New sports competition for D9 schools
All schools go for inaugural school sports competition in the township.
Vincent Tshabalala Education Trust (VTET) launched the inaugural VTET School Sports Festival at the Number 3 Square Grounds in Alexandra on March 8.
The trust’s founding was underpinned by a strong historical premise of Vincent ‘Toivo’ Tshabalala. It was launched in 2004 to help the youth from Alexandra who want to further their education by providing them with bursaries.
The competition will commence in August or September and covers boys’ and girls’ soccer, netball, basketball and tennis and has 17 schools registered to play so far in District 9.
Trustee Louis Seeco said, “The trust has considered that not every child is an A+ student. There might be challenged young people who might not be good at academics but may be good at sports, arts or cultural activities so we hosted this festival to recognise the challenge in those areas.”
He added that what is beautiful about what they are doing is that schools in Alex will be competing with schools from former white suburbs.
The competition aims to achieve integration and social cohesion. “It is not only about the children from Alex but we want all children to play sports with their counterparts from other areas to build social cohesion so they can recognise that their future is one,” Seeco said.
“I am positive about the event and looking forward to the tournament because it encourages children who are not academically smart to showcase their talent in sport and the money raised from the games will help the schools meet their needs,” said Alex learner Rethabile Mokhatle.
The trust partnered with the Maimane Alex Development Foundation and Sibusiso Cosmos Zwane Foundation. “There are many prizes that will allow teams from different schools to compete for.”
The first three winners in each sporting code will get R60 000 each and the three respectively runners-up in each sporting code will get R20 000 but the prizes will not be handed out in cash as the schools will identify their needs and the trust will pay for them.
Related article: Heated AMSL Top 8 final is rained off
