Sandtonview school to slug it out in Motsepe Cup

Sandtonview High School, which has a high volume of pupils who live in Alex, is one of the early birds that have registered to slug it out in the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup football tournament.

This will be Sandtonview’s second year of participation in the cup, which is sponsored by Sanlam and the Motsepe Foundation. School coach, Thabani Nyathi had no hesitation when it came to entering the team again this year, as he believes the interaction and exposure that comes with playing competitive soccer is an important educational experience for the boys.

The school is playing in the Johannesburg East cluster of the Gauteng provincial competition. They will be competing against schools

such as Wendywood High School, Holy Family College, Northview High School, Athlone Boys High, Queens High, Jules High and Barnato Park High.

“In the past we participated in our local schools league only, but last year we decided that the school should play in the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup,” Nyathi said. “In this way the players get exposed to tougher competition and to other schools with exceptionally skilled players. We see it as a learning curve.”

Last year the school was knocked out early in the tournament, but the coach said he and his boys learnt a lot. “The academic side is a priority of the school so I can only select players from Grade 11, as the Grade 12s need to focus on matric.

“This has resulted in me having to select a completely new team this year. I have some really skilled players and I believe we can go all the way to the nationals. I have been concentrating on physical conditioning and we are now moving on to individual skills and techniques. The final stage is tactical awareness and then we will be ready for the tournament.”