawu Region will also compete in the competition for the first time.
The school is based in Kakamas and the team, under coach Chelsen van Wyk, has been competing in the Danone Nations Cup for three years without progressing beyond cluster level.
Unlike the team of Gaegake, neither Van Wyk nor his manager, Jacob Basson, has any formal coaching qualifications.
However, they have been coaching the school’s u.12 team for the past three years.
To them, their greatest achievement was beating the historically strongest team in their region, the Kakamas Primary School, in the cluster stage of the competition.
“This is the first time we have ever beaten them,” Van Wyk said.
“It was not an easy road to the provincials. But we have done our homework and feel confident that we have the trophy in the bag.”
The tournament will be hosted at the Mxolisi Dicky Jacobs Stadium from 10:00.
Entry is free.
