South Africa’s u-12 girls’ school soccer team will compete against top global club development teams in the Danone Nations Cup world finals.
Rebonwe Primary School from Ivory Park, the first girls’ team from South Africa to compete in the world finals, will be facing stiff opposition in Barcelona in October, but that does not worry them, said Lilian Mabasa, team manager and teacher at the school who will be travelling with the girls.
“The home team sees this as a challenge and a learning curve,” said Mabasa.
The coach has managed to acquire footage of some of the teams in action, which they will review and use as a yardstick to prepare their build-up strategy.
“Our day starts at 6.45am with a gym session to ensure the players are in top physical condition when we travel,” said Mabasa.
“After school, it’s onto the soccer field to sharpen their tactical and technical skills. Fortunately, most of the girls live close by and getting to and from school is not a problem.
“We have the backing of their families, which is a great bonus. The parents’ support is of the utmost importance in preparing the girls,” she said.
Mabasa has always loved soccer and she still competes for the ladies’ team in her home town, Giyani, Limpopo. She joined the school management team three years ago.
“When we started incorporating the girls into the teams in the various age groups, I could see they were being bullied.
“This inspired me to offer my services as the manager to protect them and to teach the boys about the importance of the inclusion of girls, and to show them that girls can play as well if not better than them.
“When we heard that the Danone Nations Cup was forming a girls-only tournament, we formed our own team and look where we are – going to Barcelona – whereas the boys’ team was knocked out in the early round of the competition,” said Mabasa.
She said that since winning the trip to Barcelona, a lot has changed for the girls.
“I can already see that their confidence has improved,” said Mabasa.
“From being laughed at for taking up soccer, they are now respected and the entire school is making them feel very special. That’s good for morale, but they must also realise that competing in the world finals is very different from playing at home. They play against soccer academies at the world finals. For example, the team from Italy is the SSC Napoli academy team. They eat and sleep soccer and, looking at videos, we can also see that most of the girls are far taller than ours.”
