By Emily Setona
QWAQWA – The community of Monontsha village got to celebrate Youth Day by watching the local youth from various soccer teams compete in a soccer tournament.
Vaal Dam United Brothers soccer team won the final match on penalties against One for Sorry soccer team.
Sello Mofokeng, the coach for Vaal Dam United Brothers said as a soccer coach it was the first time that he had to handle the pressure of coaching his team in this youth day soccer tournament that was played at Monontsha soccer grounds on June 16.
“It felt like my team was struggling a bit, so I am very happy that we won at the end because One for Sorry gave us a tough time until we triumphed on penalties. This tournament gave me a good experience and I learned a lot as a young coach,” Mofokeng said.
Vaal Dam United’s team captain Letlotlo Hlongwane said their win was largely attributed to the fact that the goalkeeper of One for Sorry was a bit relaxed at the end, that is why they managed to bag their win.
“I come from the community of Vaal Dam in Monontsha. The tournament was very challenging because we didn’t get the goals that we wanted and had to rely on the lottery of penalties. I believe that our winning formula was that we never gave up right until the end; we kept the momentum and played our usual game that we practice as a team. This was the first time that I played in such a tournament, and I hope that more of such can come to our community because it was a wonderful experience for me,” Hlongwane said.
The local chief of Monontsha village Morena Libenyana Mopeli who was there throughout the entire soccer tournament, was delighted to see the community of Monontsha come out in their numbers to support the youth play in this soccer tournament.
Youth day soccer tournament winners Vaaldam United Brothers soccer team from Monontsha village.
“As the chief of this area, I am very grateful to all the stakeholders that made this day possible because it was the first time that we had such a tournament in our community. I hope this gets to be an annual event that we will celebrate June 16 with, because it helped to get our young people off the streets and away from doing drugs and drinking.
“After this final match, the young people who came here in their numbers will go straight home because they will all be very exhausted after a day well spent watching and playing soccer and none of them will be going to taverns or thinking of participating in nefarious acts,” Morena Mopeli said.
