Having produced a number of stars that have gone on to represent Bafana Bafana in its 20 years of existence, Engen Knockout Challenge brand ambassador, Thabo Senong says the renowned youth tournament will continue to play a crucial role in the development of future stars for both the men’s and women’s national teams.
The likes of Teboho Mokoena, Ronwen Williams, Mothobi Mvala, Oswin Appolis, Percy Tau all of whom formed the nucleus of Bafana Bafana at the recent African Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast are graduates of the Engen Knockout Challenge.
According to Senong, both Bafana Bafana and Banyana Banyana will continue to reap the rewards of the talent on display at the tournament.
Speaking from the Marks Park Sports Ground on Day 02 of the Gauteng leg of the competition in Johannesburg, the former South African U-20 Men’s team said with such competitions, the national teams can only benefit.
“This is one of the biggest youth tournaments in the country and it's been running for more than 20 years now, and it has never stopped producing players, coaches, referees, even young administrators”, says Senong.
“It offers a platform for young players to get the needed competition because in youth development you can train, you can coach players, but without competition we are unable to produce young talent. So, these are the type of competitions that are needed to fast track the development of young players and also to help them to get mental skills, physical skills, and also learn from other teams” added the coach.
Touching on the value the tournament adds for coaches, Senong highlighted the tournaments platform for aspiring coaches and its unique ability of creating social cohesion.
“For coaches it creates a platform for interactions, social cohesion. Coaches get to learn from one another because they come with different tactical concepts, so you can probably get some inspiration from another programs. Community teams get to play against elite academies, and then it offers us opportunities as coaches to measure the gap and every year the gap keeps closing. So the unpredictability that is in youth football now it shows that everyone is working hard”, he concluded.
Meanwhile the Engen Knockout Challenge comes to an exciting close on Sunday after both Mamelodi Sundowns as well as University of Johannesburg Ladies secured their respective places in the semifinals of the competition as they aim to retain their respective titles.
Action gets underway as early as 08:00am with the tournament now in the exciting knockout stages.