Big wins for Parktown Girls soccer team
PARKVIEW – The Parktown Girls soccer team won the JVW Girls Open League two years in a row and the coach attributes their success to team work.
The Parktown High School for Girls first soccer team made big strides this year.
Their big success was winning the JVW (Janine van Wyk) Open Team Gauteng girls’ school league. The school expressed their excitement through a Facebook post where they stated that player Elmarie Fourie had been selected for the JVW top 11 team alongside Rosalie James who was also was awarded the Goalkeeper of the Year.
Cailin Whyte who has been head soccer coach at the school since 2016 was awarded Coach of the Year and received recognition as she had won the girls’ school league for the second consecutive year.
Whyte reflected on her journey from the time she started and said she was excited to start coaching in a different environment as she had previously coached in Scotland. She added that initially, the team had worked on the basics such as discipline and ball skills to get a feel of which level the girls whereat.
“We then grew the next year… We went through to the quarter-finals [of the school’s league] but we got beaten. In 2018, we had a phenomenal year as we came out top and went through to the play-offs. The play-offs comprise the best schools in Gauteng, so it’s a major tournament,” said Whyte.
She added that there were 156 schools that competed in the league and the top 16 schools went through.
Whyte added, “I think the biggest thing that makes us different as Parktown Girls is that other schools have phenomenal players like national players but we are a team. Everybody, whether it’s the weakest or the strongest, lifts each other up all the time. That’s what I try and incorporate in the team from the get go.
“I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without the sports director Catherine van Eyk and our teacher in charge in soccer Karlyn Haus as well as the JVW platform. The girls are really amazing and special.”
Have any sports events within local schools? Invite us by email to naidines@caxton.co.za
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