Which means they will now play in the Provincial finals to be held in March 16 at Keismos Sports Stadium.
Willie Theron Primary School from the Pixley region also qualified for provincial finals.
Coach of Blaauwskop Primary School Johannes Jurie, easily found near Upington, says the school played in the Danone Nations Cup for the first time last year, when they made it through to the regional finals where they lost to Upington Primary school in the quarter finals.
Jurie says he sits with the team for about 30 minutes before each practice session and talks to the boys individually trying to build their confidence.
“We trained three times a week in preparation for the regional finals and, although that was difficult, we will now continue where we left off.”
The challenge for the team, Jurie says is that most of the players live about 12 km from the school and, as a result, he can only keep them for an hour after school or else they will miss their last bus. “Sometimes there are only busses three times in the week and on the days when there are no busses we don’t train.”
Jurie says that should they go all the way and make it to the finals in England this year it would mean a lot to the boys. “They come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Most of their parents work on the farms in the area and the kids don’t even venture out of Upington let along travel to the National Finals. I would like to see us get there as it helps them see that the world is big and anything is possible.”
He singles out both his midfielders Randal Bonson, who was part of the team last year, and Ambrosier Pretorious.
