The 2014 Spur Masidlale Soccer League kicks off at the King Zwelethini stadium in KZN tomorrow, 13 March as part of a national launch in key urban areas across South Africa with more than 800 learners and nearly 80 coaches all set for another thrilling soccer season.
Launched in 2005, the Spur Masidlale Soccer League has touched the lives of more than 30 000 children by teaching them both soccer and life skills, developed and groomed more than 700 coaches and visited over 100 stadia in South Africa.
To ensure quality control and effective mentorship, Spur has invested in additional coaches training leading up to the official launch day events in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Durban. During the regional launch day events, these coaches will lead the youngsters through the one-day activations and effectively put the young soccer players through their paces and teach them important soccer skills.
Only local community coaches were selected in each region with the assistance of the local Departments of Sport and Recreation. Most of these coaches already work within the area school structures. The training courses are run by Mathias Himmelreicher, who holds an UEFA coaching licence awarded to him in Germany and also possesses a post graduate degree in coaching science and football. This inspirational soccer experience is designed to integrate children from all walks of life in a one-day, fun-filled, interactive-learning clinic.
Himmelreicher said that the Spur Masidlale Soccer Programme was certainly achieving its key objective to empower both coaches and players. “I’ve been involved in quite a few development projects over the years, but these projects were normally only one day events. The Spur Masidlale League is special to me as the programme runs over a 12-week period and it is not only a normal soccer league with weekly matches, but a development programme that includes teaching soccer skills and even more importantly life skills. In addition, it also creates jobs for coaches and gives passionate individuals the opportunity to get involved within their community.”
The coaches have to deal with a variety of different skill levels within one group. This makes it difficult for them to challenge each player the same way within one exercise. Masidlale addresses this with the inclusion of a life skills programme. It encourages the coaches to empower strong players to help weaker players.
“We try to encourage lifelong sports participation with these children. Sport is an amazing educational tool for people of all ages and can be used to teach social and life skills as well as leadership and responsibility. Sport also helps to keep your body healthy. The league helps these kids to realise that learning from others with experience can be great fun, while also of huge benefit to them personally. And that is exactly what we aim to achieve,” said Himmelreicher.
According to Khakhi Diala of the Spur Group, the programme is currently recognised as one of the leading youth soccer development initiatives in the country. “We started with 12 one-day coaching clinics in 2005, but the league has grown steadily and has highlighted the huge need for initiatives that provide a platform for youth development. Although numbers are limited to 200 participants per region, we have managed to drastically improve the level of skills training for both coaches and learners,” says Diala.
Ten schools have been selected in four regions where regional activations will be followed by weekly league meetings over a nine-week period, which will see 200 kids taking to the field each week. Each region will cater for ten boys’ and ten girls’ teams with kids aged between 9 and 13. Each of the 1600 participating kids will receive a Spur-branded kit to keep and cherish – for many of the participants, this is the first kit they have ever owned.
The KZN schools that will battle it out for the title are: Mzwilili, Emthethweni, Lindelani, Thamela, Zwel Sthembiso, Nkonkoni, Umgijimi, Maphumuzana, Gokul and Isipingo. League games will take place on 26 March and 2,9,16 and 13 April as well as 14,21 and 28 May.
Spur Masidlale prides itself on not only teaching soccer skills, but also placing strong emphasis on life skills training. Every year a new theme is introduced and topics are kept relevant and easy for the kids to implement on their own. Macsteel Maestros conduct the life skills sessions, while the soccer drills are standardized and are followed by a mini soccer tournament.
The winning team in each region can look forward to a special VIP PSL experience. Not only will they be treated to a special Spur lunch, but they will also attend a PSL game as team mascots.
