Sunward Park High School to compete at the Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament

Johannesburg, Thursday, 6th March 2014 – Sunward Park will be the only schools team competing at the 2014 Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament later this month and that is a mantle they carry with pride.

The Boksburg-based place of learning won their ticket to the International Tournament having come through both the Gauteng Schools Cup and the Gauteng Cup proper.

Coach Thabo Tiki, who has been with the side for five years, says their success is no accident and that it is the result of hard work and determination from the players.

“We train from Monday to Friday and play as many games against top schools and academies as we can,†Tiki says. “As a school we try to run our football programme like an academy as well.

“The facilities we have here are of a very high standard, so good that it would be no problem for professional teams to come train here. That is the standard we try to set, we want to be as professional as possible.”

Tiki adds that they have specific programmes for different elements of the team, who they train separately before bringing it all together.

“What we do mostly is to train the defenders, then the midfielders and finally the strikers, giving them specialist training for their positions. Then we train altogether as a group. It has worked well for us.”

Tiki believes he does have players in his group who could potentially have long careers in the Premier Soccer League, or potentially even abroad.

“They are obviously still young but there is a lot of potential in some of them and if they can develop that then they will become professional players.â€

Sunward Park is a partner of the Diambars programme that seeks to assist African players in starting careers in Europe. It was started by former France World Cup winners Patrick Vieira and Bernard Lama in 2000.

“The Diambars Academy in South Africa is situated on the school grounds. Our Sunward Park team that will be competing in the Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament is made up of some of these players, but mixed in with other learners who attend the school.â€

He says a key part of their development will be playing in the Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament against sides from Brazil, Mexico, England and the Netherlands, to name a few.

“It will be a great experience for them because they will come up against different styles of football. Hopefully they will learn a lot. But they will not be overawed because we also believe in our own talent, we will be eager to show that we belong among these teams.â€

Tiki talks passionately about the talent he believes can be found in schools soccer, not just his own place of learning.

“There is so much ability in schools football; I honestly believe there could be another Benni McCarthy right now playing in a schools team somewhere waiting to be discovered.

“Look at new Kaizer Chiefs youngster Lourenzo Gordinho, he has just broken into the first team there and he was discovered playing for Benoni High School. There are many other examples.â€

The most famous player to come out of Sunward Park is former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana defender Gavin Lane, who was part of the 1995 African Champions League-winning side with The Buccaneers.

Sunward Park has been drawn in Group C at the Future Champions Gauteng International Tournament along with defending champions Club Tijuana from Mexico, Nigerian side Saki West and the Aspire Academy from Qatar.

The tournament will be played from March 24-29 at the Nike Training Centre in Pimville, Soweto.

  • We had a wonderful football and cultural experience in Gauteng. The tournament and activities were very well organized and we found everyone involved extremely helpful and accommodating. We have all returned home with fantastic memories of our time in South Africa, both on and off the pitch, and have made many new friends as a result of the trip. I hope that we are invited to participate in future tournaments.

    Everton Academy Head Coach

  • The experience both on and off the field for our players during the Future Champions tournament in Gauteng was life-enriching for all those who participated. We were privileged enough to win this edition but what will be bringing us back in future is the cross-cultural education our players receive from spending time with athletes from all over the world. They are human beings before they are football players and enriching them with other cultures is as rewarding as the experience they receive on the field.

    Club Tijuana Director of Football

  • After twenty years of experiencing tournaments around the globe, Future Champions is hands down the best organized, well run International Tournament we have ever participated in. Bringing teams from dozens of different countries provided our boys exposure to cultural diversity they only read about in textbooks. It’s amazing how sport can be the cultural link that provides the opportunity to interact with each other and discover that our global community is a bit smaller than they realized. We had a football and cultural experience that will be cherished for the rest of our lives.

    Director of USYSA Select

  • For us to compete in Future Champions is much more than playing a series of matches. It is an opportunity to compete and contrast our level against the best teams from around the world and the possibility of living in another culture and environment for an unforgettable week, learning about the history of the fight for human rights.

    Director of Aspire Academy

  • The addition of a girls’ competition this year is a natural expansion for what has become a hugely popular event. Over and above the football, the players are also exposed to life-skills courses and HIV/AIDS awareness that could end up saving their lives in the future. We have had an amazing partnership with the Gauteng Province over the last decade and we thank each and every stakeholder for making the Future Champions Gauteng campaign such a huge success

    Tournament director