Unearthing SA’s soccer talent
11 March 2008
Shona Khona - meaning Go for it - is a youth soccer development
initiative started three years ago to develop role models among South
African school children, with a special emphasis on rural and poorer
communities. The SA Football Association-endorsed programme is now
paying exciting dividends.
The brainchild of the former general manager of Reckitt Benckiser South
Africa, Roberto Funari, Shona Khona has attracted some significant
sponsors since launching in 2005.
Reckitt Benckiser began the initiative with Metro Cash %26amp; Carry. Its
partners now include Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns,
Manchester United sponsors AIG, leading sports management agency
ForwardZone, Imperial Motors, and The Sowetan newspaper.
How Shona Khona works
The programme gives youngsters between the ages of 10 and 16 the
opportunity to take part in training camps through competitions
involving specially marked household products made by Reckitt
Benckiser. They SMS the lucky number found on the packaging, and
numbers are drawn which allocate the winners to a training camp closest
to their cities or towns.
Regional camps are held in 20 different locations across the
country. At each camp, the most talented players are selected by South
African Football Association (Safa) coaches and former football greats
to attend a national Shona Khona weekend soccer and life-skills camp,
which takes place in July each year.
This year, the special weekend camp will include the Sundowns and
Manchester United Soccer Schools coaches. After the camp, a handful of
the most talented children will be selected to travel to Old Trafford,
the home of Manchester United, for a week of training at the famous
club’s facilities.
Successes
Among the successes achieved so far are five boys who were accepted
into, and are currently enrolled at, the Safa/Transnet School of
Excellence.
Another youngster, Sifiso Mnguni, who was discovered at the very first
Shona Khona training camp, has just signed a three-year playing
contract with the under-19 development team of Premier Soccer League
club Platinum Stars.
However, the most exciting accomplishment was recently achieved at the
Sao Paulo Futebol de Base in Brazil where, since December 2005, 24
youngsters selected by Shona Khona have undergone a week’s training.
It has become the experience of a lifetime for 12-year-old Tyroane
Sandows who, after being selected to go to Brazil, so impressed Sao
Paulo’s coaches that he has been signed to a three-year contract with
the club.
After the three years are up, Sandows will be re-evaluated, with the
prospect of being able to join the senior section of the club’s
academy, which means he would then be eligible to start the process of
becoming a professional soccer player in accordance with Fifa
guidelines.
Moving to
Brazil
Sandows has managed to set himself apart from his peers - he continues
to shine, said Stan Whiting, Shona Khona’s project coordinator.
Since being discovered, the quiet Sandows has let his talent speak for
itself. His passion and consistency is what impressed his Brazilian
coaches and earned him a contract.
Sandows’ experience started with the purchase of a specially marked
Reckitt Benckiser product from his local Metcash store. What seemed
then a simple purchase has not only earned him the chance of a
lifetime, but has also changed his family’s life; they will relocate to
join the elder of their two sons in Brazil in August.
I do not have enough words to thank you for your commitment to this
project and for making Tyroane’s dreams a reality, Sandows’ father,
Joe, told the Shona Khona sponsors.
At first it was just a wonderful weekend experience, then an
incredible opportunity for Tyroane to travel to Brazil for a week, and
now, nearly two years later, we are on our way to actually live in
Brazil.
Opportunities in England
The opportunities for talented youngsters will shift from a South
American powerhouse, Sao Paulo, to an English powerhouse, Manchester
United, in 2008, and project co-ordinator Whiting is excited about the
impact Shona Khona is making.
By taking the training and life-skills camps into communities, Shona
Khona is able to reach more children than ever before, Whiting said.
And with AIG on board, the most talented children will have the chance
to travel to the UK, Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United, where
they will receive a week of world-class football training.
The national soccer camp, featuring the best of the best from the
community-based camps, will give coaches from the Manchester United
Schools programme and the Mamelodi Sundowns technical team a chance to
put the youngsters through their paces, with various skills and
training drills covering all aspects of the game of soccer. These will
provide the coaches and other selectors a chance to make a qualified
decision about the players.
During the camps, the learners will also take part in life-skills education sessions designed to be interactive and fun.
Shona Khona is set to continue up to and beyond the 2010 Fifa World
Cup, which will be hosted by South Africa. If its successes are
anything to go by, South Africa will have players to answer the call to
shona khona in tournaments well beyond 2010.
SAinfo reporter
Tags: accomplishment, cate, endor, ford, manchester united, pace