Waterstone College up and running for schools cup
The cluster level matches in the 2015 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup u.19 soccer tournament will be starting soon.
![](https://images.caxton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2015/02/09soccer3.jpg_43964.jpg)
THE cluster level matches in the 2015 Kay Motsepe Schools Cup u.19 soccer tournament will be starting soon, and one school that is looking forward to participating again is Waterstone College in the South.
The school is located in Kibler Park in the Johannesburg South district of Gauteng, and this will be the third time they are playing in the competition.
Team manager Kerry Bailey explains that, although they always make it through to the provincial finals, they never go further than that. “Last year our toughest game was against Clapham, which was daunting and challenging. We held our own but finally lost 2-0,” she said. “We were in a very tough group alongside Clapham (the 2013 winners) and Holy Trinity, who went on to take the national title last year.”
In 2013 Waterstone entered the competition for the first time with an u.17 team and they treated it as a foundation year. This stood them in good stead and last year they improved and Bailey believes they will do even better this year.
“We love competing in the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup,” she said. “It’s a well-organised tournament and the players always look forward to it. In fact, they reminded us to enter this year.
“The quality of football is excellent, it is competitive, challenging and there is a lot of talent, which is what we enjoy as it gives the players insight into how they can improve.
“We saw our exit in the provincial finals last year as a chance to go back to the drawing board to see where we went wrong and to make the necessary changes. We definitely have our eye on the national finals this year.”
There were only two grade 12 players in last year’s team who have moved on. Other than that, the team has stayed the same. And they have a new coach this year in Ryan McConviolle, who is from Northern Ireland and has a UEFA A coaching license.
“He will start working with the team at the end of February, and we hope that he will take them to the next level,” Bailey said.
Waterstone competes in a number of tournaments other than the Kay Motsepe Schools Cup, and it runs its own 16-school sports festival each year, which includes soccer.
Last year they were runners-up in their festival, and they also came second at the St David’s Marist soccer tournament, which involves 16 of the top schools in South Africa.
They also play in the Grey College soccer tournament and came 13th there last year.
Schools have until March 17 to register and can access the registration form on the following websites:
www.saschoolsfa.co.za
www.education.gov.za
www.motsepefoundation.org
www.thutong.doe.gov.za/schoolenrichment