Sandringham’s Balderstone Sports Institute trains for upcoming football season
Sandringham’s Balderstone Sports Institute recently joined the Gauteng Development League, a move that head of football David Thorpe thinks will help push the boys to new heights.
Sandringham’s Balderstone Sports Institute (BSI) players braved the scorching sun on February 6, to prepare for the busy upcoming season.
BSI’s head of football David Thorpe noted that an exciting new development of the academy was obtaining a new status in the Gauteng Development League. “We’re going to play in the second tier, the Gauteng Development Promotional League, which is a higher standard. We’re going to push these players to a standard of competition, where each weekend of practice will heighten their development to the next stage.”
Thorpe added that new rules have been introduced at the club, which include training the 14 and 15 age categories, which were not trained before, along with the 17 and 19 age categories, which were.
He highlighted that, as the academy continued to grow, so did its offerings, which included a new club programme. In previous years only a full-time academy was offered. “The club programme is a similar offering to the BSI full-time academy, with the same ethos and beliefs. The club programme sees players come in only three times a week, where the full-time academy sees players training during the week, as well as on the weekend.”
The head of football encouraged keen players who think they are at the desired level and would like to join the BSI academy to contact BSI via email at: info@bsisports.com, and attend the trials which are continuously taking place. “It’s an exciting time of growth, as a business and as a sports institute, but also the opportunities and offerings for the players to reach their dreams and aspirations of making it as professional footballers, or as student athletes, opening pathways where they can mix education and football.”
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New player from the Congo, Noah Bueno Metusala, said his passion for football landed him in South Africa, and that he was honoured to be playing for BSI. “When I was in the Congo, I was not only playing for a local academy, but I also travelled a lot to play the sport. My reason for being here is to perform to my optimum level.”
Noah added that being part of BSI has improved his football skills, because there was a lot of training which would one day pay off.
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