Alberton High unleashes soccer talent
In the history of sport at the school, Alberton High School has announced its ground-breaking introduction of a football team.
Alberton High School officially announced the introduction of a senior and junior boys’ football team.
The school is set to break boundaries and not only put the school on the map but the entire Johannesburg South as well.
Since the school opened, this was the very first time that soccer has been introduced into the extra-mural activity programme.
Alberton Football Club has joined hands with the school to unleash and groom the youngsters’ soccer talent. In support of the inception of the soccer teams, Lifestyle Property Group sponsored a full set of kit for both teams worth R10 000.
Jannie Olivier, the school principal, gladly welcomed the ground-breaking introduction of a football team at the school.
He said it was time for the school to showcase their talent.
“Covid-19 hampered us to put our plans in place, but timing is everything. We decided about a year ago to go forward with it. We discussed it with Alberton Football Club and they jumped on board. We also included Wits University. The learners are excited and we have good players,” he explained.
He said these players were not new in the sport and that they were passionate about football. The school’s Oscar von Platen echoed that learners will now have a proper structure where their talent will be officially nurtured.
Bright future
Francois Swanepoel, head of sports at Alberton High School, said they have selected players from the cream of the school.
“We want to create a pathway for the boys to use soccer and academics to study further at Wits University in the long term. We want to use soccer and the absolute passion that our learners have towards the game to mould them and strengthen the discipline at the school.
“We are looking forward to increasing the involvement among the boys in other sporting activities,” he said.
Swanepoel said their long-term aim is to introduce girls’ soccer.
Warrick Atmore, vice chairperson of Alberton Football Club, reiterated that this is a great milestone for the school.
“We’ve now finally come to the day where we can proudly say we have two football sides. The thinking pattern behind it is we start small and see how it goes from there. Women’s football is on the radar these days, so I wouldn’t be surprised next year if there’s a girls’ side.
“We do the football club justice in terms of highlighting certain players that not only are good footballers but are potentially good learners,” he said.
He feels that the high school will move from strength to strength.
Frans van Staden of Lifestyle Property Group said: “What Lifestyle is all about is uplifting and investing in the local community. We sponsor a lot of sports, and this is a nice way to start with the juniors and build up from there. We paid for their kit and whatever they need, we’ll take it from there.”
