Youth Development Update

Added: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 (14:12)

Youth Development Update
with Coach Paul Habib

The Moroka Swallows Soweto youth trials started on the 06/03/2010 in Dobsonville. The purpose of the trials was to seek players for the Youth Development teams.

Boys came from all over, in all ages, shapes and sizes, all hoping for a chance to live the soccer dream. Some boys didn't even have boots or socks, but they came to try their luck regardless. It was gratifying to see how much support there was from some of the parents.

There were 11 selectors in all, who supervised the hundreds of excited boys who turned up to be put through their paces. 67 kids were selected on Saturday through a process of 15 minute short matches, this procedure worked very well and we will definitely use it in the future.

Sunday worked out even better, we had about 600 boys of which 97 were called back. Overall everything went very well, and we are pleased with our progress thus far.

I would like to extend special thanks to:

Sipho Xulu
Ace Mnine
John Kotela
Andries Mpondo
Thomas "Rasta" Mokhari
Goodman Mazibuko
Ben Zwane
Goodman Hlongwane

And especially thanks must go to our mentor, Eddie Lewis, for all his hard work.

Medical care and security were excellent, and only one incident of theft was reported. The fields were also in pretty good shape for our purposes.

The youth development will definitely work in Soweto, though there is still a lot of work to be done. With combined effort, I foresee only the best for this new venture.

Call backs will take place shortly.