Gauteng schools excel at LSEN soccer festival

The Citizen

a day ago

The Benoni Northerns Sports Club and St Dunstan's College fields were abuzz with excitement on August 8 as young soccer players from across Gauteng showcased their skills and passion at the annual Schools for Learners with Special Educational Needs (LSEN) Mild Intellectual Disability (MID) Schools tournament.
With 33 U19 boys' teams and 20 U19 girls' teams competing, the event was a vibrant celebration of sport, inclusion, and determination, proving that talent knows no boundaries.
Belvedere School and Daveyton Skills School represented Benoni. Springs' Olympia Park, Kwa-Thema Skills Schools, Kempton Park Panorama, JJ Masipa Technical School and Samson LSEN School represented Ekurhuleni.
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The tournament was held to select the teams to represent the province at the South African LSEN MID schools soccer week in September.
'We had South African football legends helping us identify the players for next month's soccer week hosted by the Western Cape, in Cape Town.
'Four teams will represent Gauteng – two boys' and two girls' teams,' said Gauteng LSEN MID Schools Football Association chairperson, Mpho Maseko.
He said two teams will come from the combined Gauteng North and Ekurhuleni pools, while the others will be selected from players from the Gauteng West and South regions.
'We are the only province with multiple LSEN MID schools. The players will be selected from our four regions.
Gauteng North and Ekurhuleni will have a boys' and girls' team, and we will also have two teams from the combined South and West regions,' he said.
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Besides this one-day tournament, the schools partake in a league divided into five regions.
The winners of each region in the different age groups advance to the provincial knock-outs, with the overall winners going to represent Gauteng in the Noordvaal MID Schools Cup.
Maseko added that the tournament was celebrating its 24th anniversary.
'This festival initially included rugby, cricket and netball because back then the MID schools were predominantly white. Football got involved in 2001 to involve the schools in the townships.'
League general secretary Matsobane Mashishi said the competition gives the learners, often marginalised, a platform to express themselves without being stigmatised.
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'It is a great day for our learners. They face lots of challenges.
'Some cannot even reveal to their peers which schools they attend to avoid being stigmatised. We are giving them a platform to be themselves.
'You can tell by the atmosphere that they are in a place where they feel welcomed, valued and appreciated. This is what we want as teachers,' Mashishi said.