Banyana midfielders join forces with Superstars

Superstars Academy is a football club that opened its doors for the first time last year, beginning its journey at Woodlands International College in Boksburg.

“We were afforded the opportunity to partner with Woodlands to launch our first centre at their facilities,” said Shan Naidoo, founder of Superstars.
“As a parent, I saw my son’s passion for football grow and I searched around Gauteng for the best training and coaches I could afford. Unfortunately, many of the clubs or academies were either too social or internal politics prohibited growth and equal opportunities for all.

“Many of these academies or clubs don’t provide a clear career path for those who want to take the sport professionally.
“Our key reason for opening Superstars Academy is to provide equal opportunities for all players, irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds. The other reasons are to provide our players with professional training, empower our coaches as entrepreneurs and expose the talent we have both through local and international opportunities without the politics.

“We also want to provide a diverse academy that cuts across all races and religious groups with a key focus on the future of our children.”
Since opening the first club in Boksburg, Superstars has opened two new branches, one at the Benoni Action Arena in the CBD and another at the Cardinals Baseball Club at the Boksburg Stadium.

In more exciting news, Banyana Banyana midfielders Gabriella Salgado and Robyn Moodlay have joined forces with the Superstars to start a girls’ team for the academy.

“There are plans to open centres across Gauteng and in other provinces,” said Naidoo.
“As the academy was growing, a few girls joined but many of them were not comfortable playing with the boys. They had such a hunger and passion for the game. I tried searching for girl academies and there were very few around and most of them started with older girls.

Also, not many of them were focused on providing opportunities for those in underserved communities.
“I saw a huge need to provide a professional girls’ academy to cater for girls from a grassroots level to professional.”
Naidoo met Moodaly (Banyana midfielder) through her relative Taryn, who was running the Miss Teen Social Entrepreneur Pageant, which was hosted a few years ago at Carnival City.

“We were initially sponsors of the pageant when they launched a few years ago. Robyn then introduced me to her close friend Gabriela and after our first meeting their passion for assisting girls and our vision aligned,” he explained.
Naidoo, along with his partners, Emmanuel Maregedze and Donavan Harvey, and the recent additions to the family Moodaly and Salgado, all have the same vision when it comes to helping those within less fortunate areas who aren’t always offered the same opportunities due to low funds or transport issues.

“Gabriella and Robyn are heading up our girls’ academy and we are looking for passionate junior girl coaches to join the family, as we look to expand,” he said.

“We have started this academy to assist those less fortunate. We run an initiative called Play It Forward, where individuals, schools or corporates can sponsor a talented young player from as little as R150 per month. Over and above that, we assess on a case-by-case basis where there is a talented player who has no financial support. We then step in to cover all costs, including kits and boots.
“When we have local and international tours, we also cover or subsidise the costs.”

All children are welcome at any of the centres to try out a free session where the coaches and owners will assess from there.
“We have assisted almost 40 children from surrounding, underserved communities and we hope to continue with helping as many children as we can to follow their dreams and have the same opportunities as other children do.”

For more information, to become a coach or to register your child, contact Naidoo on 082 857 8325, Harvey on 082 379 5575 or Maregedze on 072 588 5165.

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