Benny’s en route for Danone honours

Benny’s Care aims to win the Danone Cup U/12 in Limpopo, which will be staged at Noorderland School in Polokwane on Saturday.

The province’s five regional champions will be in action on that day. They are Thapola A Nkola (Mopane), Benny’s Sports Development and Academy (Vhembe), Sekakate Primary (Sekhukhune) and the winners from Capricorn and Waterberg. The Capricorn and Waterberg teams to compete in the finals will be determined later this week.

Benny’s will be playing in the provincial finals for the third time. They previously competed in the 2013 and 2015, winning the title both times. They could, however, not manage to win the nationals. They are hoping that this will be their year and that they will be able to qualify to represent Limpopo in the world finals.

The school, as a sports academy, can go out and recruit the best players available. According to the school, the challenge, however, is to get the parents of talented youngsters to agree to send their sons to the school. "There is a feeling that soccer is a short-term career and it is not guaranteed that the children will make it, so parents are often reluctant to allow their children to even try," explains the coach, Mr  Richard Sidebi.

“Our biggest advantage over other schools is that all our players board on the premises, so they understand each other well and have more time to practice. They live and breathe soccer; it is their mission to excel in football and become professional soccer players,” said Sidebi.

This is the first time that Sekakate Primary School has qualified for the provincial finals. "It is a huge achievement for a rural school where the children rely on a school feeding scheme to get a solid meal every day," said their coach, Mr  Douglas Magabane. At the provincial finals, their biggest challenge will probably come from Benny’s Sport, where the players have better coaching, facilities and equipment, he added. 

Date:28 April 2016

By: Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

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