Three lucky players off to train with the Blues after Shield S’bonisi Diski announces winners
“More than anything, what we hope the players can take away from this trip, is the knowledge that Chelsea FC will impart to them. We have partnered with Shield on this great initiative to expand our mandate on football development and it is our belief that through the players we can plant a seed so that they return home and share what they have learned in Chelsea with other aspiring football players in South Africa"
The long-awaited Shield Sbonisi’Diski Top three players announcement was made on September 11. This follows a nationwide search for South Africa’s next football champion and the three selected top players were given a highly coveted life changing opportunity to train at the home of Chelsea FC in London, Cobham, from September 12 to September 16.
The three winners are 20-year-old Ryan Adams from Durban, 20-year-old Thulo Thibatsi from Johannesburg and last year’s top three finalist, 21-year-old Joshua Jerome Roman from Cape Town. In addition to the top three players, 4 additional players have been selected from the Top 25 to join the Shield Africa XI team to train and play against Chelsea Invitational XI. The players are: Kyle Meth from Durban, Marco De Bruin from Cape Town, Kgotso Mogagabe from Johannesburg and Mpumelelo Daddyboy Zwane from Pretoria.
These players were selected from a pool of 25 players who had undergone an intense training skills programme at the High-Performance Centre (HPC) in Pretoria from June 31 to August 3, facilitated by Chelsea FC coaches, Orlando Pirates MDC and Shield Coaches. At these trials, the players were taken through various technical skills, team playing techniques on the field and off the field training, which comprised of media training facilitated by Soccer legend Mark Fish, football theory and life after football.
The Shield Sbonisi’Diski head coach, Sphiwe Mkhonza said that during the selections, they were not only looking at the ability, but they were also looking at the psychological aspects and the physical conditioning of a player.
“The selected players showed all the required attributes, they showed quality and most importantly they proved that they are ready,” said Mkhonza.
“The three players are all defenders and questions may arise as to why we only chose defenders, but if you look at our history as a country with the players that we have sent to other countries, a lot of defenders have become successful and I think it’s because defenders pay more attention to details.”
“Attackers are good and represent us well as a country, but for years we haven’t had leading goal scorers and good attackers, you can even see from our national team that we are struggling to find good attacking players, that’s why defenders stay winning,” he added.
In addition, the winners were introduced to the Chelsea FC senior team and were taken on a walkabout for an overview of the life at Cobham and a tour of the Chelsea FC Stadium. To bring it all together, the Chelsea FC coaches trained the players and taught them the team’s philosophy and key skills.
On the 3rd day of the trip, September 14 the players became part of Shield Africa XI team to play against Chelsea Invitational XI on the Main Pitch.
“Shield went deeper into understanding South African men’s deodorant needs, as we uncovered the ultimate pressure series to put Shield to the test on the field. Shield is committed to football development in South Africa and we will continue to provide life changing opportunities to young aspiring football payers as our contribution to the development of the game”, said Gareth Marshall, senior brand manager at Shield South Africa.
“More than anything, what we hope the players can take away from this trip, is the knowledge that Chelsea FC will impart to them. We have partnered with Shield on this great initiative to expand our mandate on football development and it is our belief that through the players we can plant a seed so that they return home and share what they have learned in Chelsea with other aspiring football players in South Africa,” said Laurence Griffin, international development head coach at Chelsea FC.
One of the three top players will be chosen by Orlando Pirates FC to receive a one-year professional contract with the Orlando Pirates DMC team, as a fully paid professional player.
This year also marked Shield’s committed to football developed across the African continent and taking the competition across some of the African countries to make up the Shield Africa XI team. The countries joining with players include: Ghana, Zimbabwe, Zambia Ivory Coast, Senegal and Gaborone.
