Unbeaten in their current league, the Ikapa Sporting juniors are running out onto the Bayview u-16 Youth Cup field in a brand new kit, thanks to the sponsorship of BCL Medical Waste.
While the club is based in Westridge, the junior team is made up of players from the greater Mitchells Plain, Hanover Park, Khayelitsha and Samora Machel.
On Friday 14 June, ahead of the Sunday 16 June kick-off, the boys were treated to a relaxed afternoon at the company’s Blue Downs facility to celebrate the kit handover.
Gerard Thobejane, junior chair and u-16 coach, says they will do the company proud by wearing their name at the tournament. Known as coach Jerry, he started coaching the unbeaten team in the February pre-season.
“We are currently in week 10 of our league and we are currently unbeaten. There are only two sides unbeaten and we are playing them tomorrow (Saturday 15 June),” he said to People’s Post.
They won 6-4 on Saturday, keeping them unbeaten in their season outside of the Bayview u-16 Youth Cup.
With boys primarily living in gang-ridden communities, Thobejane says keeping the boys playing helps keep them out of the grips of crime.
“I think promoting youth football at this age is very important, especially for where the boys are coming from, because if you look at Innova Park and in the Eastridge area gangsterism is rife there, also drugs and alcohol, all these fatherless homes, so we’re working with that and yeah like I said it’s a challenging thing to motivate these boys but to wake up every day and to go out there and to help these boys to give them a chance to have a choice in life. I mean really I always tell the boys that they don’t need to worry where they come from as long as they know they set themselves goals and where they’re going, so yeah, these boys are good.”
BCL maintenance manager Henry Nell encouraged the boys to make the lessons learnt in sport part of their daily lives and not worry too much about the trophies.
“I know what sport has done for me in my life. It’s very important that what you learn in sport, you apply in your life. There is a lot that you can get from sport and take it into your adult life. Camaraderie, hard work, diligence, perseverance. They say what you put in is what you get out,” says Nell.
READ MORE | Coverage of the Bayview U-16 Youth Cup
Anastasia Fairbairn, executive for R.I.Pets, a division of BCL, further praised the boys for their dedication to the sport. She further shared quotes from three soccer legends, Pele Pele, Zinedine Zidane and Lionel Messi.
“You are not competing with anyone. You are only competing with yourself. If you’ve done a hat-trick, next season, do two. Challenge yourself every single game. Give it your all. No one else is going to work harder than you, if you are trying to beat yourself,” she says.
Looking forward to the tournament this week, Thobejane says their talent speaks for itself.
“We have a nice blend of football (talent) and I am enjoying myself coaching them. I am looking forward to exposing them to other bigger challenges during the (u-16 youth cup) like playing teams in the PSL. We have an awesome group of talent, so they can really go a long way. They just need to keep focused. I am always telling them to have respect, focus and the next level will come, they can reach the next level. I really would like to see one or two of my boys, even the whole squad, make it to a higher level.”
- People’s Post, Tygerburger and City Vision are proud media partners to the event. Visit our social media pages for daily updates, fixtures, images and other digital content around the competition through out the week. Also read more here.
