Sport clinic disrupted
Brakpan Sports Association believes holiday sports programmes are vital for children in the community.
The Brakpan Sports Association (BSA) has seen their plans to host school holidays tournaments and coaching clinics disrupted when they found out that they would not have the use of the Brakpan Sports Grounds.
BSA’s marketing manager Tshidi Mjoli expressed her disappointment with the City of Ekurhuleni after she found out that they would not get the grounds.
“Apparently there is going to be a music festival there so they didn’t cater for us,” she said.
“We have had to move the event.”
What disappointed Mjoli is that BSA only found out that they would not have use of the venue on Monday, when the coaching clinic was supposed to start.
“When I arrived there we found the grass on the field so long that you can’t walk on it,” she said.
“But then the municipal workers arrived to cut the grass which meant that we had to let the children know that they would not be training or playing on the day.”
Mjoli says that there was not much communication from Ekurhuleni.
“We applied to use the grounds in February and we were approved so we were confident that we would have the grounds,” said the marketing manager.
What will sting is that they had to cancel a coaching clinic that would be run by renowned football coach Augusto Palacios.
Palacios has had a career which has seen him coach a number of professional clubs including Orlando Pirates.
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“I don’t know if there is communication between the different people in the municipality,” said the woman from BSA.
“It was up to them to let us know that they could not accommodate us but they didn’t.”
Mjoli is relieved that some of the events will still carry on as she sees the holiday sports programme as vital for children in the community.
“The purpose of the school holidays programme is to remove children off the streets when they have time off school,” she said.
“We are trying to keep them away from crime, substance abuse and teenage pregnancies. Also with some of the club coaches being at home they appreciate playing games during the day because it’s better than working with their players in the evenings.”
The marketing manager also pointed out that this is the first time that BSA has had issues with their school holidays programme.
“Last year we had no issues but now with Brakpan Stadium not being available we have a problem but at least we have a plan B,” she said.
Football clubs have often complained about not have sports grounds to play from while the town no longer has a cricket club as their grounds were no longer usable due to damage caused by water.
Comment is awaited from the municipality.
