Management of Super Tigers Football Club said they’re confident their players will outdo themselves and be competitive at the much-anticipated December Tournament.
Owner and head coach of the club as well as former professional soccer player Bongani ‘Ace’ Duiker said although Covid-19 interrupted their training sessions and reduced their time on the field significantly, players still owed it to themselves to do their best.
“The much-anticipated tournament is going to start on Monday, December 13 and will end on Friday, December 19. There will be four divisions; U/13, U/15, U/17 and U/19 as well as big prizes up for grabs,” Ace said.
Although he expects his U/13s to perform exceptionally well, players won’t be put under any unnecessary pressure and he would rather encourage them to learn as much at they can. When it comes to older players, Ace said, “Everything is at stake because they have the potential of representing Gauteng or even South Africa one day”.
When lockdown regulations were announced back in March 2020, many players suffered a huge setback as they regressed in their focus and physical strength.
“Most of our players lost much training time on the field. Where they should’ve trained at least twice a week they could only train once a week or not at all at times. All the tactical skills and techniques they had refined suffered.”
He praised their dedication despite the challenges and said some players took it upon themselves to train, such as running or doing minimal exercises at home, which is better than doing nothing at all.
“We believe doing something is better than no training, especially going into this tournament. At the moment, we’re still preparing and we will give our opponents a run for their money,” Ace vowed.
