Sports revival gets kids moving
AFTER years on the back burner because of the lack of funding to government schools, school sport in Phoenix and surrounding areas is undergoing a revival with the introduction of the Circuit Managers Champions Cup.
The brainchild of Siva Subrayen, education circuit manager of Phoenix Central, the tournament was first introduced to schools in the area in 2012 and the event has grown in prestige, the number of sporting codes involved and prize moneys.
“Sport is an important aspect of a child’s development and terminating it led pupils to a sedentary life, where the only physical exercise they got was to their fingers while rapidly working out on their cellphone’s keyboard,” said Subrayen.
“When I first mooted the idea of getting pupils back into physical activity, we chose soccer and netball among secondary schools to kickstart the initiative. Over the years, the interest has grown and we have now included volleyball, chess and table tennis.” The tournament is contested by schools belonging to the Mafukuzela Gandhi Circuit Management Centre (CMC) which comprises schools in Phoenix, Verulam oThongathi and Inanda.
Subrayen praised the organising committee for the growing interest in the Circuit Managers Cup.
“Natest Primary principal Mac Thilakdhari and his organising committee played a pivotal role in establishing this tournament within the jurisdiction of the CMC.”
Subrayen explained that the competition had two levels of participation – the intra- and inter-circuit.
“At an intra-circuit level, schools participate within their circuits to establish a ‘champion’ school for the respective codes and divisions. The winning schools in our six circuits then compete for the ultimate prize at an inter-circuit level. The winning schools in the various codes and divisions are awarded prize money of R10 000,” said Subrayen.
There were also floating trophies for the winning schools and medals for all participants,
“All this was made possible through the kind support of our sponsors. The George Ramalu Trust and Boston Moonsamy of Umongo Petroleum have been our anchor sponsors since inception of the concept, while Rajen Pillay of GanTrans has come on board this year with a sponsorship of R130 000.
Subrayen said that of the 180 schools within the CMC, 72 schools qualified to go through to the inter circuit stage.
“Because soccer is the most popular sport, the contest to choose the eventual champions is broken into group stages where teams compete in a round-robin competition with the top two schools in each group contesting the final. A knock-out competition establishes the winners in all the other codes.”
The soccer, netball and volleyball competitions will be staged on Saturday starting at 9am at the Saccharine sports fields, while the chess and table-tennis tournaments will take place at the Grove End Secondary School, also starting at 9am.