Sophakama Primary School from Du Noon made a clean sweep at their very first Build-it Bothasig Under-13 soccer and netball festival for boys and girls held at the Bosmansdam Primary School on Saturday.
Both Sophokama’s football and netball sides had the tongues wagging with their skill and talent on the sports field – especially from a football point of view, the boys were just on a completely different level with their maturity and cool heads.
Alas! Sophokama had to dig deep and rely on (sudden death) penalties in a tightly contested final to beat last year’s runner-up and host Bosmansdam Primary by 1-0.
“It is one of the greatest achievements for our school,” acknowledged Sophokama’s coach Zimasile Tinti to No Bones with Jones. “This is only our third tournament in nearly five years for the school as we unfortunately don’t play in a league.
“Therefore we are so grateful to Build-it (Bothasig) and Safa Cape Town as well as the ladies from WP netball for hosting such much-needed and great events where our players can get the necessary exposure,” he added.
Sophakama’s girls also ran riot in the netball section beating their rivals from Du Noon Silverleaf with the former’s star player Aphile Kaziwa walking away with the player of the tournament award as well as R1000 bursary sponsored by Build-it Bothasig while Ovayo Qotho stole the show in the boys’ section and received the same prizes.
These awards were adjudicated by top ex-professionals who were masters at their craft. While the Western Cape Federation Legends kept a watchful eye on the up-and-coming talent with the football, the Western Province ex-professional players obliged with the girls ensuring that the best candidate was selected.
Aaron Ntlanganiso, coach of the Sophokama’s netball side lauded the event adding that these tournaments help kids to have a platform to shine.
I’m so excited and happy at the same time, I couldn’t believe that my team made it to the play final and we won,” said Ntlanganiso to our website. “But it is by the grace of God. I enjoyed every game they played and I could see the girls were committed to represent our school with pride and more importantly they were having fun,” he added.
Build-it Bothasig’s dynamic leader Mark Sochen and his colleague Anati Pasiwe was just as delighted and heaped praise on the host school for a flawless event.
“Thank you to the parents and the community for their turnout and support,” Sochen stated.
“Thank you to Build-it, Safa CT, the WP Netball ex-pro players and all our suppliers for their contributions. Next year we want to go bigger and better,” Sochen concluded.
