Discovery Soccer Park in Sandton shares memories of soccer club
SANDTON – "Since then we have built a strong development team in which most of our older players started playing since they were little boys and girls," said Moïra Valkin.
Home of arguably the best sports facilities in Sandton, Discovery Soccer Park, has been developing their soccer youth team, Warriors FC, for more than a decade.
The club was founded by Moïra Valkin and the director of coaching, Herold Matodzi, who are both passionate about soccer, and they decided to form Warriors FC in 2011. Their first task was finding the perfect youth development coach which was carefully planned by the duo.
“The team started with Herold Matodzi, who is now the director of coaching. We head-hunted for the best junior coaches in the city,” said Valkin. “Since then, we have built a strong development team in which most of our older players started playing since they were little boys and girls.
“For some of these boys, it has been rough due to their family background, soccer is their whole life and escape. Coach Mocks [Agrippa Maseko] is the one who brings it all together. He collects the boys from Alex and brings them here and Herold is the brains of the club.”
Warriors FC is fixated on mastering the popular European style of play known as the ‘tiki-taka’, where a team keeps possession of the ball by making short passes while progressing to their opponents half. Teams such as Barcelona and the Spain national team have, mastered this art.
Maseko was appointed as the head coach of Warriors FC in 2014.
“Warriors approached me in Alexandra and said to me that I had an eye for finding good players. They offered me a position as the head senior coach. That was seven years ago and the journey so far has been nothing but amazing. Seeing all of these talented boys and girls playing like Kevin de Bruyne [Manchester City] and Andrés Iniesta [former Barcelona player] is amazing to witness,” said Maseko.
