A fine vintage has left a lasting legacy for all to aspire to.
The cream of footballing talent from West Rand primary schools have climbed a mountain never conquered by their predecessors. For the first time, the West Rand Primary Schools Football Association (WRPSFA) was the winner of the Bill Stewart and Fran Hilton-Smith Interprovincial U13 soccer tournament. Adding to the historic moment, all three of WRPSFA’s team returned with a winner’s medal.
Held at Camp Discovery at the Dinokeng Game Reserve between June 30 and July 4, two boys teams and a girls team took on their rivals from across the country. The coaching staff were made up of the best coaches from across the district allowing for a sharing of ideas and techniques. The teams had come close in previous years but due to rigorous scouting and a special energy within the squads, they were able to achieve the unprecedented.
“It is a fantastic group of people that went above and beyond expectations. This year we were better prepared, more savvy, and disciplined up to the very end,” said WRPSFA chairperson, Dion Moyce. The Protea boys, effectively the A team, won the Bill Stewart Trophy, while the West Rand team, the B team, won the Douglas Jardine Trophy.
The girls team came home with the Desiree Ellis Trophy for the plate section of the tournament. The ladies’ coaching staff were made up of Kirsten Rose, Mechaela Springkaan, Marilize Schlebusch and Tanya Snyman, who collectively summed up their team’s success as ‘one team, one vision, one goal’.
