Day 9

We only had 1 session today, which was nice as it was a Friday and we were looking forward to the weekend. Our session took part by the waterfront, an area me and Harry had visited before. We were guided towards a big group of kids and 2 astro turf pitches. We were told previously that it would be a 'futsal' type session and were pointed in the direction of a guy called Aaron, Aaron is the co-founder of AP (African Passion), AP uses sport to encourage kids to do well at school and to stay on the right track with the motivation being sport. All the kids we saw today were underprivileged, again some turned up in boots, some played in just 1 boot others went barefoot, you take for granted having a pair of trainers to go have a kick about in. AP did supply the boys with kit and what they may have lacked in the footwear department they definitely made up for in passion for football. Speaking with Aaron we found out that the boys only get to play if they are attending school and staying out of trouble, every boy has a report and it is checked before being allowed to play. The 5s football was an idea that came to Cape Town via England from PowerLeague/Goals. Now with 7 sites these pitches are giving kids the chance to play football on good quality pitches.

Me and Harry took a group each on separate pitches and started some possession based drills/games. Splitting the boys into teams with a ball and they had to keep it away from the other teams. The majority of the boys understood very little of what I said but the language of football came through and they did exactly what I wanted which was pleasing. After about half an hour we stopped training and did a mini tournament, we had a group stage on my pitch and group staged  on Harry's pitch. It looked as though it was going to be a tough group to settle, and it was the last touch of the last game that decided my group, a shot from just over the half way line went straight into the top corner. My top team went on to beat Harry's team in the final so I'll take that as my first victory in Cape Town.

 

Really good way to end the week and we are looking forward to going back. Now for a quiet night and an early start tomorrow. We actually have a day off tomorrow but Joe has invited us to go and see his son play in a big play off game so we're looking forward to that. We are also going to stop off and see the Bothasig boys in a little tournament they have this weekend, we've got plenty of time for sightseeing and if seeing us gives the boys a boost it will be well worth it. All the people we have met have been so happy to see us so I hope we are having a positive effect on people out here.