Metro U13 young guns set to show skills

BUDDING young football talents will get the chance to showcase their growing skills when the Buffalo City Municipality U13 teams once again take part in the annual Bill Stewart U13 Soccer Tournament.

This year the prestigious tournament will be hosted by the Northern Province Schools Football Association and will take place in Limpopo at Camp Discovery from June 25 to July 2.

In total 16 regional teams from across the country will compete in the tournament, which will see some of the best emerging football talent from around the country in action, with teams going all out to finish on top.

After decent showings in recent years the BCM teams will be eager to impress once again.

“We have a few goals for the tournament,” said coach Deeran Govind.

“Number one is for the players to enjoy themselves through consistent discipline. Number two is to socialise and make new friends other than their own teammates, and number three is to do their best at all times and to end up in the top four standings.”

The tournament is always a tough test of character for the players, with 15 games battled out over five days, which is three games a day for the players.

The players will thus need to realise that their fitness levels and bigmatch temperament will count the most on the playing field.

“The players have been placed under a vigorous conditioning programme and various tactics and game strategies for this intense Bill Stewart U13 Football tournament,” said Govind. “Tremendous pressure has been enforced on the players to perform and give of their best at their practices, due to the minimal time we had to prepare.

“Most of the players had to adapt to the comprehensive training techniques and drills, as it was their first time that they were exposed to a prepared and professional setup.”

The team have another week of training before they begin to make their way up to Limpopo next weekend for the tournament.

“We will be having a Potjiekos Fundraiser evening at Hams Club on Friday (today), starting at 5pm,” said Govind.

“This is an initiative to raise funds for our players that cannot afford the exorbitant costs of the tour, and we welcome everyone to come and support.”