TonyK
CibbuanoTeam GWS signs South African
February 1st 2010 06:15
TEAM GWS has given South African Bayanda Sobetwa a scholarship with the club.
The 19-year-old, who hails from Khayelitsha township, south-east of Cape Town, will fly to Australia this month to begin training with the AFL's proposed 18th team and will play for their TAC Cup side this season.
As part of his scholarship, Sobetwa will also undertake an AFL SportsReady traineeship which will combine study and work in multicultural development in Western Sydney.
Sobetwa started playing AFL in 2007 when footyWILD was introduced in his community and is the first ever player from the South African pathway to be signed to an AFL club.
His impressive talent was first recognised in December 2007 when he took part in the Adam Ramanauskas talent camp in Pretoria.
Since then he represented South Africa against the AIS/AFL Academy in 2008/2009 and performed strongly during the 2008 International Cup in which South Africa finished third out of 16 countries.
Late last year he trained with North Melbourne after receiving the Mtutuzeli Hlomela scholarship.
GWS coach Kevin Sheedy said Sobetwa’s scholarship was a huge achievement following the AFL's work in South Africa.
“It’s great to see that the time we’ve spent in South Africa is starting to bear some real opportunities for these kids that may never have had the chance to play top level sport,” Sheedy said.
“It’s tremendous to have AFL SportsReady support this young man’s future. It’s quite amazing where these types of opportunities can take young people today - over 6000 young people have found a job through the program.
“The essence here is that the game is moving outside of Australia, a lot of hard work has been done by Brian Dixon and the AFL staff in South Africa to create this pathway. It’s clubs like Team GWS who will need to strengthen that pathway for the many international people coming to Australia."
The 19-year-old, who hails from Khayelitsha township, south-east of Cape Town, will fly to Australia this month to begin training with the AFL's proposed 18th team and will play for their TAC Cup side this season.
As part of his scholarship, Sobetwa will also undertake an AFL SportsReady traineeship which will combine study and work in multicultural development in Western Sydney.
Sobetwa started playing AFL in 2007 when footyWILD was introduced in his community and is the first ever player from the South African pathway to be signed to an AFL club.
His impressive talent was first recognised in December 2007 when he took part in the Adam Ramanauskas talent camp in Pretoria.
Since then he represented South Africa against the AIS/AFL Academy in 2008/2009 and performed strongly during the 2008 International Cup in which South Africa finished third out of 16 countries.
Late last year he trained with North Melbourne after receiving the Mtutuzeli Hlomela scholarship.
GWS coach Kevin Sheedy said Sobetwa’s scholarship was a huge achievement following the AFL's work in South Africa.
“It’s great to see that the time we’ve spent in South Africa is starting to bear some real opportunities for these kids that may never have had the chance to play top level sport,” Sheedy said.
“It’s tremendous to have AFL SportsReady support this young man’s future. It’s quite amazing where these types of opportunities can take young people today - over 6000 young people have found a job through the program.
“The essence here is that the game is moving outside of Australia, a lot of hard work has been done by Brian Dixon and the AFL staff in South Africa to create this pathway. It’s clubs like Team GWS who will need to strengthen that pathway for the many international people coming to Australia."
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